My friend enlisted me to deliver a load of barn wood with him close to Albany NY today, im not sure if the signs i was seeing were for the Catskill mountains, or the town of Catskill... or both..
Either way, he knows absolutely nothing about the world of fly fishing and tying, so naturally i jumped on the subject, for over an hour and a half, i tried explaining what materials are commonly used, and the different types of flies. (focusing primarily on Catskill flies) i touched on how wonderful the feeling is to catch a fish on the fly, (instead of a bobber) and how the catch and release has more depth to the meaning…(at least there is more depth in the meaning for me ;))
Anyway, i eventually started talking about Lee Wulff, and (to the best of my knowledge) told the story of how the man became the legend…
Now to get to the point of this story, does anyone know of any other major fly tying/fishing influences that originated out of the Catskills?
I also seem to remember reading somewhere that the Catskills are the birth place of fly fishing, and thus, where fly fishing originates from…(at least in the USA )
if there is any truth in that, anyone have an educated guess on what the first flies would have looked like? or what class they would fall into?(dry, nymph, streamer, etc.)
i'll enjoy reading your responses,
spoof
PS- To my udder disappointment, i never actually drove through the Catskills.
I am utterly shocked you could not find a more fulfilling route. My father was raised along the Southern end of the Catskills in NY and within minutes of the Catskill Museum in Danbury. He taught me to tie Catskill style dries at a very early age…
Art Flick, harry darbee, Walt and Winnie Dette, Rue cross, Ed Van pelt, Poul jorgensen, to name a few famous people from that area. yes it is considered the birthblace of american fly fishing. the area is steeped in history. One place to check out is Roscue Ny. “trout town” and the catskill fly fishing muesum. feb. 9th they are having a getogether there.there will be lots of tiers there tying tradional patterns and such. I will be there tying as well “BMFS” on the tag.
If you are interested in the history a few books
The Land of Little Rivers Mac Francis
Catskill Rivers Mac Francis
Tying Catskill Style Dry Flies Mike Valla
The Dette’s Eric Leisure
Catskill Flytier Mac Francis
There’s also a couple by Ed Van Put. There probably is no other region that is more documented in fly fishing then the Catskill’s
It’s the birthplace of dry fly fishing in the US. Fly fishing has been practiced in this country since colonial days, for bass as well as trout. (Probably even earlier, as several native American tribes apparently used the feathered hook as well.)
The early dry flies from the Catskills looked pretty much like they do today, except for slight differences in proportions - we’re talking about flies with names like Cahill, Hendrickson, and Quill Gordon.