The Catskill Fly Fishing Center & Hall of Fame is looking for nominations from the public for the Fly Fishing Hall of Fame.

Those who have verbally suggested a nomination to a member of the staff or the committee must do so in writing for the candidate to be considered.

Since its inception in 1985, the Fly Fishing Hall of Fame Committee (HOFC) has inducted more than 70 members who have significantly enhanced the culture of fly fishing. Individuals have been nominated in good faith by members of the fly fishing community. Nominations are accompanied by a brief review outlining the candidates most important contributions. Upon receipt of nominations the HOFC reviews and weighs the merits of all nominees and selects a class for the current year. All nominations are retained for future review.

The criteria used by the Nominating Committee in selecting the inductees to the Hall of Fame are as follows:

* Inductees may be living or dead.

* Inductees must have made substantial contributions to the sport of fly fishing on a national or international basis in one or more of the following areas:

1. Furthering the understanding or care of the aquatic habitat;

2. Innovations of fly fishing techniques, tackle, flies or other elements of the sport;

3. Furthering appreciation for or knowledge of the practice of the sport.

* Inductees may be anglers, guides, scientists, conservationists, fishing industry leaders or in other appropriate roles.

* The Committee shall decide on the number of persons to be inducted each year.

* The staff of the Center shall, in consultation with the chair of the Committee, provide to the members of the Committee information with respect to each nominee.

Mail  forms to Dave Brandt, 239 West St., Oneonta, NY 13820 or email to jkovach@cffcm.com.

Details on the induction will be published later.

Jeffrey Antonucci will sign copies of his book “Deep Within a Blueberry Sky,” at Catskill Flies, 6 Stewart Avre., Roscoe, NY, on Saturday, July 6, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Thanks to Jeffrey and Joe Rist of Catskill Flies, $5 from each book sold Saturday will be donated to the Catskill Fly Fishing Center & Museum.

According to the website inspiredworks.net, “Deep Within a Blueberry Sky” exemplifies the quintessential elements of what the selfless acts of giving and teaching, both profound offerings of love really signify and the tremendous good that comes as a result.

Fishing and the Catskills figure in the story that “Poppy Tom and, as we come to realize, his now deceased wife Grandma Jennie, designed for their granddaughter. The reader is escorted along with Sarah through a world where good grows on trees like so many green leaves and there are no-limits to what one can do, as long as they believe in themselves, in spite of any challenges they may think they have and what a jaded world says they have,” according to the website.

Jeffrey J. Antonucci followed in the footsteps of his father, uncle, and grandfather, all master tradesmen, by working in construction as a bricklayer. It wasn’t until the idea for this story came to Jeff, as he tells it, like a slideshow before his eyes, that he ever even thought of writing, what would become, this novel.

Up until that point, Jeff’s writings consisted of small personal pieces and poems for family members and friends. In addition, for the time he was employed as a senior facilities manager for a European corporation, Jeff composed email communications that were creative and fun to read, yet conveyed information that was pertinent to the safety and well-being of the 400-plus people that worked at that facility.

Jeff attributes his ability to write this story, which speaks to the infinite power of love, to the love and devotion given to him by his incredible parents, Sarah and Thomas, to his four brothers and their beautiful families, to all of his extended family, and to so many friends that, to Jeff, are like family, too. He also attributes it to the immense love, support, and unflinching commitment given to Jeff by his wonderful and amazing wife and children, and their little dog, for not only this endeavor, but for always and forever.

A supporter of the CFFCM, Jeff was among the volunteers who helped on the recent project to replace planks on the bridge.

Tom Morgan Rodsmiths will be teaching a week-long bamboo rod building class the week of Sept. 22, with an emphasis on using the Morgan Handmill. Participants will choose one of Tom’s tapers and learn hollow fluting, swelled butts, ferruling techniques, handle shaping, wrapping and go home at the end of the week with a finished rod.

Class limited to 4 people. 

For more information or to place a deposit visit tommorganrodsmiths.com and search “trips/classes.” 

Livingston Manor hosted the 15th Trout Parade on Saturday, June 8, 2019. Photos by Kelly Buchta.

Matt Supinski, author of The Brown Trout–Atlantic Salmon Nexus: Tactics, Fly Patterns, and the Passion for Catching Salmon, Our Most Prized Gamefish (Skyhorse, 2018). will give a presentation on the evolution and history of the brown trout at the next meeting of the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild on Saturday, June 15, at 1 p.m. in the Wulff Gallery at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center & Museum.

Supinski will trace the species from its origins in Europe and the Eastern Hemisphere to its first North American transplanting in 1883. He will discuss the remarkable adaptability and resilience of the brown trout, tactics for targeting the species, fly patterns, and other information need to catch this magnificent fish and to admire its legacy.
Supinski is also author of Selectivity: The Theory and Method of Fly Fishing for Fussy Trout, Salmon, and Steelhead (Stackpole/Headwaters, 2014) and Steelhead Dreams: The Theory, Method, Science and Madness of Steelhead Fly-Fishing (Frank Amato, updated edition, 2013). He is a fly-fishing guide, outfitter, instructor, lodge owner and operator, writer and photographer, and trained chef from Newaygo, Mich.

In this recent episode of the Orvis Fly Fishing Guide Podcast, Tom Rosenbauer talks with Evan Lavery of The Beaverkill Angler in Roscoe, New York.

“The topic of our podcast is hatches of the freestone rivers of the Catskills, in particular the Beaverkill and Willowemoc Creek. These are rivers rich with tradition and also rich with a diverse insect population.”

Evan recently became a trustee of the Catskill Fly Fishing Center & Museum.

The Livingston Manor Trout Parade returns Saturday, June 8. (Photo from Livingston Manor Trout Parade Facebook Page)

The Livingston Manor Trout Parade will be held Saturday, June 8, in downtown Livingston Manor. The parade starts at 11 a.m.

Created to bring together the Livingston Manor region and the Catskills at large, the Trout Parade is an annual street fair celebrating the community, held the second Saturday each June.

Click here for the Catskill Arts Society’s information on the event.

Watch the Livingston Manor Trout Parade Facebook page for updates.

For information email troutparadeinfo@gmail.com

The Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum (CFFCM) will hold its Annual Meeting, followed later that evening by the Annual Dinner and Auction on Saturday, May 25.

The members meeting, open to all museum members, will begin at 10 a.m. in the Wulff Gallery. Members may vote on new trustees for the board, and hear updates on activities and the Center’s fiscal position. That will be followed by the trustees meeting.

The input of members is important to the center. All members are invited to attend. Members will elect new trustees to the board, review the center’s financial position and receive updates on activities for the 2019 season. The board will then hold its annual trustee meeting.

Everyone is invited to stay for the afternoon, take in new exhibits, and fish a bit at Wulff Run in the Willowemoc (with a New York fishing license, of course).

The annual dinner follows that evening at the newly updated  barn at The Arnold House in Livingston Manor.

Tickets are $65 per person, with reserved tables of 8 seats available for $600. (Note: This is a change from the original configuration.)

Click here to make an online reservation.

Click here for a printable reservation form

The reception and cocktail hour start at 5:30 p.m. so everyone will have a chance to peruse the bucket raffle, as well as silent and live auctions, while mixing with friends. Dinner begins at 6:30 p.m.

Among the auction premiums that will be offered throughout the dinner are the following:

• A shadowbox containing two flies tied by Lee Wulff

• Three days and two nights at the world famous Salmon River Tailwater Lodge

• Fishing with Catskill Legend Dave Brandt

• A day of fishing on the private waters of the Debruce Club

• Day of fishing in Montana with Hall of Fame member Bob Jacklin

• and many works of fishing art, fishing gear, along with home and outdoor goods for the angler and non-angler alike.

“This is a wonderful opportunity to have a great meal, bid on unique auction items and support the largest and most encompassing fly fishing center in the world,” said Honorary Dinner Chairman Ross Francis.

Businesses that would like to donate an item for the auction should also contact the office.

Chasing the Taper, an intimate film that examines the obsessive and vanishing art of bamboo fly rod making, through the eyes of some of the greatest living rod makers in the world — Marc Aroner, Per Brandin, Dana Gray, Dennis Menscer, Rick Robbins and Bob Taylor — will be shown in New Haven this week.

The screening will be held Thursday, May 16, at 4:45 p.m. at Gateway Community College, 20 Church St., New Haven, as part of the New Haven Film Festival.

Click here to purchase tickets.

Parts of Chasing the Taper were filmed at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center & Museum. Click here for more about the movie.

You can find more about Chasing the Taper on Instagram and Facebook.

Watch the trailer here.

Rodmaker Kathy Scott discusses her book The Letters to Everett Garrison, which opens the pages to his life through correspondence.

Kathy and Dave Van Burgel return to the Catskill Fly Fishing Center & Museum for their popular rodmaking class Saturday August 31, through Thursday, September 5. The 2019 class is full, but it’s not too early to think about taking their September 2020 class. Watch the website for information.

Learn about The Letters to Everett Garrison in this video filmed at the 2018 Catskill Rodmakers Gathering.

It has been 10 years passed since the gala opening of Made in Japan, presenting tenkara by inviting Dr. ishigaki. At that time, almost nobody in the world searched the word of "tenkara" by google search engine. Now it became so popular internationally.

To celebrate a decade of the permanent exhibition of Made in Japan at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center & Museum, Misako Ishimura will do a presentation about Japanese old flies, which will be added to the Made in Japan exhibition. You will be able to see the flies before they will be presented inside the case on the wall of the Museum.  

Misako will do a PowerPoint presentation about Japanese old flies, including tenkara,how they differ from flies around the world.

The event will be held Saturday, May 18, at 10 a.m. in the Wulff Gallery. After a lunch break, the event moves outside at 1 p.m., where Misako will answer questions illustrated by demonstrations based on skills she honed fishing around the world.

The fee is $20, which includes lunch. Click here to reserve your space.

Questions can be directed to Misako Ishimura at  misakoishimura@gmail.com.

Congressman Antonio Delgado of New York’s 19th District donned waders and a vest, and with the help of a few lessons from Jeff Phelan waded into Wulff Run near the bridge to the Catskill Fly Fishing Center & Museum to make the first cast of the 2019 trout season.

Delgado drifted a traditional Catskill Royal Wulff to commemorate the region and its fly fishing history.

After a few chilly casts, Delgado was invited to return to the Willowemoc when the weather warms.

He joined others at the CFFCM gift shop, where he read a proclamation in honor of soon-to-be-inducted Catskill Legend Agnes Van Put, who was serving her soups.

Degado also visited the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild at its Rendezvous in the Wulff Gallery.

Click above to watch a video.

Makers showed off their rods, anglers practiced casting bamboo, and friends caught up with each other at the Catskill Cane Revival on Saturday, April 6.

About 50 people gathered at Roscoe High School for the event, held in the gym as winter turns to spring and the weather warms.

Click above to watch a video from the event.

The Catskill Fly Tyers Guild will hold its annual Rendezvous in the Wulff Gallery from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. All are welcome to meet the tyers and learn their craft.

The Guild is starting a Catskill Kids on the Fly chapter that will meet at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum at 10 a.m. before the Guild’s regularly scheduled meetings. 

All tying equipment and tying materials will be supplied for the sessions. All sessions are open to kids of all ages, including parents regardless of tying experience.

The inaugural meeting will take place during the Opening Day festivities at the Fly Tyers Rendezvous on April 6 at the museum. 

The inaugural session will be open throughout the Rendezvous. This initiative reflects the guild’s efforts to coordinate better its activities with those of the museum.

The official First Cast, featuring Congressman Antonio Delgado (D-19th), will take place at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, April 6, at the Wulff Run, next to the bridge to the center.

At 10 a.m., return to the Gift Shop for a cup of Agnes Van Put’s famous soup, coffee and cookies. The Museum and Gallery will be open.

The Catskill Cane Revival will be held from 9 a.m. to noon at the Roscoe High School Gym. Bamboo rod afficionados will loosen their arms and practice story-telling just up the bend from Keener’s Pool. Bring a bamboo rod of your own or try one of ours. See some old friends and meet some new ones. Bring a friend or a kid you want to get hooked and we’ll put a cane rod in their hand.

There will be tours of the Bamboo Rod Shop in the Wulff Gallery during the afternoon.

The smiling face synonymous with the Catskill Fly Fishing Center & Museum, and the man behind Catskill Flies will officially be named Catskill Legends April 13.

Agnes Van Put, who continues to be a presence at the CFFCM gift shop, and the late Dennis Skarka will be inducted into a group that continues the fly angling legacy so woven into the history and culture of the Catskills.

The Legends Dinner will be held at Rockland House in Roscoe on Saturday, April 13. Cocktails begin at 5 p.m., followed by dinner at 6. Tickets are $50 for CFFCM members and family of the honorees, $60 for non-members and $100 for patrons. Tables can be purchased for $500. There will be raffles and auctions.

Since the inception of the museum, Agnes has been part of it. She’s still making her jam which can still be purchased at the gift shop, and her soups warm those who brave the early spring cold for the CFFCM’s first cast each April.

“Every special event we have is greeted by the question, ‘Will Agnes be there?’ when people RSVP,” CFFCM Managing Director John Kovach said.

Dennis Skarka, from his downtown Roscoe store Catskill Flies, was a go-to source for information on where the big trout were and what they were eating. The guide and master fly tyer died Feb. 3, 2019.

Click here to purchase tickets online for the 2019 Legends Dinner.

Click here for a downloadable form you can mail to the Center.

The 2018 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony & Dinner is scheduled for Saturday November 3rd, 2018.  To submit nominations for the 2018 class, please complete the Nomination Form and submit back to CFFCM at office@cffcm.com.

2018 Hall of Fame Nomination Form

The event will be located in the museum. The induction ceremony will be held from 1pm to 2 pm, and the reception will be held from 2pm to 4 pm.

More than 100 Rodmakers gathered at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center & Museum Sept. 7-9 for the 24th Annual Catskill Rodmakers Gathering. It was a wonderful weekend, organized By Chris Bogart, aided by a numerous group of volunteers with the special help of Erin Phelan.

The weekend was filled with interesting programs, exu-berant comradery and all-things-everything-bamboo excitement. There were great presentations by David Serifin, Chet Croco, Chris Bogart, Peter Jones, Willis Reid, Jed Dempsey, Jerry Girard, Tom Smithwick, “Beetle” Bob Wil-liams, Tom McDonnell, and Art Leclair.

The weekend kicked off with the potluck dinner on Friday night and the Demarest Challenge was held on Saturday morning, with first place going to Frank Payne, followed second by Kyle Letsche, and Aaron Weiner coming in third! Saturday also included Kathy Scott’s book release of the hard-cover edition of “Letters to Everett Garrison,” which is now available at the Center, and of course, ending with Dave Fitch’s famous barbecue and the unforgettable auction led by Rick Miller.

Also, thanks to Mike Canazon for all of his help with the event.

Plans are already underway for next year’s event, which will be the 25th Annual Rod-makers Gathering.

Chet Croco demonstrating the rod making methods used at Bellinger.

Kathy Scott talks about her book, The Letters to Everett Garrison, at the 24th annual Catskill Rodmakers Gathering, which drew more than 100 enthusiastic rod builders to the Catskill Fly Fishing Center & Museum Sept. 7-9. Scott's book on the legendary rod maker is available at the CFFCM book shop, and an interview with Scott will be posted at cffcm.com.

Jerry Girard displays a segment of a Leonard rod during a talk on the historic rod maker given at both the 24th annual Catskill Rodmakers Gathering and the conference of Leonard rod enthusiasts that followed the gathering.

First Annual Emerging Anglers Dinner at Beaverkill Valley Inn

CFFCM celebrates with the 1st Annual Emerging Anglers Dinner at the historic Beaverkill Valley Inn.  You are invited to join the CFFCM in a spirited night fueled by great food and fun intended to celebrate the youthful energy of the Catskills fly fishing community.  There will be a multi-course plated dinner, an open bar with proud local spirits and brews, and DJ'd dance party post dinner.  All proceeds are to benefit the Catskill Fly Fishing Center & Museum.  Smart Attire requested. 

Aperitivo Hour starts at 6:30pm.  Dinner at 7:30pm

Saturday September 15th, 2018

The Beaverkill Valley Inn, Lew Beach, NY

$250 a Seat/$2000 for a Table of Eight

Call the office or email office@cffcm.com to make your reservations!