The name Ed Van Put is truly legendary in these Catskills and along the Delaware River. An angler of these rivers for sixty years, our region was saddened by his passing in December. As fellow members of the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild expressed our condolences and support for his wife Judy, she told us that he had reached a final goal, one that was most important to him, before his death. Thanks to Ed’s perseverance and the work and support of his family and friends, he has shared that goal with all of us.
“A Flyfisher’s Revelations” (ISBN: 9781510783331) will be released by Skyhorse Publishing on July 8th. Copies are available in Ed’s hometown of Livingston Manor, New York at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum.
As an author, Ed Van Put has contributed greatly to the history of our region. His previous works: The Beaverkill, Trout Fishing In The Catskills and The Remarkable Life of James Beecher represented a monumental amount of research driven by Ed’s love for the Catskills and their people. Revelations is the product of his love of trout fishing and his decades of time spent along Catskill rivers both as a remarkably effective angler and as a fisheries professional.
This is the book that many Ed Van Put fans asked for, an opportunity for him to share the knowledge acquired in his decades of work for New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation as well as his fifty years spent studying and chasing the magic of trout and fly. Ed kept journals of his fishing, detailing the locations and conditions of all of his fishing days, and recording the flies used and the number, species and origins of the trout taken.
Part of the Van Put legend comes from the fact that he caught remarkable numbers of trout using a very small selection of flies. He was known as the champion of the Adams dry fly, catching seventy percent of the trout taken on a dry fly on that favorite pattern. To begin this book, Ed examined thirty years of his journals in detail to answer his own questions as to what made him so successful in catching trout, taking time to consider these memories and reevaluate the conclusions that shaped his angling techniques.
A Fly Fisher’s Revelations is a lovely read, full of the honesty, honor and humility of a true gentleman angler. Van Put appreciated the beauty and mystery of Nature and never tired of the magic of his immersion in the beauty of a Catskill trout stream. There are lessons to be learned here for each and every angler. They are offered gently, with the kindness and grace of a gentleman. There is no sales pitch, no insistence that this master’s way is the only way to catch a trout. Revelations is more like a quiet, friendly talk with a mentor, one willing to share his passion without any overbearing airs.
Bright Waters Catskill 