06/16/2025
Rest In Peace John W. Harris, “Bur”….
The bolt of lightning ripped through a hundred year old Sycamore fifty yards up the dark mountain side.
Giant wild magnolia blooms glowed white against boiling black storm clouds.
Bur, “Hey man, you’re not going to believe this, but I think it’s about to rain”, as his, “Wulff Bass Bug”, line came tight to another portly
Redeye.
Within seconds of our Wenonah, “Kingfisher”, sliding onto the bank, that mid-July, sweat soaked day on a North Alabama creek in the middle of nowhere, turned into something very different.
Late November had arrived mid-Summer.
The temperature dropped 30 degrees, birdsong stopped, frog croaking ceased, nature went silent.
Then it rained, and hailed, and the lightning began in earnest.
There was only enough time to sit in the mud.
For forty five minutes, at a distance of five feet, we could not see or hear one another.
We both thought, “the fat lady might be warming up”.
When the reprieve finally began, and hypothermia set in, a giant, “Bur smile”, emerged from the darkness, along with the words, “Man, there’s nowhere I’d rather be, and no one I’d rather be with”.
Well Bur Harris, please know we would give anything to spend just one more day on a creek bank with you.
This coming Tuesday, June 17, we say goodbye to our dear friend, Bur Harris, one of the greatest fly tyers, fly tying instructors, and the finest streamer fisherman the state of Alabama will ever know.
All of our lives are so much richer for having known you.
Thank you Bur.
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