Guide Services

We are the best, most experienced professional fly fishing guides in the Catskills. We live and work here, and we know and understand our Catskill rivers very well. Our guides are licensed and insured. We are on the rivers every day throughout the season and are constantly in touch with ever changing fishing conditions and insect hatches. We know which fly patterns and fishing techniques are producing best on any given stream location.

We will tailor your trip to your ability level. Whether you would like to improve your presentation, learn productive nymph fishing, see how to fish multiple fly rigs, identify insects, or just enjoy a day on the stream, we work hard to ensure your success. You will finish each trip a better fisherman.

Walter Ackerman

Walt is a New York State and Pennsylvania licensed guide and holds a U.S. Coast Guard 100 ton Masters License for motor or sail, with international certifications. He is a National Park Service permit holder and is an authorized guide on the Upper Delaware River National Park waters. Walt is an authorized guide at the Beaverkill Valley Inn on the private upper Beaverkill River. He is a member of Trout Unlimited, Theodore Gordon Flyfishers, The Catskill Fly Fishing Museum, the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild, and the American Professional Captains Association.

For the past 8 years Walt has worked exclusively with Catskill Flies and is widely acknowledged as one of the very best guides in the Catskills today. He has a long list of happy repeat clients who return year after year. Walt has been fly fishing and tying trout flies for 43 years, starting enthusiastically at the age of 11. He has been pursuing trout here on our Catskill rivers since 1969, and has acquired an intimate knowledge of every pool, riffle, and run on these famous streams.

Regardless of your ability level; whether you are a motivated 11 year old beginner, or an old experienced hand, Walt is an excellent, patient teacher. Let him know what you would like to learn. He is equally adept at casting tiny dry flies on long fine leaders to sipping browns, or bouncing big weighted stonefly nymphs along the bottom of riffles for wild rainbows. An expert nymph fisherman, he can show you how to fish multiple fly rigs, dropper flies, and the proper use of split shot and strike indicators. Learn how to "match the Hatch" or to "prospect" for trout during those non hatch periods.

Perhaps you would like to sharpen your casting skills, see the use of "spotter flies" and dry fly dropper rigs, or learn how to fish streamers productively. A literate student of the sport, Walt enjoys sharing his knowledge of the streams, their history, their hatches, and the many different ways to fish them.

Walt guides both wade trips and float trips, and a float trip on the Delaware for wild rainbows is always an interesting enjoyable day.

When he is not out guiding, you can find Walt in the shop tying flies for the bins and helping customers with timely advice on fly and tackle selection, or where to look for cooperative trout!

Walt lives on the Beaverkill, near Cooks Falls, from April through October, and you can find him stalking bonefish on the tropical flats of the eastern Caribbean December through March.

Dennis Skarka

Dennis has been a licensed New York State Guide for more years than he has even owned Catskill Flies. For those lucky enough to have taken a wade trip with him, the day is filled with intimate information about our seven (7) rivers and the various characters (some notable) that he has come across in the course of fishing. He has lived in the area for more than twenty (20) years and has been fishing our rivers since 1966. He started fly-fishing at the age of seven (7) when he exchanged his new bike for a fly rod. It is truly his passion and he has been the subject of numerous newspaper articles. Since Dennis spends the winters tying flies for the shop, he is sure to have ideas on fly selection, how to tie and how best to fish a fly when on the water. Amazingly, for those who know his character, he is a most patient teacher of fly fishing techniques and casting skills but is dogged in trying to get each fisherman into fish. He is a member of Theodore Gordon Flyfishers and The Catskill Fly Fishing Center and takes an active role in environmental issues that impact his beloved rivers. The shop makes contributions and donations to numerous causes that help protect our environment.

Tony Trezza

Tony has had a love of fishing all of his life.  He discovered the Catskills a number of years ago, and, as a result, purchased a home on the banks of the Willowemoc Creek where he keeps tabs on every bug, fish and drop of water that flows by his riverside residence. Flyfishing became a daily endeavor which led Tony to become a New York State licensed guide.   His customers enjoy Tony's enthusiasm for the rivers and their wildlife as well as his knowledge of the sport. Tony is also an outdoor writer and photographer.  He is a member                                                     of TGF, TU and CFFCM.