March has been quite kind these first three weeks, the last days of winter, offering a warm handshake and a few precious early days upon bright water. Her winds awakened me early this morning, ripping and howling about my little house, convincing me to arise and check my hanging waders on the porch.
Next week will sober things up just a bit. Temperatures in the forties and low fifties will curtail the slow warming of the rivers and quell those inevitably awakened expectations for an early arrival of the dry fly season. There’s even a little snow in the forecast, as soon as Monday!
Checking my own calendar of experience, there’s about two and a half weeks to wait, hope, wander and really get the tackle fully readied for the true coming of the angler’s spring. It will be a busy fortnight of activity.
The drift boat emerged from it’s winter tent this week, the lights have been checked and the oarlocks attached. Cleaning remains, and inspection, and of course I have to get the boat bags properly outfitted with fly boxes, leaders, tippet, and the full range of clothing required to suit a Catskill Spring. My spring fly boxes have made it from storage to my tying bench, though the newly tied quills and Hendricksons are yet to be sorted into their proper compartments.
Tomorrow will be another workday in the Catskill rod shop, and a turning point in my quest to hand plane my own split bamboo dry fly rod. One strip remains to be rough planed before all two dozen of them are taped together into sections and the last vestiges of the nodes trimmed from their ends. Once sorted, the strips will find their way back to the planing form, reset for the final dimensions of the butt section. The tension grows throughout each curve of this road… no mistakes allowed!
On the following Saturday, our Catskill Fly Tyers Guild hosts the Fly Tyers Rendezvous, then on Monday the Angler’s Reunion Dinner closes out the anticipation of March. In between there are flies to be tied for a couple of donation projects before the Mike Canazon Memorial Meet Your Maker event on Saturday April 5th. I’ll shuttle from Roscoe to Livingston Manor then to tie flies as the guest of the Catskill Brewery in celebration of the season opener. Once that busy weekend has passed, it will be time to settle down to fishing.
I would dearly love to find fifty-degree water flowing past the banks of the Beaver Kill by then, and the first Gordon Quills swimming up from the bottom to dry their wings and take flight. Of course, any number of them are welcome to pause for a ride on the surface to entice the trout to fully welcome springtime by rising to a feathery imitation of their crowd!
Bright Waters Catskill 