Dave has been my pal for some 15 years, so I know a bit about the guy. His bizarre career path from snowboard shop dude to tackle shop guy to tattoo artist and former tattoo shop owner, and from snowboard bum, to trout bum, to journeyman tattooer, could be a parable on how to live life to its fullest, which would read a bit like a Hemmingway or Kerouac novel. Most of my friends who travelled to BC from Ontario to taste the mountains and live the ski or snowboard bum lifestyle lasted a few years before returning home. However, Dave lived in BC for 16 years, a continent away from his friends and family, but never far from a stretch of promising water to lay a fly. A two-year stint in a retail tackle shop prior to his tattoo career helped Allen to forge a reputation as the specialist for fish or fly fishing motif tattoos when he began to tattoo full time. After a grueling three-year tattoo apprenticeship that allowed little time for recreation and fishing, old industry buddies came calling and spread the word. As well
as fishing with a number of fishing heavies in BC and tattooing some of them with everything from rainbow trout, to stonefly nymphs, to Royal Coachmen, he also designed the logos for three fly-and-tackle shops in that province. Allen spent his last few years out West living and working in Vernon, BC, close to the legendary Thompson River and interior lakes of the area. Before relocating eastward in 2008 to the province of his birth, he spent seven months on a tour of Alaska and BC helping to film and produce two TV episodes for Fly Max Films. Now Allen is back in Southern Ontario doing his tattooing in Kincardine, a location chosen by design to place him close to some of the province’s top trout rivers. Tattoo Dave’s connection with the sport fishing industry and fly fishing in particular continues with the launch of Fish ‘Til Death last fall, a slick new line of fishing T-shirts featuring his original art and traditional American tattoo-inspired designs. Recently, Dave and I exchanged e-mails, catching up on old times. The following excerpts provide a profile of this remarkable and unique fly fishing addict.
Q: How did you get started fishing? A: I grew up fishing Lake Kushog in Ontario’s Haliburton Highlands. I was always a stillwater bass kid. I started fishing at age three or four. It was the holistic nature of fishing I fell in love with—understanding your environment, searching for bait, diving to figure out the underwater habitat. Catching fish was fun too.
Q: You lived in BC for 16 years. What drew you out there? A: I moved out West after a short visit to
L DEATH Whistler. I moved for the mountains. I moved for the adventure. I moved to find myself. I stayed for the rivers. The rivers intrigued me. They still haunt me.
Tattoo Dave’s connection with the sport-fishing industry and fly-fishing in particular continues with the launch of Fish ‘Til Death last fall, a slick new line of fishing T-shirts featuring his original art and traditional American tattoo-inspired designs.
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THE CANADIAN FLY FISHER • FEBRUARY/APRIL 2010
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