HISTORY OF AN OBSESSION: A Short History of Fly Fishing Part 2

Ron Evans - 2026-08

Installment 2 – People and Personalities

Like any obsession (read the Feather Thief if you want an insight into those obsessed with salmon flies) fly fishing has attracted its share of eccentrics, curmudgeons, and genuinely nice people. What I hope to do in this installment is to highlight a few of each.  A comprehensive exploration of those who have made a noteworthy contribution to fly fishing is beyond my scope or interest.  (I’ve always been accused of being a mile wide and an inch deep.)

Historical People

In the history of fly fishing there are characters whose personalities are a mystery because they lived too early to be analyzed.  However, they have made very significant contributions and deserve to have a prominent place in any history of our obsession. 

At the top of the list are Issac Walton and Charles Cotton.  Walton was a wealthy London merchant who was fascinated by the rural, contemplative life including fishing. In 1653, he published The Complete Angler which explored and promulgated the virtues of country living.  The Complete Angler was extremely successful and has been in continuous print since 1653.

Charles Cotton and Walton were fast friends and fishing buddies although there were 38 years between them.  Cotton was born into a wealthy family and, by in large, lived a life of leisure.  In the 5th printing of The Complete Angler, Cotton wrote a comprehensive chapter on fly fishing which has stood the test of time as a thorough explanation of the techniques and tackle.  Cotton built a fishing cottage on the banks of the Dove River where he and Walton would stay and which people rent today

If for some unfathomable reason you want the read it, make sure to get an edition that is translated from old English. 

Luminaries

While it is extremely subjective, in my mind, there are only a handful of people I would consider for a fly fishing Mt Rushmore. 

Let’s start with an obvious luminary – Lefty Kreh.  Lefty probably introduced more people to fly fishing and fly casting than anyone.  He was gregarious, extremely likable, and he was a helluva fly caster.  Lefty started out as a righty but after injuring his right arm he taught himself to cast left handed.  At a fly fishing show, I saw Lefty cast 60+ feet of line with his arm, no rod. Then he had a neophyte casting 60 ft after only 5 minutes of instruction.

Lee Wulff is on my mountain because he was a master at innovation.  He invented the fishing vest and the Wulff family of flies.  He was an accomplished bush pilot who was hired by the government of Labrador to investigate the fishing at remote streams and lakes accessible only by seaplane. It’s a tough gig to fish virgin water for trout and salmon. He originated the popularity of catch and release with the statement “a fish is too valuable to be caught only once”.  Along with his wife, Joan, he started a fly fishing school in New York’s Catskill mountains which is still operating.  Lee definitely belongs next to Lefty.

I am not bowing to political correctness when I add Joan Wulff to the Rushmore line-up. As mentioned above, she and Lee founded the casting school in the Catskills and she ran the school after Lee’s death in a plane crash in 1991.  She practiced what she preached when at a demonstration she made a 161ft cast which stood as a record for either sex for quite a while.  Until her death in 2023 at the age of 97 she still showed up occasionally at the school to make sure the instructors are true to her methodology’

The last person to occupy my mountain is Joe Brooks.  Through his books and articles he opened a number of iconic locations to fly fishing including Alaska, Patagonia, New Zealand and the mountain west.  In addition he was one of the pioneers who explored saltwater fly fishing for tarpon in the Keys. Arguably, his greatest contribution is the people he influenced including mentoring Lefty Kreh.

Obviously there are others who would be included if we expanded our Rushmore to 6 or 8. One would be Dave Whitlock who championed warmwater fly fishing and popularized the use of spun deer hair.  Also, I’d include Ernie Schwiebert whose writings and art work took a scholarly perspective.  Schwiebert’s opus magnum is a 2 volume 1000 page written description and artwork of nymphs.  I have a copy although admittedly 100 pages into it, I already had more information on nymphs than I ever wanted

Eccentrics

The eccentrics pose, in my mind at least, the most interesting group of personalities in the history of fly fishing. They range from hermits to loquacious extroverts, from the kinda cute characters to maddening blowhards. 

Let’s start with the kinda cute.  Theodore Gordon lived from 1854 to 1915.  He is generally recognized as the father of American fly fishing.  From an early age, Gordon suffered from TB and he moved to the Catskills to improve his health.  While there he became somewhat of a hermit and he corresponded with F. M. Halford, the dean of English fly fishing (more on Halford later).  Halford sent Gordon some dry flies for English chalk streams which Gordon reversed engineered to determine how they were tied.  Gordon then adapted the technique to the streams he fished in the Catskills.  While Gordon lived a hermetic lifestyle, he was not anti-social.   He shared his knowledge and flies through extensive articles in the fishing rags of the day.

A less well known eccentric is Jack Gartside.  Gartside was a fanatical salt water fly fisher who structured his life around fishing.  He worked as a cab driver in Boston so he could tie flies in his cab during slow times and fish for stripers as often as possible.  He was taught fly tying by Ted Williams, the famous Redsox outfielder who also was a fanatic fisherman, and Gartside became an innovative salt water fly tyer.  The patterns he invented include the Gartside Gurgler and the Gartside leech.  He is credited with inventing more than 100 patterns which are on display at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center.  (If you get the chance, I strongly recommend a visit,)

Now for the less cute.  FM Halford was the self appointed dean of English fly fishing.  He was a purist’s purist in that he vociferously preached that the dry fly was the only sporting way to trout fish.  He had a long standing and very heated debate with GEM Skues.  Skues  had observed that trout fed sub surface more than on surface flies, and propounded fishing with nymphs.  Halford would have none of it and attacked Skues personally as well as the proposition that nymph fishing was a legitimate way to catch trout.

Vince Marinaro was a successful lawyer in the limestone region of south central Pennsylvania. He fished the limestone streams in the area extensively and was a shrewd  observer of fish behavior.  Along with Charlie Fox, Marinaro first tied and fished terrestrials.  What qualifies him for the less cute category of eccentrics is being a curmudgeon who did not suffer ignorance and who had strong opinions on most things.

From Fly fishermen to Fly Fishers

The growth in the popularity of fly fishing among women is a welcome trend and the contribution of women to the sport can be under appreciated.   In addition to Dame Juliana, who was recognized in the first installment of this article, and Joan Wulff, recognized above, a number of women have made noteworthy contributions.

Mary Orvis Marbury was the daughter of the founder of Orvis Company and was in charge of fly tying for the company for many years.  In 1892 she published Favorite Flies and Their Histories which documented nearly 300 patterns and became the standard reference for fly tying.

 Helen Shaw elevated fly tying to a craft. She was one of the first professional fly tyers and became a celebrated teacher and author. Her book Fly Tying published in 1963 became a bible for fly tyers.  If Mary Orvis Marbury documented the patterns for American fly tying, Helen Shaw established the structural tradition of fly tying.

There are several contemporary women who are making important contributions to fly fishing.  April Vokey has become a prominent contributor to fly fishing, especially for women.  She founded Fly Gals focused on teaching women to fly fish.  She has a popular pod cast, Anchored, and is viewed as an authority on spey casting.  Hillary Hucheson was a founder and host of Trout TV, and she owns a fly shop in Montana. She has become especially noteworthy in her advocacy for river protection, access to public lands and climate issues. The final entry for my list of prominent women is Maxine McCormick.  She is casting phenom who at age 12 set the women’s record for casting distance and at the age of 14 made a 161ft. cast at a demonstration equaling that of Joan Wulff,

I hope you enjoyed this brief history of some of the people and personalities who have contributed to our obsession. While many of the people highlighted are authors, I purposely left off prominent authors because they will be the focus of a future installment. 

Fish often and well,

Ron

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A brief autobiography of Ron Evans

I am a member of the TFF board and have been active in TU since the early 70’s.  I have served as president of two TU chapters in PA and am active in several other environmental organizations.  I am 81yo and I got my first fly rod when I was 12.  Those that have seen me cast will vouch that rather than having 69 yrs of experience, I’ve had 1 year of experience 69 consecutive times