Art Lee’s books changed the way many anglers approached fly fishing.
The fly-fishing community lost a legendary angler, writer, raconteur, and mentor on July 25, when Catskills fixture Art Lee passed away from a heart attack at the age of 76. Although he had receded from public life for most of the past decade, he was an important figure from the 70s through 90s, authoring three books and for many years writing a column for Fly Fisherman magazine. The New York Times ran a long, interesting obituary of Lee last week, which I highly recommend.
Because he knew Lee well, I asked Tom Rosenbauer to put together a few words of tribute. Here’s what Tom sent me:
Art Lee was one of those eccentric fly-fishing personalities who seem to become less common every year in the age of Instagram fame. He was an absolutely brilliant angler and was the one who first taught me how to fish the giant pools on the lower Delaware. I remember one day when I was fishing to rising rainbows in the middle of the river with size 14 dry flies and 4X tippet, while Art stalked a huge brown trout in shallow water that I would never even have thought of fishing. He caught and landed the beast on a tiny Brassie and 7X. Fishing with Art always involved a preliminary at his house, when he would expound on a topic (or a series of topics) for hours on end. He was always fascinating, even in his long monologues, but the haze of cigarette smoke combined with his dozen cats crawling all over you would make it mandatory to get out of his tiny house and out on the river. And on those outings he would always teach me something valuable.
Click here to read the New York Times obituary by Donald G. McNeil Jr.
He was truly one of the greats.
My lifelong obsession with the dry fly grew from reading his still relevant and valuable books.
I never met this gentleman, but I appreciate his books, which are beneficial for newbies and experienced anglers alike. He leaves a great legacy in Fly Fishing. RIP.
In the mid-1980s I kept running into him in the parking space at Hendrickson’s when I’d make the long drive to fish the Beaverkill. He was always gracious and informative, even though we were essentially strangers. Perhaps my own Richardson chest box (as he wears in the dustjacket pictures above) helped create the bond.
Fishing for Trout with Dry Flies was the first fly fishing book I read. A true classic.
I saved Art’s article on the Usual in Fly Fisherman Magazine entitled ” Oh, the Usual “. His variations of my favorite fly have been an inspiration to me right to this day….
I got the pleasure of meeting him when I was young in the seventies. My dad was friends with him and Chris. We spent lots of time in the Catskills back then. He wrote a couple articles about my dad. Was great listening to them tell stories. Rest easy Art
The first book on fly-fishing was Art Lee’s that I bought back in 1986…the year I started fly-fishing. I drove to the Beaverkill River the following Summer, stayed at the Red Rose Motel then owned by the Pelks… Ironically, just after fishing the pools just below the motel, upon returning back to the motel for breakfast, Mr. Pelk mentioned that I just missed a guy who knew the river quite well.. that person was Art Lee. It would have been a pleasure to have met him. RIP