Throw back Thursday - Crane Prairie 1957

If you've known Gorge Fly Shop for very long then you probably know Dan Gordon. He spent 17 years working along side Travis and was monumental in the growth of this little fly shop in Hood River.
Dan reached out to me the other day with a couple photos he found in an old album of family fishing Crane Prairie in 1957. I couldn't resist a throw back Thursday post. Enjoy!

Do you have a throw back photo you would like to share? Please email to info@gorgeflyshop.com

Dan Gordon Retires from Gorge Fly Shop

Dan Gordon with his son, Ryan

After more than 17 years of working for Travis at the Gorge Fly Shop Dan Gordon is retiring!

Years ago, Dan retired from his career in communications leading him and his wife Wanita to move from Alaska back to their home state of Washington. Dan is not the type of person to go idle into retirement. He has always possessed strong work ethics and naturally desired to go above and beyond the call of duty. Once settled Dan sought out his next career. He found that career with Gorge Fly Shop. Dan has always loved the outdoors and fishing so working alongside Travis at the fly shop was a perfect match. He brought a wealth of knowledge, support, reliability along with a hard working attitude. 

Over the years Dan and Travis built a great working relationship that turned into more of a father son relationship that will always be priceless. Words cannot express how thankful we all are for everything Dan has done. We are truly blessed that he has been a part of our lives. His jokes, hard work and dedication will greatly be missed. 

GFS Cigar Enthusiast with Charlie Chambers

Dan, may your retirement be filled with many more adventures with the ones you love. May they be meaningful and bring you much happiness. 

From all of us at the Gorge Fly Shop,

Thank You,
Enjoy your retirement!

One More Travis Tale

One More Travis Tale

So for many of you, an introduction to GFS employee, Dan Gordon, would be redundant - after all, he's been a GFS Shop Rat for a long, long time. It's true, he knows a thing or two about fly gear, but as the observer I can't say that this tops his skill set. He's a hellava angler, no doubt and an awfully friendly guy who would do anything for ya. A devoted husband, father and yep, he is even a grandfather to boot. The guy is solid. Essentially Dan is The Man and much of the goings on around the shop revolves around this humble pie pinnacle of society. What many of you might not know however, is that Dan’s greatest natural ability lay in his creative sense of humor. He has this uncanny ability to create these interesting scenarios among the folks he most cares about. Simply put: Dan is a highly skilled practical joker. In a world where laughs don’t erupt often enough, we owe Dan a clutch of gratitude for making our bellies hurt when we need it most (on a daily basis).

Dan.  When he's not busy plotting

So it was no surprise that Dan had a story about his boss and dear friend, Travis Duddles, which happened something like this:

John Day fishing trip: Travis had loaned his 2 wt fly rod to a friend of the shop and told him he needed it back before the trip. Well, it was returned to the shop the day before the trip and Travis threw it in with the rest of his gear. The first morning of the trip, everyone was loading the boats and getting their rods put together when Travis started taking his rod out of the tube. Somehow the rod tip section was missing. Well, needless to say he was not a happy camper, as he had no backup rod. Tantrum time…He put the rod back in the tube and threw it a good 50 ft. towards his truck while using words that would make a sailor and a logger plush.

Shortly thereafter, I took my rod out of its tube and low and behold there was an extra tip in it that did not belong to my rod. I just looked at it as if it was a miracle!

Then there was the trip where Charlie C. got up one morning and found stirrups, off the doctor’s examination bed, duct taped to the foot pegs of his pontoon boat…