Advisory Council
In 2021, the American Museum of Fly Fishing established the Advisory Council, comprised of founding members Andy Mill, the late Flip Pallot, Tom Rosenbauer, Frankie Wolfson, and Joan Wulff. The role of the council is to provide consultative expertise for current and future museum initiatives. The AMFF Board of Trustees realizes the importance and value of community, specifically those individuals who contribute to the sport of fly fishing in such a way that they are integral to its very fabric. The ability to tap in to the living history of fly fishing is an important aspect of the museum’s role as stewards of the sport.
Jack Dennis is an author, guide, fly tier, and storyteller with a fly-fishing legacy stretching back over 50 years. Co-founder of the Jackson Hole One Fly Event, which has raised millions of dollars for stream conservation, he also conceived the Wyoming state conservation stamp and worked with officials to pioneer water-use laws and proper fish management. Jack has also coached the USA Fly Fishing Team and been recognized by the International Federation of Flyflyfishing with their Legend of Fly Fishing award.
Paul Dixon is a legendary guide and conservation champion. Recipient of AMFF’s 2022 Izaak Walton award, Paul burst onto the fly-fishing scene in the early 1990s when he brought the first flats skiff to the Hamptons and Montauk. Paul was among the first to discover Long Island’s striped bass flats fishery and has spent decades fine-tuning his craft. He has spent countless hours in service of Bonefish & Tarpon Trust, the American Saltwater Guides Association, the Atlantic Salmon Federation, and other organizations.
Capt. Robert L. W. “Robin” McGraw is a community leader and philanthropist. He is a board member of The Donald C. McGraw Foundation and Black Rock Foundation, supporting human services, education, and healthcare, and is a former tactical paramedic. An accomplished multisport athlete, Robin was an All-American soccer player, national team saber fencer, and member of the U.S. Masters Hockey Team. A lifelong angler, Robin and his wife, Buzz, reside on a farm in Massachusetts, not far from AMFF.
Andy Mill is the most successful tarpon tournament angler of all time, winning twelve tournaments (including five Gold cups), and one of only three anglers to have won a tarpon, bonefish and permit tournament. Author of the award-winning book A Passion for Tarpon, he and his son have the fishing podcast “Millhouse Podcast”, which is now seen in 97 countries. He also hosted and produced the award-winning show Sportsman’s Journal, and is an IGFA trustee.
Tom Rosenbauer’s contributions to the sport are nearly unparalleled among today’s fly-fishing leaders. Recipient of AMFF’s 2019 Izaak Walton award, he currently serves as marketing director for Orvis rod and tackle and host of the Orvis Fly Fishing Guide podcast, and has authored several books on the sport. From the start of his career he has put his training in fisheries biology to work for the sport and its resources, and has been a key force in many of Orvis’s most forward-looking resource-conservation issues.
Frankie Wolfson, a former AMFF trustee, is president of both the Frances Louise Wolfson Family Foundation and the Marine R. Corporation, as well as a University of Miami Trustee Emeritus and member of the School of Communication Dean’s Advisory Committee. After teaching herself to cast by watching Mel Krieger videos, she quickly became an avid and passionate fly angler for life. Frankie once noted, “Fishing has taught me important lessons in conservation, and it has introduced me to many wonderful people.”
Joan Wulff needs no introduction. One of fly fishing’s greatest twentieth-century pioneers, she has been participating in the sport for more than eighty years. In 1951, she won the national fly-casting distance title by beating the all-male competition, was a National Casting Champion from 1943-1960, and is widely regarded as the architect of modern-day fly-casting mechanics. She started the Wulff School of Fly Fishing along with her husband, Lee Wulff, in 1978 along the Beaverkill in New York. The author of numerous books, Wulff was honored with the Fly Fishers International Award of Distinction for Leadership and Service in 1997, inducted into the International Game Fish Association Hall of Fame in 2007, and received the American Museum of Fly Fishing Heritage Award in 2008.
AMFF Trustee Fred Polhemus said, “The Museum is honored and excited to assemble a group of individuals whose talents, achievements, contributions to and knowledge of the sport will be a valuable resource in guiding AMFF into the future. These individuals have been chosen for the diversity each brings to the pastime and, in some cases, whose shared experiences have helped shape the history of fly fishing. We look forward to building the Honorary Council of Advisors with new additions annually.”