There’s a white landscape this morning in Crooked Eddy, a rarity for this rather confused rendition of winter. The sight brings a smile, for a part of me still believes that winter should look the part.
I have played a bit more with flies this week, though I still have not been infused with the usual passion. I guess the fact that I must buy more fly boxes each year to house them has an effect, along with the realization that I have so many ideas committed to hooks and hackles and fur that I often cannot find one of them when I see the opportunity to try it on the water. Though it passes the time in winter, I have to force myself to sort and rearrange the contents of fly boxes.
There is some work to be done on the summer boxes. It would help to have a count of certain favorite patterns, to have replacements produced and ready to refill the boxes that man the vest and chest pack. Of course, too much preparation and organization might rob me of some of the joy of my early morning fly tying throughout the season. There is always luck to be found in a fly tied the morning before a wandering afternoon along the river!
My A.I. patterns drew my attentions early, and there are flies for the entire series tied and waiting in a storage box. God knows I have more than enough Hendricksons, though I still find myself tying a few on any given day throughout the long months of winter. Sulfurs could probably take up a day or two, not that there aren’t plenty of CDC’s and 100-Year Duns lurking in at least two or three different fly boxes.
I just acquired a copy of T.E. Pritt’s North Country Flies, for a friend has interested me in the history of those old English patterns. I have tied a few, usually found in a seasonal box, surrounded by dries of various descriptions. It would make sense to gather them together I guess, though lying next to a couple of hatch matching dry flies helps them find their way onto my leader when the dries fail to solve some picky sipper.
Ah, the sun just emerged to brighten the curtain above my bench. Perhaps it’s time to brew another cup of coffee and sit back with the book I began the morning with…
Bright Waters Catskill 