Hans, RW here,
As foolish as it may sound now, I think it has a lot to do with hero worship in it's various forms, as much as anything. Fly fishing is, after all, a game..a recreation. But when I fish a Catskill stream I know I'm treading the same ground, stepping on the same rocks, and walking along the same paths as the luminaries of the sport that went before me. The Catskill rivers aren't just any old crik out back. They are the "Cradle of American Fly Fishing" as some like to call them. Roscoe.."Trout town USA". The flies and all the history and tradition are just part of it. Copying and keeping alive "the beginnings" is a tribute.
Like kids and their favorite baseball teams and players, fly fishermen have their own favorites....writers, anglers, fly tiers, etc. Tradition builds on tradition, and those that came first will always be revered. It's not as silly as it sounds. Catskill School, style, tradition, whatever... are just words. Maybe it goes much deeper than can be explained. Copying and passing on to each generation, through writing, teaching, fly tying and practical application, what Gordon and all the subsequent luminaries of the Catskill School of fly fishers did is, in my opinion, a way of honoring them.
Later, RW
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"We fish for pleasure; I for mine, you for yours." -James Leisenring on fishing the wet fly-
[This message has been edited by Royal Wulff (edited 30 August 2005).]
"The value of trout is simply that they exist" <Frank Weisbarth>