Rip Van Winkle Fly Fishing, Phoenicia NY

Mark gave us a great day of fly fishing. He was knowledgeable, patient and fun. Even with high winds, I celebrated my first rainbow trout catch. Would highly recommend for an outdoor experience!

Mark was extremely knowledgably, patient, and kind. I would recommend him to anyone. He went out of his way to take some photos of us fly fishing. Thx for the great lesson. It was my favorite part of our trip to the Catskills!

Awesome experience top to bottom. I've fished all over the world and the Catskills were on the list. Mark showed the party the full works. Great conversationalist. Knowledgeable on fishing culture and techniques across the globe. This guy is an angling encyclopedia. Highly recommend to anybody and will be back again!

Had a wonderful time fly fishing with Mark. My hat flew off due to the wind and Mark ran after it a good 50 feet down the river (alas it was not to be rescued). Mark is knowledgeable and dedicated to making sure everyone’s enjoying the trip. We caught three smaller rainbows, will be back to catch bigger and more next time!

Warning/Attention to solo women: I rarely write reviews, but today I feel a deep responsibility to prevent what happened to me—or something even worse—from happening to another woman. Do not go with this man unaccompanied by a man or at least another adult. While Mark Klein comes across as charming, smart, and a skilled fisherman, my experience with him was deeply disturbing. I believe he is dangerous. You will see red flags in the other one star reviews here by women, who did not take a solo adult trip with him.

I took my young son on a fishing excursion with him, and we were unaccompanied by another adult. Throughout, his comments to me were inappropriate, and his unwarranted touching made me feel very uncomfortable.

However, the true terror began once the fishing concluded. Instead of a straight route back to my car, he insisted we see his home, driving us down a remote dirt road with an open beer can in hand. My cell phone had no reception. I assumed he meant to drive by it on our way, not 10 minutes further from my car, so I hesitantly said "sure. " After pointing out the homes of celebrities and high-profile families on his road (which I suspect was not true), upon reaching his house, he pressed us to get out for a quick tour. He locked my bag and phone inside his vehicle and distracted my son with his puppy outside. My heart was pounding as he pressured me to explore the house and then the upstairs, "AKA the bedrooms. "

What happened next felt like the beginning of a nightmare. Without delving into distressing specifics, I made it out safely, but I was terrified for both my safety and my son's and feel I avoided a potentially serious situation. I'm certain that his intentions were predatory. The thought of what could have occurred keeps me awake at night.

NO woman should go out with this man without the safety of another adult present, and I strongly recommend that you INSIST on taking your own car. This is going to happen again if he has an opportunity.

To add to the experience, my son caught one small fish, and even though Mark knew we planned on eating it for dinner, he placed it in a baggie in his pocket instead of on ice for the remaining 4-5 hours before he returned us to our car. We both got food poisoning that night.

My wife and I planned an elopement weekend at Emerson Resort and Spa (highly recommend). One of the excursions listed was fly fishing which we were very interested in! We reached out to Mark and from our first interaction we knew we would have a great time. Mark is knowledgeable, patient, and funny! He was so excited about teaching us how to fly fish, it actually made us more excited (I was surprised that was possible!). We had an amazing time on the river, catching several rainbow trout and learning about fly fishing and the area. Mark incorporated our elopement in some of our fishing pics as well! Thank you Mark for showing us such a great time and forever being a part of our wedding day memories! Hope to see you again soon!

- Jim & Robyn

I brought my entire family to Phoenicia to fly fish with MarK. We had such a great time and learned a lot about fishing and the Catskills! The time went by so fast Mark is extremely knowledgeable, funny and entertaining all in one! Highly recommend!

Mark was so informative and patient. It was my first time fly fishing and couldn’t have been better. He’s also hilarious! Can’t wait to come back!

Whether you are a new angler or looking for an introduction to fishing Catskill waters, Mark is the guide you want. He’s knowledgeable, experienced and a great teacher.

Dude was a flat out racist. Talking about how Texas, my home state, was "overrun" with Mexicans. (His words) I don't care if he's the best angler in the Catskills (however coincidentally we got skunked, no fish.) But I'm not okay with anyone talking about my fellow Texans like they are some sort of pests.

I would avoid this charter. Aside from everything else, he was no more helpful than a youtube tutorial could have been anyways.

I am very excited to say that my Rip Van Winkle experience of flyfishing was amazing. The location where we went that fishing took me back to a period in time that I never thought I would see in the state of New York. I have experienced deep-sea and party boat fishing, but I hadn’t experienced flyfishing. Wow, there’s was a lot to be learned and this man knew exactly how to teach it. It takes skill to flyfish and I mastered it by the end of this trip. Thank you sir. It was a pleasure having you teach me how to flyfish.

Mark made us incredible uncomfortable during our fly fishing trip with him last summer due to several bigoted remarks. He complained about “woke” customers, said some racists things that don’t need repeating, and overall made the whole trip pretty uncomfortable. A word of warning to those who don’t want to be trapped in a river with a bigot.

Mark was great. Highly recommended for beginners and those wanting to improve their skills. We also had a great afternoon.

Mark is a great guide. It was my first time fly fishing and it was great fun. Caught some rainbow trout!

I was fly fishing the Esopus with a group of friends from southeast Pennsylvania on a weeklong camping trip. We weren’t having much luck and we ran into Mark of Rip Van Winkle Fly Fishing. He gave us some advice about a few hours before dark one evening and we were suddenly able to catch a bunch of trout in a short amount of time. What a nice and helpful guy, and he obviously knows what he’s doing. Thanks Mark!

I spent the afternoon out in the creek with Mark and it was a blast! Learned a lot more about the art of flying than I had before and landed a few fish! Definitely going to book another day with him next time I'm in the Catskills. Thanks again, Mark!

We had the best time fly fishing on the Esopus with Mark! He knows all the best fishing spots and helped us newbies catch rainbow trout! Not to mention, he’s super funny and will def show you a great time. Highly recommend!