In 2015, Bill Cash received a copy of “50 Best Tailwaters to Fly Fish” as a gift from his wife. To many anglers, this book would have served as an inspiration for a destination fly fishing trip or two, but for Bill, it was a roadmap and a personal challenge. Bill is a retired high school music teacher and band director from Catskill, NY, but the desire for adventure runs deep in his family, which made his decision to check all 50 tailwaters off his list an easy sell.

Luckily for Cash, his best friend relocated to Colorado, home to more than a couple of the fabled waters in his guidebook. “While my buddy Marty and I had fished some of the eastern tailwaters, his ‘open door policy’ and love of fishing gave me a chance to expand my fishing opportunities well beyond the east. The yearly tailwater trips began. I also wanted to re-establish a connection with my late dad’s family in North Dakota. “Yearly three-week road trips to that state plus Colorado and beyond have provided wonderful opportunities to see the country and, of course, fish. The book has been my guide … in fact, any time our family members need rides anywhere, I grab the book and find the nearest tailwater,” he noted.
So far, Bill Cash has hit 25 out of the book’s top 50 tailwaters. How many have you hit?
To read more about Bill and his tailwater adventures, check out this article!