Greg Hoover is widely acknowledged as North America’s most knowledgeable fly fishing entomologist. He received his Master’s degree based on his thesis researching Penns Creek’s famous green drake hatch. Greg has conducted hundreds of seminars on the identification and imitation of trout stream insects and their relatives. At Penn State, Greg taught ENT 425 Freshwater Entomology, an undergraduate/graduate-level course in the Department of Entomology.
It’s worth pointing out that Greg knows terrestrial insects too! He’s taught entomology for 28 years at the Pennsylvania State University’s main campus, where for 21 years, Greg enjoyed his role as the faculty advisor to the Penn State Fly Fishing Club which had more than 100 student members.
He was the recipient of the George Harvey Award for unselfishly promoting the sport of fly fishing through the teaching of others. Greg was the 2012 Order of the Hat award recipient from the Fly Fisher’s Club of Harrisburg, an honor given to an individual for contributions to the conservation of natural resources and fly rod angling.
For 8 years Greg was the director and lead instructor who taught the courses, Principles of Fly Tying and Fly Fishing for Trout, and Mastery of Fly Fishing, in the Department of Kinesiology at the Pennsylvania State University, continuing the tradition started by the late George Harvey in 1934.
Greg is an accomplished and innovative fly tier and a really good fly fisher, as well. For more than 55 years he has cut his teeth as a fly rod angler on Pennsylvania’s hard-fished public water. In 1992 Greg coauthored a book with Charlie Meck titled, GREAT RIVERS–GREAT HATCHES, a 384-page, hardcover book that describes over 60 high-quality trout waters and their hatches across the United States.
Greg authored two papers on the eastern green drake and periodical cicadas in, LIMESTONE LEGENDS, a 400-page book edited by Norm Shires and Jim Gilford that covered the 50-year history of the Fly Fishers’ Club of Harrisburg. Greg contributed a chapter on periodical cicadas in the book, MODERN TERRESTRIALS, by Rick Takahashi and Jerry Hubka. He has written articles on trout stream insects and fly fishing published in Outdoor Life, Fly Tyer, American Angler, and Mid-Atlantic Fly Fishing Guide.
Greg is a fly rod ambassador for Temple Fork Outfitters. He’s a river helper for the Western Pennsylvania Chapter of Casting for Recovery. Greg is a banquet and monthly meeting speaker to many different fly fishing organizations including Trout Unlimited chapters and fly fishing clubs in the eastern and midwestern United States.