Catskill Rivers ─ Birthplace of American Fly Fishing

Catskill Rivers is the story of the ?birthplace of the American fly fishing.” Readers will discover this birthplace in such hallowed trout streams as the Beaverkill, the Willowemoc, the Neversink, the Delaware, the Esopus, and the Schoharie. While originally published in 1983, Catskill Rivers remains the definitive study of these fabled waters and the remarkable people who created the American fly-fishing tradition.

Painstakingly researched and imaginatively told, readers will also get an unforgettable survey of the early river industries, including rafting, sawmills, tanneries, and wood-acid factories, as well as at the early days on these classic trout waters, where George LaBranche, in Sparse Gray Hackle’s words, ?adapted the dry fly to fast water and started an angling revolution.” Along with numerous historical glimpses into the many sociological forces surrounding the Catskill Rivers, readers will see many early, famous flyfishers take to these waters, including ?Uncle Thad” Norris, Seth Green, Theodore Gordon, Herman Christian, Roy Steenrod, Sparse Gray Hackle, and many more.

This historically accurate and beautifully written glance back into the early days of the Catskill Rivers will have both fishermen and nonfishermen wanting even more.

Austin M. Francis is a noted angling historian and biographer as well as an acknowledged authority on the history of Catskill fly fishing. He has a home in the Catskill Mountains, where he has fished there for more than forty-five years. He is also the author of Land of Little Rivers.