Today I attended the funeral of my good friend Rod Tye. Since his death on Monday I have been thinking of writing a tribute to him. I am not writing an obituary but my memories of a remarkable man.
Rod was born in Coventry in 1958. From a early age he was a keen angler and also pursued his other passion in life, art. Rod studied art in both London and Rome and later returned to London to teach art. He was also a sculptor and had a studio in London were he created some wonderful works of art, some of which are in famous galleries and one which sits on the desk of Prince Charles the future King of England. It is easy to understand how with a back ground like this, Rod turned his talented hands to his other great love, fly fishing and fly tying.
Rod moved to the west of Ireland some twenty years ago with his family and began his career in fly tying,dying materials and guiding on Lough Conn. After a few years there he moved and set up home and a business on the shores of Lough Mask. This is were a great number of anglers came to know Rod, myself included, and began to see what a talent he had. His shop was an Aladdin's cave for the fly tier with all its wonderful materials and with his background in art, Rod's grasp on colours, especially true Irish colours, were second to none. Many a man went to Rod's for a mere packet of hooks and left with his wallet a hell of a lot lighter such was the temptation to have those wonderful colours in your own fly bench. Rod's shop was also a place to meet and talk all things fish and gather information on what was happening on the loughs. Rod was very forthcoming in this department and would gladly give information on where was fishing, what was catching, and how to tie the said flies. There were many friendships made in Rod's shop, many things learnt and many a heated discussion was had there. Rod was a determined man and would always stick to his guns on something he believed in and some people may have found this strange, but with Rod there was no grey areas he called it as he saw it and I for one had great respect for him because of this. We often agreed to disagree on fishing matters but one thing we shared was our love for nature. Rod had a deep passion for all things wild, and I think this is why he loved the Mask so much. Its rugged beauty, its wonderful wild life and of course its wonderful wild brown trout. It was these wild fish that Rod cared so deeply for and saw them as a thing of beauty and wonder and not as food or a bragging trophy. Rod and my good friend Ronan were the two men who changed my whole out look on wild trout fishing and made me see the stupidity in killing these wonderful creatures. Some people will remember Rod for his skill in fly tying, his great writing skills in the many fishing magazines, but for me it will always be his passion for catch and release. In what I think was his final article for Irish Angler, he wrote a wonderful piece on C&R, which I thought was his finest work, and I was lucky enough to tell him this before his death. I said to him it should be standard reading for all wild trout anglers and we both firmly agreed on this. I for one will always carry on what Rod had taught me, that wild trout are way to precious to be killed.
Rod was a great " little man " as we called him, a wonderful father to his two little boys, a very talented fly tier, dyer of materials, angler and all round human being. He will be deeply missed by his family and friends and I for one will miss our long chats in the shop where we would regularly put the world to right. He is a massive loss to the angling world but he will not be forgotten and his memory will live long around the Mask and the west of Ireland.
I hope wherever he is, that there is a warm south wind on his back, a gentle wave carrying him along, and a fine wild brown trout head and tailing over his flies.
Rest in peace my friend, it was a honour to have known you.
ROD TYE 1958 - 2009
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Rod Tye Tribute
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