Fountains of Youth – Classic trout flies that have withstood the test of time … flies that remain “forever young”

by Rusty Dunn

Ask historically minded fly anglers where the meth­ods and traditions of fly fishing in America originated, and most will probably reply the Catskill Mountains of New York state.  The Catskills were the cradle of Ameri­can fly angling, but an often overlooked area of east­ern Penn­sylvania would rightfully be called the birth­place.  Before the Catskills were famous for trout, leading American fly anglers fished the streams of eastern Penn­syl­va­nia’s Pocono Mountains near the village of Henryville.  Theodore Gordon, the Catskill angling leg­end, was but a babe-in-arms when Henryville’s Brod­head Creek and its tributaries were the place to be for American trout fishing.  Limestone spring creeks of “The Brodheads” held abundant native brook trout and attracted large numbers of eastern fly anglers in the mid-19^th century.  Henryville was then the center of high profile fly fishing in America. Read More