One of the beautiful things about being very dedicated to the sport of fly-fishing, yet not having a commercial interest or general concern about offending anyone is I can say whatever I want. My day job requires a lot of critical thinking- and the more I am forced to think that way, the more I think that a lot of people don’t do it at all. Things I read today on the topic of fly-fishing often are softball hit pieces that are convenient articles written after a trip has been offered, or a story fits the themes of today. Which makes perfect sense why long time guide and angler Ken Tutalo doesn’t get the credit he deserves. And no, this is not a convenient co-authored hit piece. He doesn’t even know I have written/published this article.
The story isn’t some warm and fuzzy nod of respect. When I first met Ken he was out of his mind. I was like 12 and he was 35-40. In my early fly-fishing days, my dad and I would go to the local angler hangouts to try and get advice from people that looked like they knew what they were doing. On one of these 1990’s occasions, my dad and I ran into Ken. Putting this encounter in context, it was probably 1999-2000, which would have made it one of his earlier years that he was first on the river as a guide. He was a great angler from the start, fishing big streamers, sinking lines, and in conditions that would have objectively been deemed “blown out” by a majority of anglers at that time. People now may say “how could things have been that different then”, but they were. 3000 cfs on the wb in 1998 was blown out. That first encounter with Ken was fitting for that time and phase of his career. He was loud and proud. He had photos on a digital camera of a lot of big fish he had caught, and showed my dad some patterns he was fishing that were huge when compared to what was customarily used at that time. High water in 1998-2000 meant a size 4-6 white zonker, not a 6-8’’ inch articulated black double deceiver. This was before the Kelly Galloup movement began. While Ken’s personality at that time was flamboyant and a lot for my sober 12 year old self to absorb, I still remember that night at the Riverside. Not because I thought he was over the top, but because he was a passionate angler that had taken some really big fish. Maybe I was too young to take his in your face personality personally, or maybe as I got older I learned from my dad not to ever take anything personally from someone who knew more than you. Just learn from them instead.
As I grew older the next 5-10 years, I remember seeing Ken on the water. In short, my “what’s up” gestures generated no response. Not a dick. Not nice. Dude had nothing to say. At this time, this was the typical M.O. from any guide on the river, so I chalked it up to just being that. The situation of me waving or giving a tip of my cap went ignored for maybe 5 years. Then, when I was 18 I started guiding on the river. This didn’t directly mean a thing to Ken, but indirectly led to him viewing me differently. When I started guiding, there were only two guides on the river that were under 40 years old, those two being myself and one of his guides Rich Hudgens. Naturally, when I came across Rich for the first time, we anchored up and started talking as we were both in over our head and working on a river where veterans were not very receptive to us. Over the course of a couple seasons we became friends, and eventually that got back to Ken.
Ironically (or not), it was not until a season or two after I had stopped guiding that Ken anchored his boat to talk to me. I was fishing for fun on our shared river of choice when he approached and dropped anchor. He was with his wife and we had a nice conversation for 5-10 minutes. The conversation was funny in that we both knew a lot about each other although it was the first time we had ever spoken directly. From my standpoint, when Ken pulled anchor and left that day, I smiled and chalked it up to the fact I had finally been fishing the river long enough that a universally known curmudgeon was willing to give me the time of day and talk. I wasn’t mad about the fact the process ensued, but rather appreciated the fact it had taken time to earn the respect of someone that had been around longer than me. Someone that had professionally been guiding the river before I started even fishing the river. An overly friendly person in this sport that tells you everything from the outset either knows less than they tell you, or is trying to sell you something. Someone that holds it in has something worth knowing. Even at 27 years old or so, I was smart enough to understand that, and appreciated that breakthrough moment with Ken for that reason.
After that day, I continued to stay in touch with Ken and continue to do so to this day. In picking his brain, I am continuously impressed with his perceptions on the water. He is a true angler that understands adjustments relating to pressure, habitat change, buglife, and every other variable an angler should be considering. He is incredibly intelligent when it comes to understanding the biology surrounding the river he is fishing and why the fish are behaving a certain way. His intelligence and wit is something people don’t hear about because he doesn’t whore online on the daily or try to buddy up with every other guide- but is nonetheless there and appreciated by his loyal following and clients that he has had for many years- who are catskill legends in their own right that everyone in the region knows that I won’t name here just for personal privacy. His ability to remain a step ahead and to guess right most of the time is a testament to his angling ability. He has landed more “real big fish” than any other guide on the system over the last 15 years and its not even close. All methods. All conditions. All branches. The fact that he doesn’t ask you what your favorite color is each day on FB to get people interacting on his feed and isn’t socialite of the year with the Delaware guide bro staff doesn’t signify anything- and in fact as an angler- his resentment towards it should be something that true anglers rally around rather than hold against him. Are you really the tool of a working professional that feels good about being handed a few “secret” cdc sulphers from a more warming personality and walk away after a high five from the guide sitting in the shop and keep going there for that reason? Wake up.
At a time that I would approximate between 50+% of the guides on the Delaware river system are not qualified to be a “fishing guide” (there are presently over 100 licensed guides on the Delaware River System which has more than doubled since 2010), Ken Tutalo is inarguably a top 3 guide on the river- if not the best when it comes to getting clients into both numbers and big fish. I have not been shy about the influence and impact John Miller had on my development as an angler, but to be fair its difficult if not impossible to distinguish these two when it comes to their ability and talent as both anglers and guides on the river. The definition and bar for a fishing guide has been lowered on trout waters across the country over the last 10 years on a supply and demand basis. More people that want to fly fish= the need for more “guides” to fill and service that demand. The result has been a drastic lowering of the bar of what it means to be a “fishing guide” and the experience required before taking on that role. Marketing, photos, and general noise has blurred that line even further, as the people who put themselves out there the most in a way that 2022 requires, ultimately get the business. But as I’ve said before, has it really come to exploiting your fishery on a daily basis online or being the ugly duckling? Ironically, He has trained MOST of the other top 25 guides on the system to date. His perspective is unique and his approach to the circumstances each season offers makes him a dynamic angler that very few anglers can understand, let alone appreciate. From fly tying, to where he fishes and when, to how he runs his program, he is a Delaware legend whether the Catskill fishing community wants to recognize that or not. Its not a popularity contest, its objectively about ability, and from someone who has been on the river for 25 years and approached this sport very seriously I can first hand say that Ken Tutalo is one of the best anglers to EVER guide and fish the rivers we enjoy here in the Catskill mountains. If you are a client reading this- ask yourself what do you hire a guide for? Are you paying for a friend like a hooker for friendly company? Or are you paying for someone that is going to show you new tactics and get you into top end fish? The WORST guides on the river right now are the nicest people on the river that somehow continue to remain busy, which suggests to me that clients are favoring this factor/ thinking this way. I’m here to make you feel weird about it with the hooker analogy. Get with the program and stop paying for friends while actively being in a drift boat treating the fishing as secondary. A guide that consistently gets you into fish and better fish is your friend. If I didn’t think you had something to gain from this I wouldn’t write this piece. Over and out.