Cold rain is falling here at Crooked Eddy, and another season has come to a close. These last days of October are already hitting November’s stride. The gray side of autumn envelopes us bit by bit. Sitting on my porch just three days ago, warmed by the bright sunshine, I gazed upon the colors of Point Mountain to the east. Sitting there yesterday, I noted with sadness that those colors were gone.
I began my winter season yesterday morning, keeping a promise to myself to blend some dubbing for a buggy, impressionistic dun pattern for the Quill Gordon, the latest of my Atherton Inspired concepts. I found a small piece of gray squirrel dyed with bright yellow, a decades old gift from my friend JA, and blended it with beaver’s mask, yellow Antron and angora goat. It looks interesting, though it will be many months before I will cast that first 100-Year Dun to a rising trout. Winter revolves around fly tying and reading here, once deer season has come and gone. The accumulations of snow and ice control that, for icy mountains are no place for an older gentleman hunting alone.
Next weekend the Fly Tyers Guild will gather at the Catskill Museum’s Wulff Gallery for our autumn Roundtable. I will be tying there with many gifted artisans of the trout fly. Our tyers and historians will share the history of the Catskill school of fly tying, answer questions and demonstrate techniques and materials for visitors. Stop by if you are in the area, eleven in the morning until four in the afternoon on Saturday, November fourth.
Our Catskill weather has turned markedly this weekend. I sat in Dennis Menscer’s rod shop yesterday morning watching the sun sparkling on the river under a gorgeous blue sky through the open door. By Noon, when I stepped outside to go, we were engulfed in a swarm of storm clouds with the bite of a crisp wind shedding the trees of their leaves. The week ahead features forty-degree days, reinforcing seasons end with falling river temperatures. When the sun returns mid-week, I’ll carry walnut and blued steel as opposed to bamboo and nickel silver.
It has been another challenging and interesting season upon the rivers of my heart, and many new memories have been forged. I haunted these bright waters for one hundred and eleven days with the dry fly, loving every moment whether in victory or defeat. Simply beautiful!
Bright Waters Catskill 