Thread: THEY WERE HARD MEN IN ThOSE DAYS

i happen to know and latterly nursed one of the hardest of the hard men.Les Kemp was the name .wirey as a manuka stockyard post ,smoked ryos and ive read from men who knew capable of consistently knockin deer off at 300yds with open sights rain hail or snow. a famous tale once tells of les &a mate in the westcoast tops(i think)and facing a humungous snowstorm. despite the cold it was still business as usual and according to the teller he witnessed Les drink a bottle of worchester sauce to keep warm.
in his latter years les was a whitebaiter bar none and those fellow coasters will remember Les perched in his tent on the "rock"in the grey river waitng for the bait.
Im fairly sure the famous photographic book"the coast&the coasters"by one John Burford(adopted coaster but extraordinaire with it) shows a cracker photo of Les with RYO in corner of mouth sitting waiting for them wee white fellas like a hungry shag on a rock.
Truly a man who earned that title"a hard man"
As a kid Ive vivid memoires of Les being involved in a fatal drowning accident on Lake Brunner.
A boat he was in capsized and he quick thinking as he was saved himself by drifting to safety clinging to a petrol tin.
In modern times Les's son Ben has established himself as a topnotch westcoast fishing guide who is an expert in drift fishing using american designed double ended boats on the Arnold river flowing from Lake Brunner,joining the mighty Grey just above Stillwater.