Guest Post by Kevin Estrada from Sturgeon Slayers
If you are an avid angler, you probably over time have run into people who just get it. In most cases people may turn out to be someone you didn’t expect. But in very rare cases you will find yourself totally one with an angler ,friend or stranger who quickly becomes more than just another person on the water.
Many years ago I met a man named Rolf Kirmse. He was a hard man when I first walked into his fly shop in Lone Butte at the age of fifteen. No small talk, just to the point and he wasn’t into sugar coating anything. After constantly going into the shop to bother him on the way to our family cabin on Sheridan Lake, Rolf began to open up a little bit to me. Telling me some of his fishing secrets around the Cariboo region. Eventually he got me into my first fly rod and taught me some of the basics on his pond beside the shop.
We quickly struck up a friendship. The grizzly bear of a man, ended up being a teddy bear. Hard to believe, if you were to tell the odd person who walked through the shop doors.
Over the years, we would spend many days out fishing,hunting and just enjoying each others company.
I was like a sponge, when it came to hanging out with Rolfy. The man knew everything about the outdoors and survival. The most accomplished outdoorsmen. From his gardens, to solar energy, to even spending months traveling across the NWT living off the land, he was always one with nature. Someone once said “If Rolf had been here 100 years ago or more, he would have been a pioneer in many avenues” there was just nothing he did not know.
Contact would be kept as I headed off to University and then work after school. Chatting about how the fishing was back home, and what new fisheries I was experiencing where ever I was, stayed at the heart of our conversations. He would always update me about his trips to the Chilcotin with his wife Angie and dog Wilma. He loved the area. No people, just beautiful surroundings, clear water and great fishing.
This routine would stay fairly consistent for years. As time went on, we always reflected on our good and bad days out, and told normal fishing lies to each other.
A few years back Rolfy decide it was time to sell the store and do a little more traveling and relaxing. A young man named Mark Roseboom entered. An eager fella from Chilliwack, who made a nice transition into the store. A perfect fit.
One chapter closed, another opened.
Rolfy enjoyed his retirement. More yard work,fishing, hunting and time with family.
As I returned from work abroad in Europe this season. I quickly found myself swamped with my other business. Fishing. Operating a guiding company is no small task. Something I love to do and a passion that was further developed with Rolf over many years. I figured that I have too much passion for something not to share with more people, the same as he had once done with me.
We chatted about me getting up for some fishing in May as the ice was off a little early this season and we usually do quite well on Sheridan at this time of year. It had been about 7 months since I had seen him, though it didn’t seem that long. We Discussed my desire to get him down to my place in Chilliwack and help me finally put together the garden we had often thought about doing.
As I headed up to fish and film in Terrace with some friends on May 19th of this year. I received the call nobody wants. My good friend and fishing soul mate Rolfy, had just passed away.
A hard blow to take. The man I looked up to in many ways, was not going be around to help me net anymore of those nice rainbows.
Bonded through fishing, we had a friendship that was rare. A true understanding not only in an alike obsession with fishing, but an overall moral and ethical outlook on life.
Outdoorsmen who not only lived by unwritten laws, but more so values and respect of all things in nature.
Rolfy is very sadly missed by those who knew him best. A man of true integrity and high moral standard is hard to find these days, and that is exactly who he was and how he lived.
If you have had someone like this is your life you are probably in tears right now. If you haven’t had this type of fishing bonded friendship yet, keep your eyes open and enjoy every minute of it.
As much as I try to express how much my buddy meant to me and how much I enjoyed his company over the years, words cannot express the void of losing someone who felt closer than family.
We miss and Love you Rolfy Baby!!!
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