Forty-five days remain until the Angler’s Spring may be expected, a month and a half of flies and preparation yet to come.
I began yesterday, digging out some of the various early season fly boxes. I have been stocking the Wheatleys these past three months, rounding out my Translucence Series to cover all of the anticipated hatches, stuffing too many quills and Hendricksons into the larger one. Today I will have to resurrect the boat bag, for I expect there are still a few of the early season boxes hiding there.
This is the busy time of winter. I received the letter from the Fly Fishers Club of Harrisburg a week ago and took the time to tie a selection of flies to send in my stead. It doesn’t seem possible that this will be the 74th banquet; wasn’t it just a couple of years ago that we celebrated the 50th? I haven’t made the trip since my retirement, but perhaps next year I will have to consider heading down for the 75th. Milestones like that are important, and I have a lot of fond memories from the Fly Fishers Club gatherings over the years.
Fly Fest arrives tomorrow, and I look forward to seeing some friends and tying some flies together. I sorted through my travel kit this week, removing some of the materials I don’t plan to be using to make it easier to carry the ones I will need. Along with that I have to make the final call as to which patterns and styles I will tie. I want to have room for my tool stand this year, so I can avoid chasing scissors, bobbins and whip finishers around the table. I might try to talk Dennis out of another discarded chunk of bamboo culm while I’m at it. There is just enough time this afternoon to make a little fly display to match the tool stand.
I will have to start thinking about trailer inspection and boat cleaning during March, though the way this winter has gone we could just have perfect wading conditions to start the season. April is sometimes good for a pre-season float, one of those days when I don’t honestly expect to find a hatch or a rising trout. A quiet, solo float can simply be, well, therapeutic after a long Catskill winter. And who knows, there is always a chance I might see an actual trout chasing a fluttering early stonefly…
I made a bamboo fly rod holder for my boat some time ago, but I never installed it. I ought to make sure to do that next month and take the 9050 Granger along for that early solo float. Now that would be therapy! That fine old rod has missed being fished.
That Granger has been assigned the duty of boat rod. It has a fresh dip of varnish thanks to rodmaker Dennis Menscer, and deserves it’s chance to take the helm. I generally don’t fish bamboo from the drift boat, and I recommend to my bamboo angling friends that they carry graphite when they join me for a float. Landing a sizeable trout is a lot tougher from the boat, and can put a great deal of strain on rod tips. Part of the reason for the issue is that I tend to float only in higher flows, and the current is always fastest at the surface. Battling trout don’t seem to like being drawn anywhere near that boat either!
Wow, forty-five days… I can almost touch it! Then again there is snow in the forecast for the week ahead. There are even a couple of stray flakes blowing around right now. We seem to have had the seasonal rush of cross-country winter storms just manage to dance around us this winter, and the end of February is in sight. That kind of sets us up for a March blizzard I guess though, doesn’t it?
Bright Waters Catskill 