On Summer’s Threshold

Spring is drawing to a close. It’s fishing already has passed into memory as I prepare to embark upon another Catskill Summer. It is my favorite season, though I miss the big hatches of spring mayflies, solitude becomes much easier to enjoy, and that special thrill of hunting big brown trout with light tackle makes every moment special.

An eight-foot bamboo rod casting a four weight line has become my summer standard, but there are options. I look forward to this season and reliving my days of trout hunting amid the water meadows of the Cumberland Valley. A seven-foot rod was a constant companion there, and the Shenk Tribute Rod was conceived to celebrate the gifts of my departed friend, to welcome him here to my Catskill rivers in spirit, that we might once more share the beauty of bright water.

The mayflies the late Charlie Fox dubbed sulfurs all those decades ago are a veritable constant on the Catskill tailwaters. Varying in size from sixteen to twenty, and displaying several shades of color, the summer sulfurs provide the warmest season’s counterpoint to spring’s Hendricksons.

I tied some of those lovely little duns just yesterday, gathered with fellow members of the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild amid the historic backdrop of the Catskill Museum’s Wulff Gallery, we laughed and spoke of patterns and places as we wrapped silks and hackles to fashion our own summer dreams.

Terrestrials have already entered my thinking as well. When the sulfurs are not in play, a hot summer wind can urge the trout to action, adding morsels to the drift that pass some anglers unseen. The trout know them you can be sure, and find just the perfect hidden lines of drift to partake of the land born feast in secret.

In truth I have already taken to fishing summer patterns, the solstice lurking just three days hence. Soon I will carry all of summer’s choices: sulfurs, Isonychia, tiny olives and spinners, and beetles, ants, and crickets galore. The vest will be set aside, replaced by the comfort of a small chest pack that I might enjoy the soft summer breezes!