Ray Bergman

Ray Bergman was America’s fisherman. His first book, Trout, was in continuous publication for over 50 years from the first release in 1938, making it one of the ten best selling sporting books ever written. It provided an education to many generations of trout fishermen and continues to be a benchmark in fly fishing history. Traveling over a quarter of a million miles in the United States and Canada, Ray regularly reported of his experiences and shared new found knowledge in Outdoor Life Magazine where he was the angling editor from 1933 to his retirement in 1960. Ray’s book Trout, first published in 1938, became his defining work.  It is one of the ten best selling sporting books ever written and is the only sporting book to be in continuous print for over 50 years.  Ray wrote other books including, Fresh Water Bass in 1942 and With Fly Plug and Bait in 1947.  Ray lived his entire life in Nyack, New York and was a frequent fisherman in all the Catskill rivers and streams.  Ray traveled over 250,000 miles throughout the United States and Canada gathering information on angling.  As a fly tyer, Ray has few peers.  Bythe time Trout was published in 1938, he professed to have tied over 100,000 flies.  In 1952, when the revised edition of Trout was printed, the number had risen to 200,000.  Within this extensive number came creations such as the Squirrel Series Streamers, R.B. Translucent Series, and the Iron Blue Variant.  Many of Ray’s flies are displayed in color plates by Dr. Edgar Burke in his book Trout. Ray will always be remembered as the angling editor of Outdoor Life magazine, a position he held from 1933 until he retired in 1960.