The Artist

When I arrived at the Cinco Rios Lodge in Coyhaique, Chile, I was met with a pisco sour and a chance encounter that would shape Catch & Release Distilling. After explaining to the other fishermen that I was not, in fact, someone’s wife along for the ride and that I was, instead, there to fish, and after a second pisco sour, the lodge owner, Sebastian, offered to show me to my room. 

As we started down the stairs of the lodge I spotted an unmistakable Derek DeYoung painting on the wall. Ever one to announce the obvious I remarked, “That’s a Derek DeYoung. When did he paint that?”  “Yesterday” was the response. 

That week I caught a crazy number of fish on the Simpson before heading south to Estancia del Zorro to catch some of the biggest browns I have ever landed. I also drank innumerable bottles of wine late into the night with Derek. 

A couple years later in a tasting room in Louisville when tossing around ideas for what would eventually become Catch & Release Distilling I mused that maybe Derek would paint our labels. Months later after a couple of email exchanges with his amazing wife Janell who has quickly become one of my dearest friends we sat in Derek’s studio and talked with him about those musings.

I have long admired Derek and his work and am thrilled to have him and Janell along on this journey. In my opinion he is the pinnacle of the fly fishing art community. When people suggest that if he said “no” I could have found another artist I just keep saying “He had to say yes.”  Of course, he did not HAVE to say yes, but I am so glad he did. To have the artwork of someone so talented who believes as strongly as we do in the fly fishing community of Catch & Release on the label is a dream come true.

Derek DeYoung has spent the last 20 years redefining the look of Fly Fishing. His artwork has been licensed by some of the industries top companies (as well as building his own brand along with his wife and business partner Janell). 

Derek was born on a Bayou near the shores of Lake Michigan where his love of fishing and painting was ignited. Over the years, Derek’s artwork has veered from the classic Fly Fishing art style to a more contemporary approach placing more significance on concept and story telling, as well as using a unique color palette and style. His artwork and products are collected by fly fishers around the globe.