Bud Lilly’s Hatch Matcher Gallery on Display in Manhattan

Adorning the walls of Manhattan’s famous Garden Café is a truly unique and original collection of angling and angling-inspired art. Dubbed the “Hatch Matcher Gallery,” this exhibit—still in its nymph stage—is an impressive collection of mounted insect specimens, paintings, drawings of numerous aquatic species, hand-tied flies, and even representations of the wildflowers that benefit from certain hatches. Many of these pieces are based on the unique phenomena of the mega-hatch—when hundreds of thousands of a single species of aquatic insect fill the void between air and water in their annual mating cycle. In the process, these insects also fill the bellies of many trout—and consequently the rivers with many fly fishermen. The Mother’s Day caddis hatches, the stonefly hatch, and even the spinner fall of spent mayflies are all events that constitute a mega-hatch. The Hatch Matcher Gallery pays homage to the mega-hatch and is the collected work and ideas of local fly fishing godfather Bud Lilly and retired MSU entomologist Dr. George Roemhild, as well as numerous masters of the fly tying craft. The Hatch Matcher is adding works regularly and can be viewed at the Garden Café through late summer.