A good fly pattern can make dead fishing waters come alive.

Pat Moffitt, traveling trout angler from Bedminster, N.J., has spent a lifetime finding new

ways to draw fish to his lures, get them to strike at that lure, and then have a way to

release fish quickly with the least harm to their mouths and throats.

Moffitt worked for nearly 10 years on fly combinations, shapes, sizes, and body patterns to

attract fish. Eventually, he developed a system that upped the odds for attraction, for hits,

and especially for easy hook removal.

"His evolutionary product is a hookless fly," fishing partner and pro guide Anthony Bartkowski

said Monday afternoon as we headed to Cattaraugus Creek waters at Gowanda.

Bartkowski, formerly of Springville and a Buffalo Bills promotion man during the Super Bowl

years, moved to the South Platte River area near Denver in 1993 and began work as a fishing

guide. Along the way, he met up with Denver-area guide Matthew Burkett and they now operate

Fly Fisher Guide Service.

Pat Moffitt and son Kevin crossed the same North American streams as Bartkowski and Burkett

and began trading tips and tricks for trout treks in streams from the Rocky Mountains to Great

Lakes feeder streams in the Western New York area.

But how can an angler catch a fish with a hookless fly? Simple, place the hook at the end of

the line and attach a fly — or two or three or more — on the line above the hook.

Simple enough, but where to place which kinds of flies and what kind of terminal hook

became fine-tuning technical concerns.

"We wanted to have a hook that could make a solid setting but not dig into fish flesh,"

Moffitt said while demonstrating with a rubber/vinyl fish head at the Gowanda Tim Hortons.

Moffitt settled on his own modified version of the popular circle hook, a rounded hook shank

— often with the point at a 360-degree angle from the eye. "We designed our own version

that brings the circle around parallel with the eye for maximum penetration and easy removal,"

he explained with the fish model and later on Cattaraugus Creek waters.

The foursome started working waters on the upstream side of the village. "We'd heard they had

a flood here this past summer, and it really changed the creek along the Catt," Pat Moffitt

said as they took up positions along the broken strips of current, pool settings, and riffles

on either side of a rail bridge.

Anglers would come and go, but it seemed Bartkowski, the Moffitts, and Burkett were the

only ones hooking, landing and releasing fish. After sticking a fish or two in one pool,

Burkett said, "I'm going to have to find myself another hot pocket."

Kevin Moffitt was doing the same, poking spots down stream almost to the main bridge in the

village. He had a few nice releases and dad did the same while moving up stream.

The mild stain gave anglers the challenge of putting out visible lures, but it also held fish

in holes and pockets because waters weren't clear enough for waders to spook fish.

Bartkowski took the biggest fish on this foray, a 27-inch slightly silver steelie. Most other

fish caught that afternoon were darker rainbow trout that probably had been upstream for a

while already.

The Moffitts and Burkett fished the upper Catt from the Seneca Nation of Indian waters up to

the Springville Dam until Wednesday. Bartkowski stayed the rest of the week to visit family in

Springville.

"We got fish everywhere with the Moffitt Angling system," Bartkowski said Thursday

afternoon. Earlier, he'd caught and released his personal best, a 31-inch steelie.

The release phase come with a handy hook device that loops onto the circular hook and easily

removes the point from the lip of the fish.

"State officials across the country have approved this system for catching and releasing

fish. The fish is caught after hitting a lure and the angler is not lifting [snagging] fish

using this Moffitt system," Bartkowski said.

To check out the gear and tie-ups for this system, go to moffittangling.com.