Where Fly Fishing Lives
Fly fishing in the Sullivan Catskills boasts a history as old as the sport itself. Its waters, the Beaverkill, Willowemoc, Neversink, Callicoon and Monagaup Creeks, as well as the East, West and main branches of the Delaware River are legendary within the lore of anyone who’s tied a fly. Some even argue that these silky streams and the legends who fished them are the reason many recognize the area as the birthplace of American fly fishing.
No one, however, can argue that the Sullivan Catskills are a magical place to fish. There’s a reason Roscoe is called Trout Town. The reason is Junction Pool. The regal blue and yellow historic sign marking this special place reads:
One of the most famous pools in angling literature. Formed by the waters of the Beaverkill and Willowemoc. It is a pool with strange and mystifying currents and eddies. Legend says that the confusing flows cause migrating trout to linger for days trying to decide which stream to enter. This indecisiveness causes delay which, in itself, is the reason many of the largest trout in the Beaverkill are taken from this pool.
The Heart of Trout Town
In the past, Junction Pool has been a ceremonial place for fly fishing royalty to gather for the annual “first cast” signifying the start of trout season. Names like Joan Wulff, the “First Lady of Fly Fishing,” and Dave Brandt, past president of the Catskill Fly Tiers Guild have worked these waters. On some of those sepia-toned mornings, it’s said that folks from the town of Roscoe would hand out fresh coffee, hot cocoa and handmade sweets to all those holding court with a rod on opening day.
If you have been to Roscoe, or any river town in the Sullivan Catskills, you’ll know that story tracks. This isn’t the kind of place that sizes you up. It’s the kind of place that has a junk drawer stuffed with items that can fix anything and get you on your way. Especially when it comes to fishing.
The towns have a relationship with the waters that surround and flow through them. They count on and care for each other. The same can be said for the people who live and work in these towns and fish the streams. If you’re looking for folks who wear shirts with corporate outdoor company patches sewn NASCAR-style along the buttons, you won’t find them here. You will find the kind of people who practice and teach catch-and-release in the same careful way they show their four-year-old how to ride and care for a bike.
The Cure of Fly Fishing
One of the most famous patriarchs of fly fishing is Theodore Gordon. Born in Pittsburgh in 1854, a bout with tuberculosis led him to relocate north in search of cool, and what was thought to be healing air, of the mountains. In his case, it turned out to be true and by 1906, Gordon called the pebbled banks of the Willowemoc, Beaverkill and Neversink his home and laboratory.
At the time, the prevailing fly-fishing technique was wet fly, or flies submerged under the water’s surface. Gordon, with the help of British angler Frederic Halford began adapting fly patterns that would ride higher on the swift Catskill waters. The result was the Quill Gordon, a signature pattern that imitated a mayfly and solidified Gordon as the “Father of American Dry Fly Fishing.”
Though he never published a book, Gordon would become one of the most prolific voices in the sport. Under the pen name “Badger Hackle,” he wrote regularly for Forest and Stream and the English journal, The Fishing Gazette. His musings were technical, thoughtful and reflective of the waters that fueled his passion.
“Fishing is a perpetual series of occasions for hope,” he wrote, a clear nod to his belief in conservation and staunch advocacy for those to both learn and teach the value of stream and watershed protection.
A Legacy Preserved
Gordon’s legacy and the values he taught are alive in everyone who flicks a line in the Sullivan Catskills, but no more so than within the Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum in Livingston Manor. Cast over to their website and take three-and-a-half minutes to watch The Integrity of the Catch by local filmmaker Peter Crosby. Not only will you see stunning images of the waters that enchanted Gordon, but you’ll meet and hear the voices of the people he inspired.
People like Elsie Darbee, the museum’s first president. As with most good ideas, the one for the museum started in the kitchen. Specifically, at Elsie’s place, where it was a regular occurrence for community members to gather over coffee and gab about things locals gab about. Here, that was where Eslie’s brain stirred thoughts of a place where trout fishing, tradition and the spirit of community could be preserved and shared.
Today, the Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum lives on a stunning 53-acre campus along the storied Willowemoc Creek where Gordon tested his first flies. Its lush, forested grounds include casting fields, trails, a covered pavilion and access to the creek. It is also home to the Heritage Craft Center where bamboo rod-making classes are held amongst equipment and artifacts created, honed and shared by those whose stories framed the building and the Fly Fishing Hall of Fame it also houses.
In the Wulff Gallery, you’ll find both temporary and permanent exhibits of Lee and Joan Wulff, who also created the Wulff School of Fly Fishing, which exists today for those wishing to wade the crisp local waters in the spirit of Gordon.
Tie, Cast and Learn
In the Sullivan Catskills, it’s easy to talk about fly fishing. Generations of stories about the sport have been lived here and generations more are, and will continue to be, shared here. It’s part of the hand-built and self-reliant nature of a place like this where it’s natural for folks to humbly want to share what they love with others.
When it comes to fly fishing, there’s no better place to tie your first or 500th fly, than Dette Flies. Established in 1928 by Walt and Winnie Dette, it is now the oldest family-owned fly shop in the United States where they’d be glad to sell you everything you need to catch a fish. They’d also be much happier to teach you how by starting with the basics of entomology. After all, if your goal is to catch a fish, it’s best to think like one.
Any outfitter in the Catskills can help you get into the right mindset. Pop into Trout Town Flies in Roscoe to buy a hand tied fly, take a casting lesson or arrange a guided trip. Book a day with a local guide, like Joe Cauvel who has created a life in the Sullivan Catskills because of its waters. When not fishing, tying flies or teaching people to do both, you’ll find Joe making custom furniture in his rustic workshop.
Fur, Fin and Feather in Livingston Manor will have the one thing you forgot to pack and thought no one would have. Let’s just say, they have a very, very big junk drawer and nothing in it is junk. The Catskill Outdoorsman is like that too, only you can also try archery, throw an axe, or host a birthday party that offers both.
A Celebration of Waters
The Sullivan Catskills are an earthy celebration of the woods and waters that have served as a natural gift to those seeking the solace of a mountain stream since the early 1800s. It is a gift that’s been taught and shared through the hand-tied legacies of Gordon and Wulff, but it is also one where anyone can learn to cast a line for the first time.
When done properly and with the grounded and honest care that you find here, every first-time results in a next time. Often, that next time is shared with a friend and a story that started on a misty-morning Catskill creek is shared generation upon generation in the kitchen, then carried back in tackle boxes that find their way to the Junction Pool each spring to start another.
Theodore Gordon, or “Badger Hackle,” passed away on May 1st of 1915, but you can still hear his voice in the Sullivan Catskills when floating a dry fly in the waters he loved. Rivers, streams, creeks and communities that exist today as they did then because he decided to share them.
As Gordon says, “The great charm of fly fishing is that we are always learning.”
