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What happened to Alaska fishing guru and legend Jim
Repine?
Tradition is everywhere, in everything, and is especially
relevant in matters of art—in poetry and literature, music and drama, and
yes, in flyfishing. It is inescapable, and we find ourselves either adhering
to it or breaking from it whether consciously or not. Those that come before
us in these fields cast an indelible shadow upon our present activities, and
I believe that by understanding, assimilating, and sometimes imitating our
precursors, even if only to depart from their ways, we both honor them and
draw nearer our own accomplishments.
Alaska has its own traditions, Alaskan angling in particular, and perhaps
no figure looms so large within that sphere as Jim Repine. This unrepentant
predator prowled the Last Frontier from 1968 through the early 90s, his
remarkable journey of exploration permanently preserved by his pen. Many of
you might remember his weekly outdoor columns in the Anchorage, Fairbanks,
and Juneau dailies. Or perhaps the twice-weekly television show “Alaska
Outdoors” rings a bell, which he produced and hosted for a dozen years. Or
there was the magazine of the same name that he wrote for and edited, as
well as the four books he managed to release. For nearly three decades, Jim
Repine has been synonymous with the state’s angling scene, and fortunately
for all of us with much left to learn, his voice rings on, as he’s back as a
senior contributing editor with Fish Alaska.
You might have noticed his byline on the profile of flyfishing giant Lee
Wulff in the previous issue. A little deeper in this one, you’ll find his
travel feature written for snowbound Alaskans looking to escape for some
fantastic winter fishing.
In the coming year, we’ll be spotlighting much more Repine, with a
continuation of his profile series. There’s an upcoming two-part look at the
fishing life and times of Lefty Kreh, and then profiles of other titans of
the rod and reel: Roderick Haig-Brown, Joan Wulff, Mel Krieger, Ted
Williams, Peter O’Reilly, and more. These folks were and are more than just
knowledgeable and legendary anglers—they are our tradition, brought to us
not only by someone that has fished and learned and traded secrets with
them, but by an integral part of that same tradition.
Jim Repine eventually moved away from his beloved Alaskan waters,
building a lodge and settling on the Futaleufu River in Chilean Patagonia.
In his own words, he didn’t quit Alaska so much as he moved to the call of
another emerging fishery. He continues to lend his wisdom to our eager ears,
though, and he supplies the dream of Alaska to readers in Japan, England,
Canada, and beyond in a worldwide trail of progressing erudition. But maybe
more than his teaching and his experience in Alaska, and maybe more even
than his techniques and his fly patterns, Repine’s real gift to us lays in
the wealth of learning he has to relate on man’s relationship with the wild
he is forever drawn towards—and as a facilitator of our tradition.
He speaks to an evolution of his thoughts and feelings over sixty years
of deep fascination with wild places and things, and of his abiding
admiration for the creatures he continues to pursue. In watching and reading
and listening to Jim Repine, you soon realize that what he’s getting at goes
far beyond simply stalking trophy fish and the waters that hold them. His is
a testament that is at once his own creation and one that belongs to the
past, intertwined in a story without beginning and hopefully, without end.
As the great Igor Stravinsky once noted, tradition results from a
deliberate acceptance of the trials and achievements, the advancements and
the originalities of those who walked our paths before us. There was a man
who recognized the anxiety inherent in following close on the heels of
accomplished forerunners. Born into Tchaikov-sky’s world, Stravinsky first
had to understand those colossal shadows he dwelt under before his own
genius would allow him to experiment through the old to build the new.
Rimsky-Korsakov, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Arnold Schoenberg, and many
more—they were studied and emulated, then incorporated, and then finally
overcome. Jim Repine has studied and learned from the greats in his
world—and that world itself, which has so much to teach. As an author and
photographer, he is passing that knowledge on for our use.
We learn with aid from Repine that tradition is not Scripture; it must be
molded to fit the times. The horizon we see is not an end, but where we
should aim to achieve. In seeking the wisdom of our angling heritage, from
those few of true eminence, we learn that our tradition insists we also
improvise and innovate, that we strive to be better anglers, more
responsible, and better stewards of the environment. In short, we learn that
tradition’s only demand is that we learn from it while transcending it.
Stravinsky followed greatness with a sublimity all his own. The music of the
Jim Repines of the world may not achieve the same level of distinction, but
their achievements are no less inspired—and no less inspiring.
It’s up to us to follow where we can, to take from their advice what we
will, and to pass on what we’ve learned on our journey. No one gets to
choose their legacy, only the opportunities left behind, and what endures
will become the tradition of the generations yet to follow. We can only hope
to be so good to them as our predecessors were to us.
—Troy Letherman
Editor |
