Jimmy Carter, Unsurpassed as Humanitarian and Avid Fly Angler, Passes at 100

Former U.S. President, humanitarian, and avid fly angler Jimmy Carter passed away Sunday at age 100. Carter entered hospice care in February of 2023 and exceeded expectations one final time. The former president was preceded in death by his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn, in November of 2023. 

Aside from his in-office accomplishments and post-presidency legacy of conservation and charitable endeavors, he was as fishy an angler as anyone. His passion was evident in his many articles on the pages of, and experiences with the editors of, Fly Fisherman. We honor his contributions to better our world.

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One of Us

Editor and publisher Ross Purnell shares his thoughts:

"There is a lot to love an appreciate about President Jimmy Carter’s life. He was a global leader, a humanitarian, and a humble man who work to alleviate poverty and disease, and to reduce conflicts around the globe. But what I liked most about him is that he was one of us. And by one of 'us' I mean, he was a true outdoorsman and fly fisher. He absolutely loved fly fishing, from his introduction to it in the early 1980s until well into his 90s, fly fishing was one of he great passions. He fished the Green Drake hatch on Spruce Creek with his good friend Wayne Harpster almost every year for about 40 years, he invited the top fly-fishing minds in the world to a 'fly fishing summit' at Camp David, and with his wife Rosalynn and fishing buddies like Carlton Hicks, Bob Wilson, and John Moore, he traveled around the world to some of the top fly-fishing destinations in world, constantly learning and exploring, whether it was learning to use a two-handed rod and a Skagit line, or spotting ghostlike permit on the flats. He was always trying something new.

"President Carter wrote five feature articles for Fly Fisherman, mostly travelogues about fishing in Tierra del Fuego, the Ponoi River, or Honduras. He was kind, humble, and always enjoyed swapping fish stories. But for him it was never just about the fish, he enjoyed the comradery of fishing with his friends or with Rosalynn, and he often combined diplomatic or humanitarian work with his fishing travels. And he was a constant defender of the environment. On the island of Guanaja, for instance, he took a day away from fishing to plant mangroves, and used his platform to call attention to coastal mangrove forests wiped out by Hurricane Mitch.

"He loved fishing in Alaska, and in 1980 protected 103 million acres of Alaska wilderness, with about 56 million acres going into the National Park System to be permanently protected from oil, gas, or mineral development.

"And like all good fishermen, he never gave up, every day on the water was like every day of his life, filled with passion and persistence. This is what his guide Matthew Ramsey said after fishing with President Carter for a week on a remote river in Mongolia: 'One thing I learned is that you don't get to be President of the United States by being a wuss. This guy just turned 89, and I am not exaggerating when I say that he out-fished and out-efforted every other client at the lower camp this year. He would cast the entire 9-hour day, fish or no fish, with a grit and determination that was frankly intimidating.'

"Everyone who ever fished with him came away impressed and inspired by his curiosity, and the 'work' he put into his greatest pastime. He was truly one of us."

Camp David

Former Fly Fisherman editor John Randolph also had some memorable experiences with Carter: 

"In July 1980 I was invited to Camp David, Maryland, to teach President Jimmy Carter techniques of fly fishing, including casting and fly tying. Our group of experts included Vince Marinaro, Eric Leiser, Ed Shenk, Cathy and Barry Beck, Tom Maxwell, Jim Guilford, and others. The meeting resulted in the article 'Spruce Creek Diary' by President Carter in the January-February 1982 issue. That piece on the joys and fulfillments of fly fishing became syndicated by The New York Times and went into newspapers worldwide, igniting an international interest in our sport. Fly fishing became the 'in' thing for an entirely new generation of men and women."

On Fishing Presidents

Fly Fisherman magazine's founder Don Zahner shared his thoughts in the "Anglish Spoken Here" column from the aforementioned January-February 1982 issue: 

"While one can hardly say that fishing is the sport of Presidents, it has certainly been a Presidential sport. With the rise of the campaign publicist during the past half-century, every United States President has been publicly documented as having fished, after kissing his quota of babies, of course. Certainly F.D.R. was a deep-sea fisherman in his more robust years, both before and after being stricken with polio. Harry S. Truman was an habitue of the sportfishing docks at Key West, his winter White House, and both President s Nixon and Ford, perhaps posed by P.R. men, have been photographed in fishing regalia (although the thought of the slice-prone Jerry Ford unleashed on a crowded trout stream gives one a certain valid concern). But serious fly fishermen in the White House have been as scarce as Blue Dun hackle. There is a published picture of Cal Coolidge gingerly holding two trout on a South Dakota trout stream, of course, but there is also a photo of him in an Indian war bonnet, and you would have a hard time proving to his old neighbor s up the road from us in Plymouth, Vermont, that Cal was a Sioux. However, there is no question as to Herbert Hoover's flyfishing credentials - he wrote a book on his experiences on the Brule River and elsewhere called Fishing for Fun. And certainly 'Ike' Eisenhower, schooled during World War II and afterward by aide Gen. 'Beetle' Smith, followed the sport with enthusiasm, occasionally venting his spleen at well-meaning fish and game officials who insisted on planting corralled Junkers wherever Ike went to fish.

"But former President Jimmy Carter is unique in 20th century White House angling annals. While he had fished and enjoyed other outdoor sports in his native Georgia, the revelation of angling in its ultimate form came to him during his early White House years, triggered, as he once told us, by a subscription to Fly Fisherman, a gift from his son 'Chip.' Soon afterward "leaks" from usually reliable sources in Washington told of a surreptitious trip by the President' s daughter Amy to buy a fly vest for him at Christmas from Barry Serviente’s 'Angler 's Art' tackle shop in D.C., followed by reports of later visits from his wife and White House associates bent on further suspicious purchases. Shortly there would be front -page photographs of President Carter fly-fishing in the nearby Catoctin Mountains of Maryland, then in Pennsylvania, and finally on to Idaho and Montana. (Just before his personal trip to China last summer, he called us to in quire about fly-fishing opportunities in Japan, where he would stop after his China visit; we turned him over to Leon Chandler of Cortland Line, who came up with a solid Japanese connection.)

"But the depth of his immersion became clear as crystal when he confessed to us some two years ago that, in the early spring of 1979, while standing on the Madison portico of the White House with his wife, he had eyed wantonly a bushy-tailed squirrel on the lawn­ not as a harbinger of Washington spring but as fodder for his newly installed fly-tying bench. After that, all of us here at FFM knew that there would be no turning back for Jimmy Carter.

"In August of last year, along with many other anglers, he journeyed to West Yellowstone 's developing fly fishing shrine to attend the FFF International Conclave. In addressing a few informal words to attending anglers, Mr. Carter ended by saying, with warm conviction, 'I am one of you.' Well, that was very nice and appreciated by all, sir, but hardly necessary. As they say, it takes one to know one, and we sniffed you out long ago. Welcome to the fraternity."

Love and Concern for Others

Fly-fishing and photography veterans Barry and Cathy Beck were two of the pros who accompanied Carter to Camp David in 1980. Their rememberance is as follows: 

"Receiving a phone call from Jimmy Carter, president of the United States, was an unbelievable surprise and one that we’ll never forget. To be invited to spend some quality time with the president of the United States to talk about fly fishing was one of the best highlights of our fishing career. President Carter was the perfect example of southern hospitality. He immediately made us comfortable and at ease in his presence and it was obvious that he was sincerely interested in our sport. We helped him tie his first fly, a Woolly Bugger, and had the opportunity to do some fly casting together. He would go on to author books and articles on his love for fly fishing and even sent us a tippet dispenser that he himself made while at Camp David. His love and passion for fly fishing will always be remembered, but it was his love and concern for other people, and his desire to improve the lives of the less fortunate, that made him an extraordinary person. We hope that is how the world remembers Jimmy Carter."

Thank you and rest well, Mr. President.