Henry Winkler Tells Us All About Those Trout Pictures
Photographs: Henry Winkler, Getty Images; Collage: Gabe Conte
For a certain generation of TV-watchers, Henry Winkler will always be Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli, the Fonz of Happy Days. Younger viewers might first think of incompetent lawyer Barry Zuckerkorn from Arrested Development or Coach Klein from The Waterboy. And of course, it was his turn in Barry as acting coach Gene Cousineau that earned Winkler his first Emmy in his eighth decade.
But if you are following him on X (formerly Twitter), your main association might be with Winkler, the fly-fisherman, who fills his feed with a steady stream of pictures of him beaming while squeezing impressive specimens of trout—speckled native cutthroats, flashy rainbows, silvery browns.
Talking over the phone call with GQ, fresh from the South Fork of the Snake River and getting ready for a European tour to promote his recent memoir, Winkler says he’s been surprised by the viral love for his fishing photos. “I thought I would just put it on Twitter for my friends to see,” he said. “And then it turned into this thing where people loved it all over the world.”
Winkler says his followers won’t have to wait long before more trout pics: Now that his oldest grandson is finally big enough to get into the boat, he’s got another trip planned this fall.
GQ: It looked like you really crushed them last week. I mean, trout don't come better than that.
Henry Winkler: Now remember, I fish six days a week when I'm there, so there is fallow time—that is made up by those beauties. You know, sometimes they bite, sometimes they don't! If the weather is a little wonky, if the water has been lowered, if the water is too cold, if the water is too hot? The greatest expression in all of fishing is Man, you should have been here yesterday.
How did you get into fly fishing?
About 25 years ago—maybe a little longer—my incredible lawyer, Skip Brittingham, took Stacey [Winkler, Henry’s wife of 46 years] and I fishing down the Smith River in Montana. We were out there for five days—we slept out on the bank. We had three meals a day on the river. And I caught, I think, one or two fish during that whole week. But no pun intended, I was hooked.
That's how it works, I guess.
It was so beautiful, and you can't concentrate on anything that is bothering you or you're gonna lose the fish. Because the second, the millisecond, the nanosecond, you look away, the fish comes, catches the hook, and then spits it out once it realizes it's not a real fly.
Now we’ve been going to a lodge in Idaho for the last 10 years or so.
Are you at liberty to say where that is? I know sometimes fishing people can be a little coy about this kind of thing.
Oh, no—it’s called The Lodge at Palisades Creek. It is rustic. It is delicious. Great guides, wonderfully run. And then 15 minutes down the road Jimmy Kimmel bought a fishing lodge and did it to the nines. Stacey and I have dinner there once every trip. Last year I fished with Jimmy in the boat at his lodge. He loves it. He's a great fisherperson. I think he was turned onto it by Huey Lewis and the News.
I was looking at your Twitter, like, these are not normal fish.
They are normal fish for this river! They are not easy, but you have to be patient. You have a great guide. Your guide knows where the fish are. And then, if you are patient enough…you know, there are seven rules in casting for a trout. You have to put [your fly] right on the water. It must settle as if it were a real little fly—it can't splash. Then you've gotta get your line behind the fly. So now it's moving along the water at the same rate as a natural. You've got to feed the fish, then when you set the hook, you then have to feel, is the fish running? Is the fish staying in place? Is the fish coming to you because you're reeling it in? Or has it decided I'm not done yet and takes off like a bat outta hell? Maybe your guide says, “we're going to chase that fish. It's too big.” You chase it down the river.
It is a very delicate balance, a very delicate dance, because if you try to muscle that fish? The line at the end of holding the fly is as thin as the thread holding the button on your shirt, and it will just break off.
A terrible feeling. When did you start sharing pictures of your fish online?
I'll tell you the honest truth, I did it just because I'm just so amazed at how beautiful they are. And I thought I would just put it on Twitter for my friends to see. And then it turned into this thing where people all over the world loved it. They now ask me, “When are you going again? Don't forget to send pictures!” They love the fish, and they love that I'm so filled with joy with every fish. It's a wonderful feeling to take that picture, give the fish a kiss, thank it and put it back in the water.
How do you often have people asking if you eat the fish?
One million times. But the real sport is catch and release, so that next year I have a chance to catch the same fish, bigger. I don't even order trout in a restaurant, because I think they're so majestic.
You mentioned how happy you are in these pictures. I think that's what people love so much about it. It’s not an expression you could fake.
Oh my God, it is just so much fun. When your guide—my guide's name is Buck—when Buck scoops it up in the net so we can look at it and get the hook out? You look and you just go, “Wow! Look at the reds. Look at the oranges. Look at the green, look at the gold. Look at the spots. Look at the rainbow going down the center of that fish. Oh my God!” They are so beautiful.
Have you always been a trout guy, or do you fly fish for other species?
Tried others. You know, deep-sea fishing looks terrific. But when you deep-sea fish, you've gotta go out, let's imagine five miles. Let's imagine the water is a little rough. Now you're vomiting. Now you're lying on the deck. Now it's time to go back and you've gotta go a five mile direct back. Not for me. You can keep the tarpon, enjoy him. Put him on your wall.
And then, Jerry Reed, the great guitarist who was in The Water Boy, taught me to bass fish. Jerry Reid was magnificent—rest his soul—to hang out with. We would get up at three in the morning, drive down the highway for two hours to get to lake Okeechobee or whatever it was called. Meet the guide at his house. His wife was up. She's made you toast and eggs. Now you're on his motorboat, somewhere on that lake on his speedboat. You're fishing for bass. You get 'em, you reel 'em in, you throw 'em back. The breakfast was the best part.
Do you have any advice for anyone who wants to start fishing ?
You know, you can learn how to fly fish for trout in about a half-hour, and then you perfect it for the rest of your life. You do not have to look like an ad. You do not have to look like Brad Pitt. Well, nobody looks like Brad Pitt. But you don't have to look like Brad Pitt in A River Runs Through It.
And, by the way, Brad Pitt is just a most lovely man. I literally asked him at an award show—I had the gall to ask him what fans say to me all the time, which is would you just wait right here? I'm going to get my wife. And he did!
Did you guys talk fish at all?
No, no. I was so discombobulated by this Adonis standing in front of me in a long cashmere overcoat. I couldn't think of anything except get Stacey.
That’s one thing about a river in Idaho: you're pretty far from people. There's no one coming up taking out their phone for a selfie.
Oh no! People go by in a speedboat on this river in Idaho and gimme the thumb’s up. And then, you know, the most unlikely human beings go and say, “Hey, Barry was great.”
They get HBO in Idaho, I guess.
They sure do.
Are you aware of this idea online about men using pictures of themselves holding fish on dating apps?
No, I've never heard of that in my life.
It’s supposedly a red flag. You maybe don't want to go on a date with a guy holding a fish.
To that, I just say thank God I don't need a dating app—I've been married for 46 years.
Originally Appeared on GQ
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