December

Welcome to December, where winter shall officially begin, if November’s snow squalls and twenty-something lows managed not to convince anyone.

Last night some 39 members of the Catskill Fly Tyers Guild met via Zoom to tie the late Jimmy Deren’s early season Catskill fly known as the 50 Degrees. The evening featured a variety of good-natured banter as usual, while any attendees who wished tied a few flies in the comforts of their own benches. I tied one of the Deren patterns myself, before wandering down another path of Catskill history.

While talking about the specified dubbing mixture of “muskrat, with a little brown” Seth Cavaretta mentioned the fly was similar to the Dark Hendrickson, which got me to thinking about sage tyer Harry Darbee’s version of same. Harry specified the fur as “brown and gray fox” and I had made myself a supply during a previous winter, taking the brown fur from the legs of a Red Fox pelt with it’s medium gray underfur for a ride in the coffee grinder. I had used a bit of that same brown fox leg fur to mix for my 50 Degrees stash. Thus the mind wanders in winter and the fingers follow. For the rest of the meeting, my vise was turning out Darbee Dark Hendricksons.

Thinking about Harry’s pattern, I recalled the little brownish alternative Hendricksons I collected and matched a few Aprils ago. These flies appeared after the expected tannish size fourteen flies had been on for a few days, copied on a size 16 hook, and displayed a delightful lightly creamed coffee brown color. I matched them with quill bodied CDC Duns and 100-Year Duns, taking some magnificent trout!

At one point in the evening’s conversation, one member hailed a newcomer whom it appeared was joining from a cabin somewhere in or very near these Catskill Mountains. It was suggested he stay and fish over the weekend, citing a 52-degree forecast. I observed that there would be no bugs and the trout would not rise. This morning the Beaver Kill flows at an ideal 543 cfs, lovely for wading and fishing if one ignores the sub-35 degree water temperature. Yes, dry fly season is over. The time has come to let our trout rest until recovered from the spawn. From my own decades of personal experience, there is no cold so numbing to both body and soul as a fifty-degree rainy day on the water can produce.

December, and it is better we sit back and enjoy the soothing effects of warmed Catskill bourbon and honey and wind the threads of next spring’s Gordon’s Quills and Hendricksons. We can dream a bit, beyond the months of ice and wind, on to blissful spring sunshine upon bright water!