In Memoriam, Jim McCombs (DVFF Member #1775)
by Willy George, DVFF President
As many of you know by now, DVFF lost a dear friend, a Club member, and a Board member when Jim McCombs passed away suddenly on January 13, 2010. Jim was a friend to many and a fishing buddy to a lot of us, including me. I spent many an adventure out on the Delta with Jim chasing striped bass and large mouth bass in his Boston Whaler.
Jim was a fisherman and hunter all his life but took up fly fishing seriously around 2001. He was an avid student and was always picking your brain on how, where, and when. I can't recall ever calling Jim to see if he wanted to go fishing and have him say no. Except, of course, if he already had a date with his grandkids.
Jim was our DVFF Outings Program Chairman for a number of years and had just stepped down at the end of 2009. He was very effective at recruiting Fishmasters to lead over two dozen outings each year. He crafted a very practical job description for the Fishmaster that balanced the needs of the Club members with the prerogative of the Fishmaster to run the outing on their terms. Jim was a quiet but strong leader and our Outings Program became one of our Club's "crown jewels" under his leadership. I get asked by other club presidents more about our abundance of outings than about any of the other programs in our Club.
Jim enjoyed fishing with other Club members and also fishing with the better known guides. Phil Erickson recalls one trip to the Green River in Utah when he saw Jim at the end of the day with eyes as big as saucers. Jim said, "I caught so many fish today, I don't care if I ever catch another fish again." Of course that wasn't true at all. Jim loved to catch fish. Those who attended the San Joaquin outing remember Jim marching up the canyon well ahead of the others.
On our Club outings, especially the camping variety, Jim was famous for his strong coffee. Being from Texas he called it "cowboy coffee." He said, "Coffee is no good if you can't chew it." He also had a real sweet tooth especially for ice cream. We held our first Board meeting without Jim in attendance the other night. Ironically, the ice cream machine was broken at the restaurant where we always meet. That wouldn't have gone over too well with Jim. He had taught the Board to save the larger soup bowl that came on your dinner tray and use it to get a bigger serving of ice cream. I always appreciated Jim's practicality.
When Jim passed away he had just returned from a steelhead trip with fellow DVFF members. His fish report stated, "We had a pretty good trip. We moved it up a day so that we could fish a day before the rain, which was a good call. We landed 7 fish on Monday, I think that 3 were wild. Put in at Evan's Bar and took out at the JC campground. They generally ran a little smaller than our past 2 trips. Yesterday it rained all day and by the end of the day, the river was chocolate milk. We landed 2 plus a brown, actually he popped off when I horsed 
him to speed things up. One was about 7 or 8 lbs., and it had a tag. Fished from Bucktail to Steel Bridge. We lost a couple more and missed some good takes. I was surprised that the river fished so well when it appeared blown out. Think that it was actually blown out when we quit at dark."
The report was typical McCombs: factual, informative, not flashy or overdone.
Jim's son Will McCombs, a Lieutenant Commander and pilot in the Navy, recently shared his father's feelings about our Club. "You and the Diablo Valley Fly Fishermen enriched his life. He found a home with you guys, able to do what he loved to do, sharing great camaraderie and an absolute appreciation for the outdoors. I thank you and the "fishing club" for that. I hope to be so lucky some day when I retire."
I already miss Jim. I am thankful for having known him and for having the chance to fly fish with him (a lot). He really was fond of this great Club of ours. And it was fond of him too. We all will miss Jim.