February 22nd - Sparse Gray Matter (SGM) Fest Califon Fire House - Califon, New Jersey 10am - 4pm Our 5th year of this great event! This is a road game for us. We team up with Shannon's Fly Shop and leave snow covered Roscoe for New Jersey. All are welcome to come tie flies and/or watch some of...

Its coming up again in 2015! The 10th Annual "Fly Fest" (Fly Fest 2015) will be held on : Date: Saturday Feb. 7th, 2015 (mark it on your calendar) Time: 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Place: Catskill Fly Fishing Center & Museum, Old Route 17, Livingston Manor, N.Y. 12758 This event will occur whether it is...

Dette Trout Flies presents Partridge Fly Tying Days September 13th, 10am - 4pm Catskill Fly Fishing Center & Museum Partridge Fly Tying Days is a fun, casual format for a fly tying show with the objective to promote fly tying through education. The day is filled with demonstrations...

Anyone know? It has been offline [to me anyway] for months. Just wondering, CJ

We are doing it again boys...the mid winter event in Jersey! Shannon's Fly & Tackle and Dettes Flies invites you to our 4th annual Sparse Grey Matter Fly Fest on Sunday Feb. 23, 2014 from 10am to 4 pm. All are welcome to come tie flies and/or watch some of the areas finest tyers. This is an...

These guys put on a really good show for the 2 days. Lots of talent and clinics, they feed you for free and its a great time to be on the water up there anyway. Here is the link to the event... TROUTOBERFEST 2013 at the Beaverkill Angler Stop by if you can, see you there. CJ

It's here again... FLY TYING EVENT SUNDAY FEBRUARY 24, 2013 10AM—4PM CALIFON FIRE HOUSE, MAIN ST, CALIFON, NJ Dette’s Fly Shop & Shannon’s Fly & Tackle, NY & NJ’s oldest fly shops, are sponsoring the Third Annual Sparse Grey Matter Fly Fest at the Califon Fire House, Main Street, Califon, NJ on...

From the Catskill Fly Fishing Museum... Fly Fest is the first event of the new year, February 9th. There back. Once again the museum will come alive with the arrival of 50+ fly tyers for a day of feather bending, clipping and swapping. This is now an annual event under the direction of...

Now that the cooler weather is right around the corner, I pack the wood duck away and pull out the colorful stuff. Getting an assortment of fishing flies ready for who knows when, will be a while before I can catch up to AK and his arsenal, but here is #6 in the series... CJ

You and I were talking about cane salmon rods over the summer, and those Girard sticks were too old and big for my taste, so here's one a little more suited to the salmon river? 11'-3pc, spliced ferrules, hollowed, 9.5oz and tuned up with a scandi compact 420, I can hardly cast it yet but got...

Some of us Catskill guys are holding a tying get-together at Shannons Fly Shop in Jersey. Its going to be in the firehouse across the street, so there is room for everyone to roam around. No cost to attend, there will be coffee and snacks, and alot of guys twisting feathers on hooks all day...

Low and lean...a little diversion from the "Bergman" look! On a Mustad 3399D #8 CJ

Mike Valla has a new dry fly book coming out this November, here is a little overview from Mike himself... -Title is: "The Classic Dry Fly Box". 100 Classics, with brief notes, history, and anecdotes. It's primarily large photos. -Representative classics from the pacific Northwest, to...

Got back from the Shannon's gig an hour or so ago, just wanted to say thanks to the guys who put it on for a great time. Lots and lots of old and new cane to handle, I must have casted 20 myself. A few of my Catskill builder friends, Bob Taylor and Dennis Menscer showed up for some fishing...

Mike Valla just finished a new book on tying Catskill dry flies, with stunning fly photos and loads of Catskill related pictures, many that have never been published before. It has not been released yet, but you can pre-order it through Amazon at a reduced price. I figured with all the Catskill...

A month ago there was a small ceremony for Mark at the club water that he owned in NJ. A bunch of us had our 2nd annual one-fly competition to raise some cash for a permanent marker bearing his name to be placed right next to the stream. I took a few photos through teary eyes, From the left...

I know many from here used to be customers at Delaware River Outfitters in Pennington NJ. Bill was the shop rod repair/builder/wizard, and has, since the closing of DRO, been doing the work in his home shop. The phone number was changed, and I asked him if I could post it on some forums so that...

Got over to Shannons for the first time today, talked to Charlie about the fishing, tying and flyrods...great guy. He spends alot of time in the Catskills, so we hit it off right away. Nice little place they have over there, real pretty town too. I was pleasantly surprised to see they stock...

Are these streams still fishable? I drove by one of them this morning at prime fishing time and didn't see one guy fishing. Are they still stocked? I did see a stocking sign, but didn't get out to check the date. CJ

I happened upon a gray mayfly [dun, just hatched] today while fishing near Stockton NJ, and for the life of me cannot seem to find an exact match in any of my books. I am going to describe it, maybe someone [with more entomology experience] could help me out. It was a standard length # 12...