Although I grew up in Brooklyn, NY, I spent almost every summer
in the Catskills at various places along the Neversink River.
Unfortunately, I didn't fish the other Catskill rivers or meet other fly fishers/fly
tiers. In fact, I did not know anyone who fly fished or tied flies and had to learn these arts on my own. That made for
an elongated learning curve.
You
can see by most of the patterns
selected, I am partial to a style of flies generally referred to as
'Catskill'
ties. Other patterns and styles of dry flies may occasionally fish
better. Some may even
become new classics. However, these and other Catskill classic flies
are basically simple, are reasonably imitative of area insects
and are elegant (at least as I view them). Additionally, they
consistently catch their share of trout and that is why they have
withstood the test of time.
Pictured above is George Harvey (right) visiting me at the Catskill Fly Tier's Guide tying booth in the '99 International Fly
Tier's Symposium, Somerset, NJ. George suggested I sprinkle Viagra on the hackles to get them to stand up straight.
