Master Fly Fisher
SDFF Member Bernie Fink Passes at 74
a tribute from Bernie's friend Maria Goldman

Bernard Fink, longtime member of San Diego Fly Fishers passed away on Sunday morning, March 9, 2008.

Bernie was my good friend, fly fishing mentor, fellow Labrador Retriever lover and favorite curmudgeon.

Bernie is survived by his wife of 45 years, Joanne (Jo), his wonderful daughter Laurie, his son Jon, his sister Mickey, his son in law David Renas and sweetie pie granddaughters Annie and Caroline.

Bernie was born in Brooklyn, NY on April 30, 1933. This settles the question of Bernie's age that I have been repeatedly asked this past week. I only found out after asking Joanne. Age was never something that you thought about with Bernie. He had an enthusiasm for life and fly fishing that was contagious.

Bernie began his life long love affair with fly fishing as a kid in New York when he was about 5 or 6. He would take the subway (can't you just picture that little squirt with his rod on the subway.) and fish Sheepshead Bay and the pier off of Coney Island in the beginning. Then he began to venture further a field. He and a friend would hitch rides on the milk wagon trucks headed Upstate so that they could fish the trout streams there.

Bernie was a fisheries biologist by training so fish were a part of his professional life as well. He fished all over the world. Bernie actually worked on the tuna boats as a fisherman for months at a time. Later his work for Van Camp and the Tuna Commission took him to Africa, where he and Jo lived for a few years with baby Laurie as well working as a researcher in Viet Nam and numerous islands in the South Seas. After retiring, Bern became a docent at the Stephen Birch Aquarium, volunteered with the Department of Fish and Game as well as volunteering with the AARP doing tax preparation for seniors.

I met Bernie and Jo when they adopted their yellow Labrador, Ben from rescue. I mentioned a fleeting interest in learning to fly fish and our friendship was sealed. Bernie took me under his wing and immediately began my education in fly fishing. First things first, so we began casting practice. Who but Bernie would have permission to use the reflecting pool at an office building in UTC?!?! That is where we spent many a Sunday morning practicing until I graduated to the slough at Torrey Pines Beach. Bernie was a patient teacher. I wasn’t a natural, but he told me that being hard headed as hell made up for it.

Subsequently, I got to experience three Green River trips under Bernie's tutelage. He always had me float the river one day with a guide but thought that walking the river the other days was the way to really learn the river's nuances. Those days, doing Bernie’s version of the "Bataan Death March" are the memories that I cherish. The man was relentless. .We started our day on the river around 8 a.m. and rarely returned before 8 p.m. We were quite the pair. Me, whining about how hungry and tired I was and Bernie checking the deep pools from the banks to see if he should make one more cast. Bernie's persistence with me paid off because now I go out and I am completely able to enjoy a day on the river, on my own, capable of reading the river to a decent degree, change flies, add tippet, change a leader and appreciate the beauty and peace that fly fishing affords me.

Bernie shared his knowledge of fly fishing with many others. Passing a part of him on this way means that Bernie will always go on. He particularly shared his love of fly fishing with his granddaughter Annie. He would get her out of bed at the crack of dawn to go fish Miramar or Lake Murray with the promise of her favorite "pink" donuts. He also managed to teach her how to clean the fish she caught. Both Annie and Caroline grew up knowing that "BaBa" was all about the fish.

I am going to miss being able to call Bern on my cell phone while on the Big Wood River to tell him that I just caught a trout. Sounds like an odd picture but who else would get as excited over my catching a 12 or 14 inch rainbow? Bernie will always live on in those who knew him and loved him.

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