The heat wave is passing with today forecast to reach the upper seventies, and the trend for next week includes rainfall and cooler temperatures. Hopefully, our rivers will be in fine shape as mid-September passes, and we embrace the end of another Catskill summer.
Late summer fishing has remained challenging, yielding a few precious moments casting Isonychia dry flies to sporadic risers. I look forward to the coming week for more of the same, particularly if the predicted rainfall comes in measured time and feeds the entirety of the system. I have been anxious to return to the Mainstem Delaware, something I do each September, and the Beaver Kill calls as summer wanes and autumn appears. It is this historic river that draws my first casts each season, as well as my last.
Yes, there is no escaping that the season’s last cast is in sight, though I hope for nearly two months of approach time, time to exhaust the urgency in my spirit, to prepare for the transition into winter.
The Catskill Rodmakers Gathering is in full swing this weekend, and next Saturday I will take my turn as guest fly tyer at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum. It will be a special experience to sit at the old oaken table that has hosted dozens of the legendary Catskill fly tyers. Behind my shoulder, a cased display tells the tale of Theodore Gordon and houses the flies that inspired my 100-Year Dun. I hope that Theodore approves of my modifications to his style. Wouldn’t he be excited to see the feathers on a Charlie Collins dry fly cape!
I think he would be surprised to see the healthy supply of Wood duck flank as well, since they had become nearly impossible to obtain in his later years. I think he would appreciate the long, still pools ripe with cold water if he stalked one of the Delaware tailwaters. Imagine fishing his Neversink below the dam, fooling big, wild browns with delicately hackled flies tied on size twenty hooks. I have a feeling he would be out there all summer long, enthralled with the challenge, as I am.
There is an unfished special edition Orvis CFO sitting here within arm’s reach, it’s spool wound with a double taper four weight line woven of classic silk. The line was a gift from a friend, and I promised myself to fish it this summer. I think the old Leonard 50 above is a perfect match. I clean my standard fly lines each time I take them fishing, so I expect I can transition to the dressing, drying and respooling responsibilities of fishing a classic silk fly line. In my mind I can hear the soft whirr of that line as it passes through the tiny snake guides of that classic cane rod, sending a little olive 100-Year Dun across a smooth bright Catskill flat!
September is the time to steal a few days with a friend. JA and I have had little time together on the river this season. I keep telling him that I need to teach him how to be retired. He’s a slow learner, always finding far too much work to do. A lot of people seem to share that affliction, the inability to relax and enjoy after a long working life. I confess I never experienced that malady, embracing the joy of retirement with open arms. There are after all so many lovely pools on so many wild and beautiful rivers…
Bright Waters Catskill 