My Teachers

Ed Van Put was featured in the obit column of the New York Times last week, with a photo of him and former President Jimmy Carter fishing together in the Catskills. It was appropriate since Carter was being honored by the world upon his recent passing. Ed Van Put was more than a guide to Presidents. He guided and taught many of the not-so-famous who sought to be fishermen, like me. When I started out learning the sport my first stop was a visit to Beaverkill Lodge in the Catskills. For those who follow my column, I have written from time to time about my early days of fly fishing in the Beaverkill stream. It was Ed whom I sought as a guide after reading his books on fly fishing. It was also Ed who instilled in me the practice of “catch and release” to preserve the fish for another day and another fisherman.

Reading about Ed’s life and his many contributions to fly fishing and the environment allowed me to think back for a few moments on the many teachers in my life who steered me at important times. In high school in western New York, there were guidance counselors like Ray Iman, who set goals for me that seemed beyond my reach and encouraged me to pursue a college education. In my first year at Rutgers there was a graduate student who taught my freshman English class. He gave this dyslexic pimpled kid the confidence to read and write. In 1962, during law school, there was a sole practitioner in New Brunswick, New Jersey, who offered me a summer job and my first case: to defend his speeding ticket. When I decided to move to East Hampton and go on my own, there was a local attorney, Bob Osborne, who sat me down and explained how law was “practiced” in Eastern Long Island. And, of course, when I seriously started fly fishing, there were the numerous guides who helped me along, starting with Ed Van Put. Over the years there were many others, in Patagonia, New Zealand, Chile, Alaska, Iceland. In Wales, my special guide friend Paul Reddish joined me on many fishing adventures. Though Ed van Put may be recognized for spending a day on a stream with a former President, he was a man’s man who convinced this young lawyer that fishing was a sport to excel in, one that would be forever.