Catskill dry flies (II) - The Dettes

Although Theodore Gordon is considered to be the founder of the (Catskill style) dry fly fishing, the public awareness of the Catskill flies has been broadend for a great deal thanks to the Dette family.

This family of fly tiers have thus influenced an important part to the American fly fishing history. During the harsh times of the early 1930's Walt Dette and his family tried to make a living selling flies through their catalog and later from their tiny fly shop (and home) in Roscoe, New York (update: fly shop moved to Livingston Manor).

Today the family business is still in operation (the longest still running fly shop in the world) as it's run by Walt's daughter Mary (update: now her grandson Joe Fox is running the shop).

Eric Leiser wrote a book about the Dettes and their flies. It's a very interesting book as it tells the story of a family's choices to combine their love for the art of tying while trying to make a living just like every one else.

Anyone who has the chance to visit the Catskill area, a visit to the Dette Trout Flies is a must. I for one haven't had the opportunity yet, but I for sure will try to visit the birthplace of the Catskill flies one day. Oh by the way, there's a waiting time of over a year if you want to buy a fly tied by Mary Dette... (update: probably impossible now since Mary retired)

A must read about the Dettes is this whole issue of the journal of the American Museum of Fly Fishing.

Update May 2022:

Here is my collection of Dette flies I got nicely framed