Page 18 - 2021 MAR/APR Outdoor Oklahoma Magazine

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Dave Whitlock holds his artwork “Crappie in the Cedars” that adorns one of ODWC’s 2021 collectible durable license cards.

several fishing-world halls of fame. He and his wife, Emily, are
FAMED FLY FISHER’S ART a fly-fishing instruction power couple who truly could live just
about anywhere they wanted as — long as the fishing was good.
AGAIN GRACES ODWC internationally. They have fished streams and instructed anglers
The “Dave and Emily Whitlock” moniker is known
LICENSE COLLECTOR’S CARD everywhere. Television shows, instructional videos, lecturing
tours — they have done it all. But they choose to call a little slice
of heaven in southeastern Oklahoma home. And they offer private
By Kelly Bostian, KJB Outdoors fly-fishing lessons there, too.
A spring-fed trout stream meanders across the front of the
A few days shy of turning 86, Dave Whitlock looked to the sky property, and the fishing instruction pond is the main feature
after a shoreline lunch. The “background music” was the trickling out back. John T. Nickel, Whitlock’s childhood friend, owns the
of a clear-water stream and the soft breezes whispering through an surrounding Caney
early November kaleidoscope of leaves overhead. Creek R anch keLLy BOstiAn
He declared it a fine day to do nothing more than breathe it all in. Whitlock’s home is
“It all” encompasses this man’s view colored by a lifetime of a stone’s throw from
experience outdoors that few in the world can match, including the creek where he
having his artwork featured for a second time on the Oklahoma and Nickel caught
Department of Wildlife Conservation’s durable collector’s card their first Neosho
fishing license. smallmouth bass on
Whitlock’s “Crappie in the Cedars” is the image selected to appear fly rods more than
on the 2021 version of the fishing card. Any Oklahoman who opted 70 years ago.
to buy one of the inaugural $5 durable cards in 2018 might know “I’ve been to a
that “Dragon Slayer,” depicting a largemouth bass jumping out of the lot of places, but
water toward a dragonfly, was also Whitlock’s creation. Oklahoma probably
Those who get one of the new fishing cards will be familiar with offers as good an
the scene depicting the underwater world of one of Oklahoma’s opportunity for
most-popular game fish. But in the Muskogee-born artist/angler’s catching fish on a fly
home state, not many people recognize the man behind the art. That rod as any state I’ve
isn’t the case for people living in the fly-fishing meccas worldwide. been in,” Whitlock
A world-renowned fly-fishing angler, fly-tying legend, said. “You have to Dave Whitlock enjoys fly fishing at his southeastern
instructor, artist, author, and inventor, Whitlock’s name is in make that mental Oklahoma home near Welling.

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