As books go, the “Streamside Guide” is a small volume, measuring a mere 4 inches by 6 inches with 114 pages, in the first edition. 

Despite the size, it’s the first book to comprehensively cover the main Catskill hatches, with detailed information about all the important species. It’s such a good little book that when I was teaching fly fishing, regardless of where, it was the first reference that I mentioned during my lectures. I went so far as to recommend that every beginning fly fisher obtain a copy.

And because of its small size, it could be put in a Ziploc bag and stored inside the fishing vest. So it was always available in the field to help identify different species of aquatic insects for beginning anglers.

Each chapter is devoted to an important species of mayfly, beginning with quill Gordon and ending with the green drake. Included is a narrative about the life history and the time of hatch, and it is interspersed some of Art’s fishing tales for each species. There is also some reference to very small flies and minnows, when conditions arise that require the use of imitations to match these trout foods.

History has it that Art moved from Kingston to West Kill in 1941 to assume management of the West Kill Tavern, which had been operated by his parents. He and his wife Lita ran the tavern until 1947, when it burned. The Flicks had a house on the corner of Spruceton Road and Route 42, where they raised two boys, Art Junior and Bill. 

Art worked for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) as a forester, while Bill worked for Cornell University doing brook trout research in the Adirondack Mountains.

Art’s favorite river was the Schoharie Creek, which was minutes down the road from his home in West Kill. That’s where he conducted all of the research and made the notes that eventually led to the text for the “Streamside Guide.” Raymond Camp wrote the introduction, in which he explained that Art did not want to write a book, but did so after much cajoling on Camp’s part.

As a member of the Catskill school of fly tying, which included the Darbees, Dettes and Reuben Cross, Art is credited with the invention of the red quill dry fly, which is the male to the Hendrickson. He is also credited with the development of the spider and variant types, including the dun variant, which he fished during Isonychia hatches.

In addition to being an excellent fly fisherman and fly tyer, Art was committed to trout stream conservation. He was one of the first anglers to promote no-kill, catch-and-release fishing. 

He also was deeply involved with Catskill Waters, an organization founded by Frank Mele, which was instrumental in the passage of the Water Releases Legislation in 1976. A few years later, Art played a key role as a member of the Catskill Mountain Chapter of Trout Unlimited (TU), in helping to stop the Prattsville pump storage project that was planned for Schoharie Reservoir by the New York State Power Authority. Had that project been approved, it would have had a significantly negative impact on the Esopus Creek. 

I met Art at a TU meeting with Frank Mele. After the meeting, Lita invited Frank and me to dinner at West Kill. Lita was a master chef, and often served hasenpfeffer, a German dish featuring marinated rabbit and noodles.

Sometime the late 1970s, Art called to advise me that he had been invited by the author John Voelker (aka Robert Traver) to meet on Michigan’s upper peninsula to present a slide series to the local TU chapter, and to fish for brook trout. Art asked if I would mount the slides, which I agreed to do. When he asked how much, it would cost, I replied, “Just a signed card and a red quill dry fly.”

Sadly, Art had a stroke in the early 1980s. He underwent rehab in Albany, where I dropped off Lita every morning on my way to work at the DEC. After completing, his rehab, the Flicks moved back to Kingston, where Art passed away in 1985. As a memorial, the Catskill Mountain chapter of Trout Unlimited placed a very large stone with a plaque in Art’s name next to his beloved Schoharie Creek.

After Art’s death, Frank and I would visit Lita in Kingston and have dinner. But soon, she moved to Livingston, MT to be near her son, Bill, who resided in Paradise Valley. We corresponded during those years. And on my last two trips to Montana in 2001 and 2002, I stopped in to visit Lita and have lunch. 

Lita passed away in December 2002, a few short months after our last visit. She was 99 and was one of the most kind and elegant women that I’ve ever known. I still have her letters.

As a fly fisherman/biologist, I had the opportunity to know both the Darbees and the Flicks. I spent time with both families, but mostly with Art and Lita, at their home in West Kill and later in Kingston, then finally in Montana. All of these wonderful people were pioneers in fly tying, fly fishing and trout stream conservation. It was a privilege to know and call them friends.