Edward Ringwood Hewitt (1866 - 1957)

Born June 20th 1866 into a wealthy family, the young Edward spent his summer childhood years fishing on the family's Ringwood Manor estate in Ringwood, NJ.

By age 26, Hewitt had already fished throughout Europe, Canada, and the American West. In 1918, after Hewitt purchased 2700 acres in the Catskill mountains of New York State which included four and a half miles of the Neversink river, Hewitt established his fishing camp, which in later years would become to be known as the "Big Bend Club". A pioneer in stream reconstruction and habitat improvement for trout. He owned and operated his own trout hatchery. He was the author of such books as "Better Trout Streams", "Telling on the Trout" -published in 1926, "Hewitt's Handbook of Fly Fishing" -published 1933, "Nymph fly fishing" -published 1934, and "A Trout and Salmon fisherman for 75 years" -published 1948.

Few fisherman were ever so favored by fortune as was Edward R. Hewitt. He was the creator of such flies as the Neversink Skater and the Bi-Visible. He is the original patent holder of the felt-sole wading shoe and other inovations.

The Neversink reservoir now sits atop half of his former holdings.