Well, the rain has come and melted the snows! The East Branch Delaware today is a muddy torrent, flowing more than 8,000 CFS at Fishs Eddy after a peak of 21,500 CFS just after midnight. The Catskill region’s drought is not over despite this thundering mass of water, and though I would have liked to see the high-country snows last and melt gradually into the groundwater, it is good to see flowing water where for so long now there were bare stones.
If winter is kind to us, there will be more snow, and thus still hope for it to linger and replenish the springs and brooklets from which these Catskill rivers issue.
It is cold today, with a blustery wind to make sure that chill penetrates. I am heavily attired even here at my tying bench, and so comfortable enough to let winter blow on through. I keep watch on the calendar as we near the middle of this second month of the angler’s winter, and dream of April and those first hesitant rises to fluttering mayflies.
I can see them now, just near three o’clock as the first singles bob down in the high spring flow. I ease a step closer to that far bank and the line of drift where the parade of flies meets the depth and cover the larger trout prefer. There! I am sure that swirl was something more than the current curling round a rock. Ten minutes seems like an hour as the anticipation builds.
At long last a trout’s nose breaks the surface and a pair of gray wings vanishes. My line is in the air!
A pause, then the lift and the music of the reel takes me away! He’s strong, energized by the same forces of spring that burn within me, and we dance round and round that circle of bright water until the game is won or lost…
Here at the bench the seasonal clutter surrounds me. It is time to pack away the hunting gear, little used this deer season. The upland jacket can stay on the hook for now, as I do hope to visit the grouse woods. That perhaps is the gift of Nature’s premature snow removal, improving conditions enough to get me out there.
Bright Waters Catskill 