Frank Mele

Frank Mele (1911-1996)

A first generation Italian-American, Frank Mele (1911-1996) was a child prodigy with the viola playing for the Rochester Symphony by the age of 18 and later with the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Modern Art String Quartet. As an author he was known through his works in the Quarterly Review of Literature and his books Polpetto and Small in the Eye of the/a River.

As a fly fisher he was a founder of CATSKILL WATERS, a coalition that battled New York City and their volatile fluctuating water releases, that brought stabilized flows to the Catskills and turned its tailwaters into a world-class fishery.

According to author, publisher, and past Hall of Fame inductee Nick Lyons; “Frank was perhaps the most unique and important fly fisher I have known in the half century I spent writing and publishing books and articles in the field.” Mele’s angling friends included Preston Jennings, Art Flick, Harry and Elsie Darbee, and Syracuse rod maker Dan Brenan. Rod makers Jim Payne and Walt Carpenter were also close. Mele’s knowledge of cane rods was extensive, and his expertise was required by Ernest Schwiebert and Martin Keane when they did research for their works. His first edition of 110 copies of Small in the Eye of the River is a collector’s jewel and can be found in the libraries of The Fly Fisher’s Club in London and The Anglers’ Club of New York.

With New York attempting to save drinking water, the city abused the Catskill tailwaters by running the valves fully open or maddeningly closed. Summer releases at times on the East Branch of the Delaware River were 18.5 cubic feet per second from Pepacton Reservoir and 23.1 cubic feet per second from Cannonsville Reservoir to the West Branch of the Delaware while water temperatures soared into the 80s. Winter releases were a quarter of those values. Fish suffered and were stranded, several major fish kills occurred on the Esopus, and anglers started to rebel. During the winter of 1974-1975, Mele rose to the fight and formed a coalition of anglers, conservationists, journalists, scientists, and politicians called CATSKILL WATERS. CATSKILL WATERS took the fight to Albany and during June 1976 the state government voted by one vote for the Department of Environmental Conservation to manage the reservoirs. The result of this has been controlled, stabilized flows that have made the Catskill tailwaters a world class fishery.

Frank Mele passed away 16 November 1996 and friends released his ashes into the East Branch of the Delaware on 6 April 1997. An honorary bench resides at the park by the covered bridge in Downsville permitting anglers to forever watch the rising trout in his beloved river while scrutinizing the releases from the dam.