Bruce Weir, Guide |
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Two Flowers |
Bruce Weir, Guide |
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Contemplation |
Bruce Weir, Guide |
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At the Lake |
The Weir family of Stillwater
live near the top of a two-mile stillwater on the St. Mary's River, which gives the community its name. Roderick
and Mae Weir had three daughters, Nettie, Jane and Martha, and sons John, Hoise, Lockie, Bertie, Dan and Bruce. Bruce (Brucie
to his friends) and his late brother Lockie guided visiting anglers for many of the "good ole' days" on the
river and nearby lakes. As I write this, Bruce, now 84 years old, still occasionally takes a friend fishing
or hunting if he's feeling up to an outdoor adventure. Bruce, wife Ruby, and dog Suzie share their piece of heaven near
ours. They are wonderful neighbors. Six years ago their son Eddie and wife Cheryl built a retirement home nearby,
returning to the sacred Weir homestead. They also have a daughter, Helene, in Calgary, AB.
Bruce and Lockie built
many boats in their day, mostly St. Mary's River punts and heavy wooden lake boats (too heavy to be stolen). Their river
punts followed the Tom Ross punt design, but added features like a keel. Their lifetime of farming, logging
and guiding taught the Weir brothers to work smart rather than hard. I was amazed to see the ease with which Bruce
transported these heavy craft, using small rollers made from logs or pipes, and large rollers made from oil drums. A roller
here, a lever there, and it's done! His simple methods actually make our newer, mechanized ways seem awkward, inefficient,
and obsolete!
I once asked Bruce to share some of the secrets he learned during his many years of dry
fly fishing for salmon. He said, "Well there's not much to it. You just float the dry fly over the salmon and he
rises and takes it! That's about it." Then he told me of a dry fly moment when his cast landed on a partially submerged
rock instead of beside the rock. "No matter, the fish rolled up and grabbed it right off the rock!"
In 2004 I spent a remarkable day helping Bruce and Ralph O’Brien cut and store a big pile of softwood "slabs".
Bruce assembled a makeshift mill from old parts including an antique 1-cylinder gasoline engine. We also employed
the services of a wild, noisy and cranky old red "lake truck" with the label "Trout City Express" painted
on its doors. It was retired from its lake road duties a few years ago and now rests sulking in the
pasture. The Express sputtered, lunched and blasted its way around the yard, shrouded by a heavy cloud of grey smoke. It
was a performance like none I've ever seen, but it got the job done in its own distinctive manner, just like its
owner always does.
At noon we were treated to a great dinner by Ruby, including a slice of her wonderful
"war cake", a meal in itself, for dessert. So it was with renewed energy, not fatigue, that we headed back
to the woodpile.
I look back on it as a grand day, one of the very finest I've ever experienced, like
stepping back into the past, before my time, with a true master for a guide. Bruce orchestrated the project beautifully,
much like Charles Mingus commandeered his high-spirited and unruly jazz ensembles, constantly prodding, scheming, barking
orders and improvising so as to keep things going forward smoothly without missing a beat. By day's end
the woodshed was full, the Express was full to bursting, and the woodpile was no more. Even its night crawlers, sow bugs,
slugs and a tiny garter snake had left to search for a new home in the sunset.
- Bill Carpan, 2009
Bruce Weir & Ralph O'Brien |
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The team - Bruce sawed, Ralph threw cut slabs into the woodshed, & I fed uncut slabwood to Bruce |
Bruce Weir, Ralph O'Brien & the Express |
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Bruce & Ralph load the Trout City Express |