Archive: Legacy Plate #1

Zane Grey: Introducing the Steelhead to the World

Zane Grey ushered steelhead—both the word and the fish—into the public's consciousness as no one ever had during either the history of its scientific discovery or the sport of fishing. This meteoric recognition occurred with the publication of Grey's Tales of Freshwater Fishing in 1928. To Grey, the steelhead was an elegant game fish of great strength, dazzling beauty, and with a mystique based on years of ocean travel to faraway lands.

Grey moved his summer camp to the North Umpqua in 1932 after the Rogue River became too crowded for his taste—ironically, a result of the crowds he helped invite through his own bestselling books, including Rogue River Feud. Although Grey was world-renowned for his prowess at fighting giant marlin and tuna from the decks of lavish yachts, he found the steelhead of the Pacific Northwest quite confounding. By his own admission, he struggled with his "very old Kosmic fly-rod, nine and a half feet, eight ounces," while the more skilled casters in his party successfully landed fish. Through his writing, Grey forever transformed the steelhead from a commercial byproduct into a power-laden "super fish" with a beauty and mystique like no other game fish in North America.

As he later wrote to his son Romer, Grey's memories of the river remained poignant and vivid: "how poignantly and vividly your letter brought back the singing river, the long winding lane of green and white water, the great black fir trees standing aloft the roar of the rapids at night, and the glancing clear water over the stones and gravel...".

Legacy Plate #1 features the legendary author and angler Zane Grey casting for summer steelhead on the North Umpqua River in southern Oregon.

Download Information: Legacy Plate #1 is a high-resolution archival plate available in the Legacy Archive. Once downloaded and printed, it is suitable for framing. Dimensions: 10” (width) x 8” (height) at 300 DPI