Mid-May - and fishing is on the minds of many …..although the catching has been slow until just this past weekend,  with the return of the sunshine and warmer weather. By Sunday our rivers and streams were just above average flow, thanks to the rains and heavy showers last week.

These are the days that fly-fishers eagerly anticipate - hatches from tiny Blue Winged Olives, mid-sized Blue Quills and Hendricksons, to the stately large March Browns. Although we saw a number of porpoising fish (tails rather than noses breaking the surface) some fly-fishers have reported success using a dry fly with a nymph as a dropper.

Johnene Loverich, of Livingston Manor, and Nancy Montgomery, of Cold Spring,  were fishing the Little Beaverkill on Friday afternoon. They saw some Hendricksons and Caddis, although Johnene related that it was very quiet most of the day, overcast and chilly. Fishing with a March Brown dry fly, she decided to tie on a nymph; and while looking through her fly box she heard a noise and saw a “riser” and thought,  when you see a rise or the opportunity to target it, it’s always worth doing! She cast the March Brown and said she had such fun when the fish reacted - “it spun around and took the March Brown and headed downstream!”  remarking that it was not only a great fish but a fun “take”.  Nancy also had success shortly afterwards. Fishing with a March Brown, she caught a hefty brown trout which she laid up against her flyrod and marked - and when she returned with a measuring tape, found that the fish measured 18 inches in length! And later, at about 6:30 pm, she caught another brown on a caddis fly that was in the 14 - 16-inch range. 

On Friday evening, Joan Wulff, the First Lady of Fly Fishing, was honored in this, her 100th year, by the Woman FlyFishers Club. A One-Fly Contest, featuring the Joan Wulff Special (created by Ed Van Put in Joan’s honor in 2022, to commemorate the Club’s 90th Anniversary) was held on the lower Beaverkill from 1:00 - 5:00 pm. About a dozen and a half Woman FlyFishers, armed with a Joan Wulff Special,  braved the chilly, drizzly and overcast weather and entered the river - (which was rip-roaring at more than double the average flow). Undaunted by difficult conditions, Pammie Pacciocco, who hails from Ontario, Canada, and traveled down for the contest, managed to catch a beautiful brown trout near the head of the pool - and won the contest! Pammie noted that her Joan Wulff Special “suited the occasion” - was swept down in the current and was taken below the surface. Later that evening, Joan Wulff herself joined the enthusiastic group of women via Zoom, thanks to friend and neighbor, Phil Street, with a champagne toast and joyous singing of “For She’s A Jolly Good Fellow!” Each member in turn was able to say a personal word and chat with Joan, after which a poem was read by Joan to all the members, and well wishes were expressed all around. 

On Saturday two very special presentations were given at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center’s Wulff Gallery. The Catskill Fly Tyers Guild held their monthly meeting on Saturday morning, with dozens of fly tyers set up on the tables lining the Wulff Gallery. Anticipation was high to see the guest speaker, Charlie Collins, known by fly-tyers as the Premiere raiser of top-quality hackle chickens, and to have what may be the last opportunity to buy Collins Hackle feathers directly from Charlie. In fact, a table that was filled with the beautiful capes offered for sale was depleted in minutes, scrapped up by eager purchasers who had been champing at the bit for the opportunity. Charlie gave a wonderful talk to a packed standing-room audience, who hung on his every word, as he described how he first became involved in raising hackle chickens almost 50 years ago. Interestingly, he mentioned contacting Ed Van Put, after reading an article about Ed that said he raised his own roosters for fly-tying, descended from Harry Darbee’s birds. The two corresponded and Ed put him in touch with Dr. Alan Fried (“Doc Fried”, the beloved Livingston Manor country doctor) who had supplied Ed with top-quality hackles and who took over raising many of Harry Darbee’s birds after Harry’s passing.  Charlie picked up his first chickens from Doc Fried in 1979, and created over the next 42 years what became one of the finest hackle businesses, known as Collins’ Hackle Farm, incubating and raising thousands of hackle chickens each year until 2022, when family medical issues surfaced and required his full attention. For more than 40 years, Collins Hackle was renowned worldwide among fly tiers who appreciated his high-quality feathers - quills that are thin but flexible enough not to break or twist when tied onto a hook, and yet had short, stiff barbs - as well as his efforts in furthering the genetic breeding lines of these hackle birds that originated from Harry Darbee.  Charlie described his typical days, often rising at 1:00 am and spending time in the barns with his birds, going to bed early each evening, and repeating the regimen each day. He related that even though it was hard, at times dirty work, he loved what he did and looked forward to each morning - and never felt as though he worked a day in his life. Many amusing anecdotal stories were told to a most appreciative audience who listened with rapt attention. 

Later that afternoon, the Wulff Gallery was again filled with an appreciative audience who came to meet author David Atwood and enjoy his presentation titled “An Evening With Chip Stauffer” based on his recent biography An Angler For All Season, The Scrapbook of Willis K. “Chip” Stauffer. Chip was an expert and extremely well-connected fly-fisher from what was considered the “Golden Age” of fly-fishing in America.  As with Charlie Collins earlier in the day, David spoke at length without reading a single note. He entertained the audience with a presentation that included numerous slides of Chip, his wife Marge and good friends - including “local” residents Roy Steenrod, Herm Christian, Art Flick, and Bill and Martha Chandler. Dave related a story of a young Jim Liesinring and his friend on a fishing excursion in 1889, during which the two polished off two quarts of Old Overholt (1810) Whiskey. To augment the tale, Dave had poured several shot glasses of the same Old Overholt whiskey he offered to the audience so that all could toast these early fly-fishers. 

It was interesting to see photos, memorabilia  and handwritten diary entries of trout fishing here on the Beaverkill, Willowemoc and Neversink,  and bass fishing on the Delaware dating back from the turn of the century. 

Both presentations were well done, well received, and greatly enjoyed, for the opportunity to be reminded of the rich history of our sport, reminisce about friends and familiar names here in the Catskills and take a welcomed walk down memory lane.