End of the year

These two Humpies are the last flies tied in 2024 and ready to fly to the USA.

The Abbey

Another tie of the Abbey

Rat Faced McDougall

Originally starting as a fly named the Beaverkill Bastard, this fly invented by Harry Darbee in the late 1930's somehow was renamed Rat Faced McDougall. The story about the name change can be read in Harry's book 'Catskill Fly Tier'. 

A very similar fly called the Irresistible by Joe Messinger sr. looks almost identical. The Rat Faced McDougall having a hackle fiber tail rather than the more durable moose body hair.

Leslie Harrop tying

There are some video's of Rene Harrop tying flies. We don't see much of other family members tying. Here's a recording of Rene Harrop's daughter Leslie recently tying the Harrop mayfly cycle flies. Besides showing how to tie their designs she also tells some remarkable stories along the way.

It's a long sit so maybe you might want to watch it in parts but it's worth the tips and stories.

Flies for Ed van Put

Update Dec 15, 2024:

Heard that Ed van Put passed away this past Saturday (Dec 14, 2024).

Thank you for your friendship Ed!

Rest in peace 

Update Dec 19, 2024:

The Catskill Fly Tyers Guild Zoom meeting was devoted to remebence of Ed van Put. The fly to tie was the Adams, Ed's favorite fly. The picture below shows my Adams next to one Ed sent me.

Update Jan 9, 2025:

A nice article about Ed in the New York Times after his recent passing.

This was originally posted on June 29, 2021:

Recently I've been exchanging thoughts with Catskill legend Ed van Put. Ed is a Catskill authority who has been fishing the Catskills for more than 50 years. He wrote several books about the Catskills: 'The Beaverkill' and 'Trout fishing in the Catskills'. Ed also participated in Christopher Rownes' series on fishing with the dry fly.

We also decided to do a fly swap. Of course I asked for his signature fly called the Able Mable. I'm getting a few flies ready and of course a couple of Humpies are included.

Update Aug 6, 2022:

Here's a great interview with Ed.

I can now imagine Ed tied the flies for me at the desk you can see in this interview!

Update July 30, 2021:

Ed sent me some flies, a piece of mink and the amber thread for tying the Able Mable.

Thanks Ed!

Some other posts I wrote about Ed van Put:

1) Tying the Able Mable

2) Ed van Put's Joan Wulff Special

3) Adams with rooster or hen wing tips?

4) The Beaverkill - presentation by Judy van Put

Spain

Here is an interesting letter Edward Hewitt wrote to Harry Darbee in 1950 about the fishing possibilities in Spain.

Connect

So I thought Providence was the last video Confluence Film made but there's this one called Connect.

This video starts with a footage about my friend Masa Katsumata fishing in Japan with Scott Fly Rod's rod designer Jim Bartschi.

The ultimate Catskill podcast

Listening for the second time now, the four part podcast about the Catskills on the Hallowed Waters podcast by Matthew Supinski.

Joe Ceballos, the president of the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild is the guest that has all the knowledge about the history, the fishermen, the tiers and the fishing of the Catskills.

Each episode is around 2 hours (part 4 is almost 4 hours!) long, so it's an epic listen. But for anyone interested in the Castkills, it's a must listen.

Listen to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

The art of making Japanese longbows

It's amazing to see how similar the making of Japanese bamboo longbows, both to material selection and handling to manipulating the bamboo, is to bamboo fly rod making.

The Conover

The Dette’s tied this fly, the Conover, for the Brooklyn Fly Fishing Club member Scotty Conover back in the 1930's. The story goes that Dette’s weren’t allowed to tie for anyone else than him.

Mike Valla adds:

"I know in June 1972 I was fishing Conovers on Beaverkill---during that wonderful season I stayed with Dettes for over a month (that was my high school graduation present from them---check my "Tying Catskill Style Dry Flies" book for that Conover story (page 18). That's one of my favorite stories.

I caught that big brown trout at the tail of Barnhart's Pool, on BkilL, on a Conover. Landed it down at Hendricksons, with a crowd watching and applauding. All but Ernie Maltz---who yelled at me for not having a landing net. Then he yelled at me for fishing a 7ft Leonard (given to me by a Leonard dealer, also as a graduation present) who I figured had one too many glasses of Scotch)--rod much too short for that river. Anyway, I'm sure I tied the Conover myself. They way Walt explained it to Leiser ('The Dettes - A Catskill Legend', page 56) was once Scotty couldn't wade the river well any longer, he relaxed things--Dettes were allowed to sell them."

Wemoc Adams

Mike Valla's books are fabulous, especially about everything about the Catskill style tying. I think I got all of his books.

He also came up with this fly called the Wemoc Adams.

Mike tells about this fly:

"There are probably only 3  flies I've ever attached a name to myself. But this is one of them, and is one of my favorites--The Wemoc Adams. It was first fished around Buck Eddy, on the Willowemoc, one morning--having tied it the evening before--just tooling around.

Presented in print, only as an image, it didn't get  much info attached to it there. Guys have since asked me about the fly, and one chap in Oregon reported great success with it on his home waters. I guess he really likes it.

It is, of course, just a slight variation of the regular old Adams.  From time to time guys were using Cree as what Eric Leiser once called "Instant Adams" hackle--since it could in some ways substitute for mixing Brown and Grizzly hackle (albeit slightly lighter in shade). But since a Cree was involved, in my mind (as still a younger lad--in around late 70'--and with a decade of tying experience under my belt--I thought that's what tiers have to do--name a fly here and there, and from time to time). But in that regard I never wanted to make claim to some sort of brand new fly, or concept. And I don't now. But when one is younger, that sort of thing runs through the mind.

The pattern is tied with grey dun underfur of Red Fox, and ribbed with wire. Introducing wire kept my regular Adams' from fraying apart--at least that was my thought. And using Cree sure made it an easy tie.  In that it did not call for dubbing of Muskrat, (or Mole fur as per Elsie Darbee)--but rather Fox. And that this pattern called for Cree, and gold wire ribbing---I gave it a new name--but connected it with the Adams.  So, there you have it..."

Beaverkill history presentation by Judy van Put

I've been a member of the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild, a group of people that embraces the heritage of the Catskill fly tying, for some time now. The get togethers being in the Catskills, usually at the Catskill museum, it's tough that I'm not able to enjoy the company of so many amazing tiers and their stories.

Fortunately we also have Zoom meetings in the winter, but the 7 PM meetings local is 1 AM here! The ocassional times I join the nocturnal meeting, it has been very enjoyable.

This past weekend was the Fly Tyers Roundtable at the Catskills Fly Fishing Center and Museum. Thanks to fellow member Phil, the audio of the presentation given by Ed van Put's wife, Judy, about the history & importance of the Beaverkill river was recorded. With approval by Ed & Judy I can publish this great presentation!

Update Dec 19, 2024:

With the recent passing of Ed, it's really nice able to see Ed during the presentation.

Back to the Kyll again

Went to the river Kyll again. My buddy Nico needed to renew his German fishing license too so we packed our stuff and headed to Germany again. Now a few weeks later the weather has cooled down considerably. 

Providence

I think this is the last video produced by the now defunct Confluence, the video production company.

Fishing in the Seychelles is a destination that most of us will enjoy only from videos like Providence.

Red Quill

Book 'Art Flick, Catskill Legend'

Quill Gordon

After reading Richard Lodge's book 'The rise of the Neversinker' about Reuben Cross, this Quill Gordon came from out of my vise this evening. The story of Cross is a sad one but he has become an icon and important part of the Catskill fly tying heritage.

Return to the Kyll

Yesterday I returned to the Kyll after almost 15 years. The main reason for the trip was I found out my German state license expired two years ago and needed to get it renewed if I wanted to plan a fishing trip in Germany.

Without this state license one can't acquire a license of the river one would like to fish in Germany. So I planned a day to drive to Gerolstein as I knew I would get a five year state license for sure. The river Kyll runs through this town.

When I started fly fishing in the early 1980's, fishing for trout and graylings in foreign rivers was only done by the happy few. Information about trout fishing in other countries were scarce and limited. Only through knowing the right people one could obtain information where one could fish for trout and where to obtain the license. 

For most, if not all, Dutch fly fishermen back then, the first steps with fishing for trout in the rivers started in the German Eifel area. This volcanic plateau has several well known rivers like the Kyll and the Ahr. My first trout fishing started at the river Kyll in the early 1990s and have fished several stretches of this river over the best part of ten years. 

Eventually as fly fishing got popular, the river got more and more crowded and ensuring the license(s) for the river on short term was getting increasingly difficult. Also the large numbers of graylings that once populated these rivers were slowly but clearly diminishing.

From what I heard the river had to deal with regular release of pollution along the years. What really devastated the grayling population was the increasing number of cormorants. Being protected by law these birds could feed on the easy to catch graylings without any restrictions.

Around the end of the 90's this all embarked my search for other opportunities to fish and I headed south to southern Germany and Austria for more solitude as well as more exciting scenery indefinitely.

As I wanted to make sure I don't run into a closed counter at the municipality, I aimed for arriving around 10 am. I decided to fish for a few hours at most as I wanted to be back home no later than 9 PM as it takes almost a 4 hour drive. The weather prediction the day before I left looked okay with overcast and slightly lower temperature after a hot and sunny period. Half way on my way I checked the weather again and all the sudden it looked pretty awful! The Kyll is known for getting murky really fast after rain....

 

As I left the town hall with the renewed state license the rain soon started to slow down into trickles. I dropped by at the hardware store to get the river license. I took a quick glance at the river and although the rain did color the water a bit I could still see the bottom. Once arriving at the parking lot I saw the water looked okay. The Kyll has a dark tea coloration and after the rain it wasn't as murky as I feared.

After getting some lunch at one of the many supermarkets, I fished from around noon till 3 pm. It's crazy how fast time flies when you're having fun. I barely fished a stretch of no longer than 300 meters during the hours as I had found several pockets of small riffles where fish were holding.

I started with a typical Catskill dry fly called a Variant as the Eifel has some resemblance of the Catskills. As fish became reluctant to come up, I switched to my favorite hopper-dropper rig. Most of the fish were caught on the bead head caddis pupa.

All the fish I caught were browns. No trace of graylings or stocked rainbows. Numerous fish between 6 - 10 inches, with several around 12 inches. The largest brown came up to grab the Alien Bug which was a nice surprise. There were no other fishermen which was nice too. I wrapped up around 3:15 pm and headed back to the car for the long drive back home. Maybe I should come back more often again...

A few flies after dinner

This light ginger cape is slightly darker resulting in a bit more pronounced hackle collar on this Light Cahill.

A Variant with hackle mixed with an unusual barred brown dun and the same light ginger.

Waypoints

After releasing Drift and Rise, the third video called Waypoints from the now defunct video company Confluence can now be watched on YouTube for free!

Grab some popcorn & a coke and get ready to see some dream destinations...

Blue Bottle Humpy

This post was originally posted on Aug 26, 2022

Anyone remember this iconic video called Trout Bum Diaries - Kiwi Camo that came out back in 2007?

After their adventure in Patagonia a year before, this group of friends now traveled to New Zealand. Besides big trouts, lots of tiny biting bugs there was a part where they used blue candy wrappers to tie an imitation of the blue bottle fly. Need to watch the DVD again...

I have been looking for blue candy wrappers here but none had the same shimmer (and the right characteristic for tying) as in the video. After looking at many materials in fly shops I finally found this material in color Holo Blue, Unlike many similar materials it is incredibly tough (won't break easily when stretched), has the right sheen and there's so much in a pack that I have a lifetime supply of it.

Dave Brandt talking about Catskill tradition

A little hidden gem of an interview with the late Dave Brandt about the Catskill tradition.

Dave was also featured in the DVD Land of the Little Rivers.

Rare video with Winnie & Mary Dette

Here are two pretty rare videos with Winnie and her daughter Mary Dette about the early beginnings of the Dette's fly tying operation. The second video Mary ties their famous Coffin fly and Winnie explains how it got its name.

 

March Brown

 

SIM Fly Fishing Festival 2024

Just returned from attending the SIM Fly Fishing Festival in a tiny and scenic town called Castel di Sangro, Italy. This festival being deeply impressive is an understatement. This year was the 21e edition of this festival. A festival to celebrate the art of fly fishing & tying but foremost celebration of camaraderie. Among many top Italian fly tiers a group of international fly tiers were invited, including yours truly.

SIM (Scuola Italiana di Pesca a Mosca), founded in 1978, is the Italian fly fishing school where knowledge & history of fly fishing is educated. They have many regional meetings with the yearly festival at their headquarters in the civic museum in Castel di Sangro being the main event.

It all started with the amazing diner Friday evening at the center square of the town with live music. The hospitality of Italians is heartwarming. It was a joy to see old friends and meet friends that I've known for many years but meeting for the first time. Saturday started with a nice walk from the hotel to the venue. Tying at 'center stage' in the wonderful auditorium was simply humbling. The weather was glorious making the weekend really special.

The venue is an abby just along the little Sangro river. Not sure how old this building is, but the central square inside is beautifully decorated with frescos. 

Thanks to all the friends, what a joy to see you (again)! Finally a huge thanks to Umberto Oreglini for the logistics and taking care of us. Grazie Umberto!

Here's a video of the SIM festival from the local TV station