George W. Harvey

Born a coal miner’s son in the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania, George Harvey learned subsistence fishing from his father. However, his Uncle Ira turned him into a fly fisher. By dismantling flies, he learned their construction. With a handy cache of chicken feathers from his uncle’s meat market, George was ready to craft and sell his own creations at the age of ten. His friendship with the Dean of the Agricultural School at Penn State led him into an angling career. He started the first college-accredited course in fly casting and tying, researched water temperature effects on trout activity, developed leader systems which enhance fly presentation, and participated in the innovative programs devised by the Pennsylvania Department of Fisheries. Techniques of Trout Fishing and Fly Tying (1985) is George’s basic, practical guide to the arts and skills of angling. George Harvey: Memories, Patterns and Tactics, published in 1998, records his experiences and observations fishing spring creeks with the great anglers of his time, and teaching thousands the pleasures of angling.