“Dry-Fly Hackle: What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been” by John Merola

My odyssey through the land of dry-fly hackle started around 1970. I had become a member of the Southern New York Sportsmen’s Association and entered their essay contest for youth members. I guess I was a better writer back then, since I found myself headed to Camp DeBruce Environmental Education Camp in the Catskills on…

CJ’s flies caddis flies the other trout food

“I never paid much attention to caddisflies in my fledgling years of fishing and tying flies. All my efforts were focused on mayflies, Art Flick’s Streamside Guide, and tying with wood duck flank feathers.

I was aware of caddises, even saw them often enough while fishing, but never considered them a viable source of trout food.

All this changed one afternoon when I was heading back to Pennsylvania after a morning in the Catskills opening up our summer house.

Messing with a Classic: The Rough Gordon

Taken from the October 2011 Catskill Fly Tyers Gazette Messing with a Classic: The Rough Gordon by Niklas Dahlin “Theodore Gordon’s Gordon Quill, probably better known as the Quill Gordon, is one of my absolute favorites, both to tie and to fish, and both are equally important to me. I especially use it during our…

“Up on the Esopus”- With Ed Ostapczuk “Ed Sens, the Forgotten Catskill Fly Tyer: Part 1”

Up on the Esopus With Ed Ostapczuk

“Ed Sens, the Forgotten Catskill Fly Tyer: Part 1”

“CJ’s flies ” The Preston Jennings Isonychia Nymph

Preston Jennings was a regular in the Esopus region and stayed at the area hotels. It was likely in this area that he first tied and tested his Isonychia nymph, a nymph that can be “fished like a wet fly.”