Christmas Eve, pre-dawn, and snow is falling here at Crooked Eddy. More reasonable winter temperatures reign once more, and we are glad for the change.
I managed a riverwalk yesterday, pleased when the sun warmed the morning’s subzero air to a balmy nine above! It still amazes me just how much that sun can accomplish on a still morning, even on the most frigid day of the year. I unzipped my down jacket and walked with the sun in my face! True the riffles entering Crooked Eddy were stilled by ice and snow, though further down river a current emerged along the easterly bank, carrying miniature ice floes toward the Mainstem.
I found myself tying flies during the afternoon, smiling in the knowledge that the days are already getting longer.
Winter is the penance we pay for the glory of the dry fly season. It has it’s own stark beauty of course, particularly here in these Catskill Mountains. I love the morning light as it twinkles in the eastern sky, tinging the snow with gold and amber: another day has come, one day closer to spring.
Winter days help us appreciate the angling life even more. Is there nothing so desperate as that last hour clinging to the warmth of a sunlit October afternoon, hoping and searching for the season’s last rise?
Bright Waters Catskill 