Adjustment

There are still a couple of inches of wet snow lying around the yard, but there is a little unexpected sunlight filtering through the clouds as it rises over the mountains to the southwest. A nice winter morning, all things considered.

It is finally March, the final push to get through another winter and take those first tentative steps into springtime. We are three dozen days short of that hopefully magical week when a few mayflies ought to be noticed fluttering on the chilled surface, a ring appearing beneath one that didn’t come from a falling raindrop.

True, the middle of this week is expected to stay right near the freezing mark; I mean the run of warmer winter weather we have been having can ‘t be expected to just flow on into spring, now can it? Looking at my anchor box as I brushed the wet snow off the drift boat yesterday, I noted that the lid is going to need a new coat of varnish. Either that, or I may simply have to resign myself to abandoning the natural wood look I like and paint it black like the rest of the trailer.

I will have to get past this coming week before I get into that. Neither painting nor varnishing goes particularly well in freezing temperatures. When I do uncover the boat, I’ll do a careful inspection of the trailer. Two years ago, I had everything cleaned and ready to go, then found that the front bunk had pulled up from the frame, requiring a major re-build before I could take it fishing.

Just now, things look to be shaping up for wadable conditions when that countdown ticks to zero, though the weather here in the Catskills has a history of surprising me.

There are a bunch of things to do, things I have put off as winter wound slowly along. Small stuff mostly, digging out the boat bag and making sure the right fly boxes are in there, along with a few new leaders, floatant and tippet spools. I still use graphite rods when I float the rivers, and I like to get them out and put a little wax on the ferrules, check the fly lines on the appropriate reels. The old Granger 9050 still keeps pleading with me from it’s place in the rod rack. If I take an hour to install the bamboo rod holder I built some time ago on the front storage box, it can finally assume it’s role of boat rod. That fine old, bamboo will look good out in the spring sunshine!

The worry in the back of my mind as this month ticks past is the chance of a dreaded March blizzard. That happens some years, and I really don’t want to see another flood coming down through Crooked Eddy as April comes calling. It may have been a warm winter, but its still been a long one.

I’m still basking in the fun had at Fly Fest, while looking forward to the Angler’s Reunion at the end of this month, and then April first! It may not be opening day for legal fishing anymore, but its still an Opening Day tradition for a lot of old time Catskill anglers.