ED VAN PUT has been an avid fly-fisherman for more than fifty years. He worked as a fisheries professional with New York State for most of those years and wrote several important books on fly-fishing and its history and development in the Catskills: The Beaverkill, Trout Fishing in the Catskills, and The Remarkable Life of James Beecher. His articles have appeared in The Conservationist, Trout, Fly Fisherman, Fly Rod & Reel, Kaatskill Life, and elsewhere. He lives in the Catskills with his wife, Judy.