Though he never published a book, Gordon is often called the "father of the American school of dry fly fishing".

[1] He wrote numerous articles for the Fishing Gazette from 1890 and published works in Forest and Stream from 1903, sometimes under the pseudonym Badger Hackle.

He altered the English flies to precisely match the insects hatching in the Neversink and Beaverkill rivers, and Willowemoc Creek.

[5] Known as a consumptive hermit, Gordon lived his final years and died on May 1, 1915, in the Anson Knight house in Bradley, New York.

Based on British insects, Halford's flies poorly imitated American hatches, but Gordon embraced the innovative technique and began the arduous study of native entomology that resulted in many indigenous patterns, including his most famous, the Quill Gordon.