Hope It's Not True

Our fellow Fly Fishing Blog pundits were posting today that Kaufmann's Streamborn has closed it's doors.

http://www.moldychum.com/home-old/2011/4/22/its-official.html

http://blog.oregonlive.com/windowshop/2011/04/kaufmanns_streamborn_fly_fishi.html

It would be nice if this is not true. One of the older fly fishing businesses in the U.S., North America for that matter, I grew up spending hours scanning the Kaufmann's catalogue, checking out all the latest gear and flies.

A bunch of the places around the world that people enjoy fishing today were first "R & D'd" by Randall. Not only that, but a whole bunch of hot fly patterns originally came off the Kaufmann's vises.

Sad to see, if it's true, North American tackle manufacturers and fly shops brought our sport to what it is today. I have a tough time imagining my sport where the only place I can go to pick up a few supplies and check out the latest-greatest is a Bass Pro or similar.