Wandering Thoughts

I was reading a while ago, sifting through a fellow angler’s thoughts of autumn. As we pass high summer, such thoughts are never far away…

There’s the cooler air ushered in by that hurricane system and, though interrupted, seems to be lingering here in our Catskills. There is even that first tinge of yellow among the trees, quite early, brought on by the long, hot drought of summer’s first half followed by a decided surplus of rainfall. I am caught still wondering about the fate of my summer fishing and feeling the initial pangs of the inevitable season’s end.

Three seasons here can be quite ephemeral, offering up everything from classic spring sunshine to May snow squalls to begin the angler’s year, while autumn and winter can easily throw most anything at us on a daily basis. Summer is a given, or at least I like to think of it in that way, though one that can be stolen away for a time at Nature’s whim.

This weekend is one of those somber ones, rainy weather with little actual rain, but still the dark foreboding feeling of lost time, missed opportunities. I got back to fly tying yesterday, after a brief hiatus, replenishing my terrestrial box and working to finish a gift box for an esteemed visitor. I will likely tie some more today.

Still, I am trapped by my thoughts of a season waning. More than a month of summer remains, yet the uncertainty of weather and river flows seem to overpower my optimism for the season. There was a glimpse of sunlight in my window just now, Nature’s rallying cry, and I shall do my best to seize it, to tie those hoppers and ants and plot a new adventure!