Harrison Ross Steeves III Born July 2nd, 1937 in Birmingham, Alabama Harrison Steeves was taught flyfishing and tying by his father. For nearly a half century he has pursued his quary, the trout, in both the Eastern and Western parts of the U.S. With early guidance from his father he started tying and then on his own he developed his skills and a personal style of tying. He creates impressionistic flies using whatever techniques necessary and incorporating both natural and synthetic materials. He makes good use of new materials such as Kreinik metallic braid to enhance the sparkle and attractions of his designs. His favorite patterns are terrestrials. Along with Ed Koch he authored the flytying book "Terrestrials" in 1995. His talents have been demonstrated at many flyfishing shows: The International Flytying Symposium, 1995; and others in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. One of his favored creations is the Fire Fly Some sense of Harrison Steeves can be gained from the interactions he has with his collegues at Virginia Tech in Blacksbury Virginia. Steve Hiner, a fellow professor and frequent target of Harrison notes the following. "Harry began fly fishing and tying with his late father at age 12. Growing up in Alabama, he was reared on the "ways of a southern gentleman". I've known Harry for many years and his companionship is most rewarding, not necessarily on the trout stream, but on the "road trips" to and from the waters. The stories abound, and quite often I feel the need to remain in my neoprenes the entire trip. Remember, Harry was present on a college campus during the height of "free love - free everthing" and I only caught the end of this era, so his stories, with what I know to be be filled with megadoses of embellishments, fascinate the hell out of me. Harry is what many of us would call a "trip", "good egg", or a "hoot". Harry is meticulous about his fly fishing equipment and anytime there is an opportunity to "screw around" with his "stuff", all of the local FF tribe will take advantage. We were holding a FF class here on campus and several of us brought rods, reels, and lines for the students to try. Harry has all his reels set for left hand retrieve, so a friend and I took it upon ourselves to strip the line from his reels and convert them to right hand. It was our feeling that he would discover the foul play the next fishing trip and be forced to deal with it on-stream. This was not the case. Shortly after arriving home after the class I received a call from Harry accusing me of the prank. Like any good angler, I lied. Then we were all relegated to hell. Approximately 6 months later I discovered a feminine perfume odor coming form my fly boxes that I carry in my chest pack. I consulted my wife and she conferred the smell with a laugh. I then relegated all my FF buddies to hell, including Harry. The smell grew stronger over the next few months until the day I discovered an air freshener so strategically placed in the bowels of my pack. Harry later fessed up and said we were even, but we will never be even. After this incident I harbored a 1000 plus adult fruit flies in a piece of small plastic tubing and at Harry's absence, I blew the tiny critters under his office door. I have not heard a word but I'm expecting anything. He is a master practical joker, a friend, a "hoot", a "good egg", and the best fly angler I know." ----------------------------------------------------------------- This biography was writen by Steve Hiner and edited by L. Grandison. Please forward any corrections or additional material to L. Grandison at grandiso@umdnj.edu. Reuse of this written account is authorized as long as acknowledgement of origin is made. -- Lindsey Grandison Internet: grandiso@umdnj.edu Physiology & Biophysics Voice: (908) 235-4603 UMDNJ, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School FAX: (908) 235-5038 675 Hoes Lane Piscataway, New Jersey 08854-5635