Thaddeus Norris (b. 1811-1877)
The author of The American Angler’s Book. What is notable his writing of The American Anglers book and its’ influence on Theodore Gordon.
The American Angler’s Book Embracing the Natural History of Sporting Fish and the Art of Taking Them with Instructions in Fly-Fishing, Fly-Making, and Rod-Making and Directions for Fish-Breeding, to which is appended Dies Piscatoriae Describing Noted Fishing-Places, and The Pleasure of Solitary Fly-Fishing – is an early American angling book first published in 1864. Norris was known as Uncle Thad and commonly referred to in American angling history as “The American Walton.“
Theodore Gordon (b. September 18, 1854 – May 1, 1915)
Theodore Gordon was an American writer, angler and noted fly tier who fished the Catskill region of New York State, notably the Neversink and Beaverkill rivers, in the late 19th century through the early 20th century. Though he never published a book, Gordon is often called the “father of the American school of dry fly fishing”., His many correspondences with notable English anglers and writers gave him the incentive to further develop fly patterns for his beloved streams thus the Catskill style of fly tying. His tying of the Quill Gordon dry fly remains today an iconic and effective pattern for that so named mayfly.
Herman Christian
Herman Christian was an old-fashioned outdoorsman and backwoodsman best know as a fishing companion of Theodore Gordon. He was a skilled angler and had great ability to read water, find big fish with a fly that gained the respect of all fishermen of the time, including Gordon. “You only need eighteen inches of float over a fish,” he used to say, having caught more big trout than any other three fishermen in the Catskills put together. Gordon never taught him fly tying and was in fact secretive removing all flies from view knowing Herman was coming over to his house. So Herman learned to tie flies by deconstructing Gordon’s flies thus figured out how they were tied. A frequent night fisher, he enjoyed using Gordon’s Bumble puppy pattern for big browns which he changed to his own version.
Roy Steenrod
Roy Steenrod was the only tying student of Theodore Gordon, whom he often guided and visited. Roy is responsible for passing on the distinctive characteristics of the Catskill dry fly. As an avid tyer and instructor, he took great pleasure in teaching young people the art for fly tying, and he spent many sessions at the DEC Camp in DeBruce. His dry fly, the Hendrickson, named after a friend and fishing companion, A.E. Hendrickson, is probably one of the best known and unchanged dry fly patterns still used to day in its original tied pattern.
Rube Cross (1896 -1958)
Inspired by Theodore Gordon in his youth, Reuben Cross studied Gordon’s dry flies and made improvements to increase buoyancy. As a professional fly tyer, he was a stickler for perfection and his flies were meticulously and artistically crafted using only the finest materials. Cross originated many patterns including his own Cross Special and shared some of his secrets in his first book, Tying American Trout Lures. Publication of this book made him the first professional tyer in America to write a book on the subject of fly tying.
Walt & Winnie Dette
Walt and Winnie Dette tied flies from their home along the banks of the Willowemoc Creek from the 30’s until their deaths in the 90’s. Students of the Reub Cross style and technique, their trademark was to construct each pattern for a purpose, posture and durability with a guarantee of quality and workmanship. Legends in their time, they are considered to be the last of the original Catskill fly tyers.
Elsie & Harry Darbee
Harry Darbee learned the art of fly tying by untying the flies of Theodore Gordon, Roy Steenrod, Reuben Cross and Herman Christian. He then taught Elsie Bivins, the woman he soon married. In 1935 they established E.B. & H.A. Darbee, Fishing Flies and Fly Tying Materials, Livingston Manor, NY. Pioneers of the classic, sparsely dressed, Catskill style of fly tying, Harry and Elsie were always eager to share their knowledge and techniques with the fly fishing community. There were recognized the world over. Their flies appeared in many books of the time, giving fly tyers a standard of perfection for the flies and patterns not previously published or photographed. Through their countless contributions to fly fishing and fly tying, their development of dry fly dun hackles- raising and breeding chickens for hackle. Their devotion to the fish, flies and the waters of the area, the Catskill tradition lives on today as Elsie was one of the main proponents to establish a museum on fly fishing thus The Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum thus exists today.
Ray Smith B. (1900 -1975)
Know as the dean of the Esopus was another woodsman who survived from his hunting and foraging life style He later became well known for his fly tying and was an exceptional sought after guide. He was known to tie thousands of flies a year and favored to fish his beloved Esopus with wet flies.
He later in life taught fly tying to many and was known to catch many large trout as pictured.
*We are fortunate to have on our resource page a list of his known fly patterns.
Preston Jennings
An avid competent Trout and Salmon fly tier and author, he is credited with contributing to the school of Catskill Fly Tying. He also played a major part in the development of Art Flick also becoming another Catskill legend.
In his book entitled, A Book of Trout Flies, published in 1935 Preston Jennings set the standard of excellence that has measured all subsequent work on fly-fishing entomology. This book would go on to become one of the most cherished and highly regarded books in angling history.
His experiments on how light refracts off of an insect’s wings and how the trout perceives such light on the water resulted in fly patterns surface resulted in fly patterns which are still popular with trout and the fly fishers. Two of these historic fly imitations are the American March Brown and the Grey Fox.
Jennings was equally at home on a trout stream as he was in a lab. A highly regarded angler and fly tier with trout and full dressed Salmon flies and his work on breading birds for hackle via obtaining eggs from England maybe the beginnings of hackle breading here in America. These and other contributions are legendary and as such a key building block in American fly-fishing history.
Art Flick
Art Flick moved from Kingston, NY to the Catskills in 1941 to take over management of his parents’ hotel, the Westkill Tavern. There, near the banks of the Schoharie Creek, he began a lifelong commitment to stream conservation. He helped secure legislation that created New York’s first “no kill” or “catch and release” water. Flick was instrumental in obtaining the first public fishing waters in New York on the Schoharie Creek. For over 50 years, he lobbied and fought to protect Westkill and Schoharie Creeks as prime trout habitat. Flick was a founder of “Catskill Waters”, an organization that fought for improved tail water releases from New York City’s reservoirs. He served as advisory to five NYS Conservation Commissioners. In 1983, he received Trout Unlimited’s “Conservationist of the Year” Award. After several years of collecting and categorizing the life cycle of Catskill aquatic insects, Flick created many flies to imitate the various life stages of these insects. His straightforward findings are summarized in his ground breaking and popular book, “Streamside Guide to Naturals and Their Imitations”, in which he introduced fly fishermen to the joys of simplified fly selection with set instructions on how to tie each mayfly.
Al Caucci & Bob Nastasi
A long time Catskill resident and author, Al Caucci is credited with co authoring several books on Mayfly Hatches with Bob Nastasi and his own very informative Mayfly Stream Hatch Guide. What make his overall contribution most relevant is the introduction of the Comparadun Fly pattern which was a hackles dry fly and subsequent the Compara-emerger pattern. These patterns ushered in a new approach to fly tying and fostered the concept of the Emerger pattern.