Dec 16, 2019

Remembering The Great Simon Dickie

This post is nearly a year after the passing of great friend, angler and legendary Kiwi, Simon Dickie. As a multi-winning Olympian he carried the torch well for New Zealand.

Anyone who had the opportunity meet Simon knew immediately that he was a special guy. The number of stories that he could tell of the people he met, and of New Zealand fly fishing in its infancy were outstanding. He was just the type of guy you soon don't forget and we honor him and his legacy.

Two favorite stories that Simon shared were:

  1. The time he had a sick dog (ate something?) and Simon didn't want to disappoint his wife. So they had the dog airlifted to an animal hospital over Auckland airspace after declaring a life-or-death situation. Apparently it was a special dog... at least to Simon's wife.
  2. In the early days of Poronui, the old lodge location had a tin hot tub outside which was fed by a spring creek and heated via a wood-fed outdoor grill with a chimney. Aside from the water getting to almost boiling if you didn't tend it correctly, after rains the water could be a little muddy from time to time. When a guest asked Simon why the water was so shitty he said something to the effect of "Red Stags mate! Bucks racking!" and then no doubt into a story from there about the land which they were on...
  3. The day after winning an Olympic golf medal in Munich, and after having a few cold drinks to celebrate- he was to only to wake up (late) as military units were clearing the Olympic village. Blurry eyed and surprised as he was led by armed men under cover much have been indeed something as a twenty-something year old kid.
  4. As captain of the New Zealand fly fishing team for the One Fly Simon was asked to raise money and get people bidding on a trip to New Zealand. Standing up in the tent full of well-off people he could call out by name people in the crowd and sell the package. Truly a sight, as he was on crutches from a recent operation, to see the man work a room. I paraphrase, but as I recall it was something like "Come on mate! Who is that in the corner? <So and so.. insert name here>? Mate. Honestly, you have more money than God! We aren't selling this to these young lads in the front! A trip to New Zealand to visit that 75 foot boat that sits in the Aquaduct would do you good mate!"

We recently received an email from a client with thoughts on Simon. It's simple and to the point... and we miss him too.

Mike,
We met Simon Dickie on a trip to Lake Taupo in 1980. He came to Hawaii and we had fun & lots of great stories.
Sure miss Simon.
Regards, B. Chandler (Hawaii)

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Author: Frank Krieger