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.