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Charles E. Brooks
Charles E. Brooks (February 28, 1921 – October 30, 1986), better known as Charlie Brooks, was a fly fisherman, flytier, and author of books and articles about the sport of fly fishing and fly tying. Brooks was born in Venice, Illinois in 1921 and he died at the age of 65 in Fairfield, California. He was veteran of the United States Air Force (formerly the United States Air Corps), serving for 20 years before retiring to the West Yellowstone area in Montana. He spent his retirement fishing, researching, and writing about his discoveries. Possibly his greatest contribution to the sport of fly fishing in the was his redesign of the way artificial nymph fly patterns are tyed when fishing for trout in the Western United States. His research and observations led him to create an artificial nymph fly pattern that is ties "in-the-round". This new fly, the Brooks Montana Stonefly Nymph had a much higher success rate for trout fishing.

Early Life
Charles E. Brooks was born to parents, John E. Brooks and Mattie Clements, on February 28, 1921. However, he was raised and went to grade school in the Missouri Ozarks. He and his six brothers and sisters grew up during the Great Depression and lived their lives in poverty, partially due to his father, who was a laborer, being limited in his ability to work due to being injured in an industrial accident in 1929. They kept afloat by chopping cotton.

Brooks first began fly fishing at the age of nine when he traded a bag of deer tails in exchange for a little bit of cash, a box of fly fishing materials, and thirty minute lesson in fly tying. Brooks regarded this deal as, "the greatest bargain I ever made in my life." In the winter of 1930, Brooks began tying his own tyes. He started fishing with a home-made hickory wood pole, line, and leaders made of horsehair.

In 1933, Brooks graduated from elementary school. He then went on, at the age of just 12 years old, to get a job in order to support his family. He worked as a migrant farmer, sending all of his eaarnings, except 5 cents per day, back home to his family. The little amount of money he kept went towards buying buttermilk and bread. "I had that for supper," Brooks stated, "The farmers usually provided some kind of dinner, and I never did eat breakfast until I was 25 or 26."

Three years later, in 1936, after the death of his father, Brooks joined the Civilian Conservation Corps. This is what initially brought him westward, first encountering the trout streams of Montana and Wyoming. He knew then that he wanted to return there someday an write about fishing.

Since Brooks began working immediately after completing elementary school, he didn't get the chance to go through high school until 1939 when an opportunity presented itself. A high school football coach from Milan, Missouri offered him a job in exchange for him playing on the team. Brooks was successful in athletics. He also lettered in basketball, baseball, and track all while maintaining an A-average and working two jobs. Despite his packed schedule, waking up at 5 A.M. each morning and not getting to bed until 11 P.M. each night, he really enjoyed high school. So much so that he would whistle and sing down the hallways, to several teacher's annoyance. In just a matter of three years, Brooks graduated high-school as a straight-A student.

Military Career

Brooks, some years later in 1942, joined the Army Air Corps. He started off as a aviation cadet, but was then commisioned as a bombardier. In the second World War, Brooks with his pilot, Richard Witkin, flew 50 missions across Europe. Witkin remarked on how he had never met a man who enjoyed war the way Brooks did. He clarified that it was not for the killing, but for the thrill and the adventture of it all. Witkin said about Brooks, "He's the last of the great adventurers."