The fly fishing community in Maryland has suffered a significant loss with the sudden death of one of our most beloved members. Robert W. Abraham, of Thurmont, will be remembered for his life-long love of the outdoors, his duty to our country and his many contributions to the sport of fly fishing.
Abraham was close friends with many fly fishing legends, including Joe Brooks and Lefty Kreh. Over the years, he held memberships in numerous fishing and conservation organizations including the Potomac Valley Fly Fishers, the Antietam Fly Anglers, the Friends of Big Hunting Creek, the Fly Fishers Club of Harrisburg, the Forest and Stream Club of Westminster and the Brotherhood of the Jungle Cock. He was also a supporting member of the Monocacy Valley National Wild Turkey Federation for decades. He and his wife, Barbara, never missed their annual banquet. The Abrahams celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary this past summer.
Abraham enlisted in service to our country during the Korean War and served as a sergeant in the Army Security Agency. During his time of service, Abraham was also a member of the all-American rifle team. He later established a winning rifle team for the U.S. Army Reserves at Fort Detrick and served as their captain.
Following his career in the military, Abraham worked 30 years for the State of Maryland as a game warden, with fisheries and wildlife and later in public relations for the Department of Natural Resources. He retired in 1985. Following his retirement, he worked as a fishing guide on the Potomac River and local trout streams.
Abraham’s life was devoted to education of youth, having served for over 60 years as a mentor in the Brotherhood of the Jungle Cock, by serving as the director of education for many years, and as a president of the BOJC in 1976-77.
The BOJC organization was founded in 1940 in the Catoctin Mountains of Frederick County by a group of conservation-minded fly fishermen. As stated in the creed of the BOJC, adult members pledge to “annually take at least one boy a-fishing, instructing him, as best we know, in the responsibilities that are soon to be wholly his.” The BOJC creed is prominently displayed on the Joe Brooks monument located alongside Big Hunting Creek. Abraham was a true embodiment of the spirit of this organization.
Abraham once told me how he first was introduced to the organization by a prominent Maryland fly angler named Gurney Godfrey. On a rainy spring day in 1958. He was driving through Catoctin Mountain Park when he saw a fly fisherman walking along the road. He stopped and offered the angler a ride to his vehicle that was parked at the Camp Peniel parking lot.
Abraham was working at that time for the Maryland DNR as a game warden. The angler accepted the ride and introduced himself as Godfrey, from Baltimore. He informed the warden that he was in the area that weekend for the Brotherhood of the Jungle Cock Campfire being held nearby at Camp Airy in Thurmont.
Godfrey thanked Abraham for the ride and invited him to supper that evening at the camp. Abraham attended the dinner wearing his DNR uniform. He joined BOJC that evening, sponsored by Godfrey. That chance encounter was the start of a great friendship between the two fly fisherman and the beginning of a close connection between Abraham and the BOJC program.
Abraham treated everyone he met like family, always greeting old and new friends alike with a cheerful smile and heartfelt warmth. This was very apparent in the bond he established with the youth he mentored and inspired at the BOJC campfire weekends. Each year at the BOJC, Bob could be found sitting under a canopy by the lower pond with a table displaying a large assortment of trout flies. The flies were offered to all the youth for use on the ponds. Many of the attending youth caught their first trout on one of his flies.
Throughout the weekend, boys, including my son Nathaniel, would run to “Mr. Abraham” under the canopy to proudly show him their catch. He was always so supportive of the youth. He spent much of his free time at home tying flies, all to be given away. I know in recent years, he donated dozens of flies to the PVFF annual banquet.
I was honored to provide transportation for Abraham to PVFF meetings when called upon. Over the years, my wife and I have enjoyed the company of the Abrahams at the PVFF and NWTF banquets. In recent years, the PVFF casting clinics were preceded with dinners in Middletown and a stop for ice cream on the way home. He was the guest fly tier one month a few years back for PVFF. He tied his “dirty bird” nymph pattern.
Abraham was well-respected and liked by all for his willingness to share his knowledge and experience as an avid outdoorsman. He was an all-around conservationist when it came to both hunting and fishing. Despite his age and difficulties walking, he continued to hunt even this year on his mountain property, taking a gobbler last spring and a buck this fall with his crossbow.
In years past, the Antietam Fly Anglers annual picnic was always held at the pond on the Abraham family property near Camp David. Members were invited to bring their fly rods as Abraham and others provided casting instructions. The Bob Abraham Casting Club has been a longstanding AFA tradition for members and each spring they sponsor a casting rendezvous in Williamsport in honor of Abraham.
Abraham was also a devoted conservationist, most notably the first advocate for catch-and-release ethic in Maryland. His efforts helped establish a catch-and-release fishery on Big Hunting Creek in Thurmont. Abraham was a proponent for fresh water fisheries and stream management in Maryland that extended beyond the Catoctin Mountains.
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