If ever there was a man who promoted Reno for it's beauty and grace and defended the river corridor like a bear defended it's cubs. He never saw Reno as a gaming town. He could give you history and stories about people, and you could just see his passion. He was a spearhead for saving the Truckee river when it was at it's worst and I honestly believe a lot of the re-development all along the river corridor wouldn't have happened without him. He was Also a character, with his scruffy beard, cigarette hangin down. He was a master machinist and I was always eager to stop by his shop on Giroux and see what oddity people had come for him to make, or the stuff he would make when it was slow and we wasn't fishing.
I met him walking under the Wells overpass. He was in his waders, straw hat and carrying a fly fishing pole. He was heading back to his machine shop off Kuenzli and commented what a nice day it was. He asked me if I fished and I said not the rive it was just a waste of time with all the tiny planters. That was not the answer he wanted to hear. An hour later I had promised to purchase a fishingpermit and meet him the next Saturday where his park is now with a promise that if I didn't think it was worth it he would give me the cost.
I showed up and 2 things dissapointed him.
1. I had brought a spinning reel. John belonged to the Church Of the Almighty Tied Fly.
2. It was October and I was in shorts, no waders. He said sometimes you have to get wet to fish, and I said I knew that, I just dont get cold. He was impressed that I fished most of the day in the water.
While we got ready he talked about all the time he spent cleaning the river, organizing cleanup with inmate crews from the County Jail, helping get funding for improvements. He asked why I had quit fishinf and I told him that I just felt the river had been ruined by over fishing and over planting. He said "You were right" which I thought was kind of odd. But "were" was the word. Not a half hour into fishing I landed a 5lb native rainbow right there behind the Gazette, and John was as excited as me. The smallest fish I caught that day was 12" and I had a blast. The fact that a fly fisherman had got skunked made it even better and John took the gentle ribbing of a stranger witha great sense of humor. I don't mean to sound bitter about fly fishing, the truth is I am simply too uncoordinated to do it. I have caught more behind me than in front of me.
John explained to me that day the cleanup of the river had given the natives back spawning grounds and it was improving each year.
He was mesmerizing when he talked about the things he loved, how else would he get me out of bed at 5AM on a Saturday to meet with a group of strangers to clean muck out of the river.
If you get a chance go down the John Champion Park on Kuenzli and see the anvil from his shop and the dedication plack. it is also quite possibly one of the most beautiful stretches of the Truckee. Stop and Say hi to John as well, the spread his ashes off the walking bridge over the river he loved so much.
