The Complete Tangler
The rainiest season
Within a few days, Barb and I will be packing up to return to Texas. Our time in the Northeast has flown by. It is now time for us to be, as Willy Nelson sings, “on the road again.” For the two of us, this has been a most disappointing fishing season. It was often disrupted by a number of trips downstate for various doctor tests and appointments. Further difficulties were encountered due to frequent high and dirty water in the local streams. There was just too much water running downhill. Read more
Email this pageAn apology
On the 9th, 10th and 11th of September, Barb and I enjoyed the opportunity to attend the annual Bamboo Rod Makers Gathering at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center. Rod makers from 24 states plus Japan and Canada came to the gathering. A total of 134 men and women were in attendance. Seminars ranged from a talk on “George Halstead and his rods and ferrules,” by Jed Dempsey and John Feldenzer, to Tim Abbott on bamboo fly rod tapers and how to develop them, to the advantages and disadvantages of various glues used in the making of bamboo rods by a panel of Jed Dempsey, Tim Abbott and John Zimny. Read more
‘Big Wind from Winnetka’
While August 26th was a beautiful blue sky day the forecast for the following days were six to eight inches of rain with winds up to 75 miles an hour. If Barbara and I were to go fishing, it was Friday or forget about it for at least a week. We headed for the Willowemoc late that afternoon. Upon reaching the stream, we found a pleasant surprise. Instead of a very low flow, the creek was running at mid-May levels with a temperature of 66 degrees. Read more
An astonished deer
On August 8, after the meeting of the “Bamboo Gang,” I fished at one of my favorite spots on the East Branch of the Delaware. As I walked past where a small tributary runs under Route 30, I was surprised to hear the sounds of running water. Read more
Summerfest and the Hardy Brothers Cup
Saturday, August 6 found the Tangler and friends wandering through the various stands of vendors exhibiting their wares at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center’s Summerfest weekend. Wow, bargains galore. I picked up a number of Mustad hooks at a price of $6 a hundred. They were the old-style Mustad hooks but at that price, a steal of a deal. There were excellent prices on fly-tying materials and hardcover books that are often hard to find. Dennis Menscer, the bamboo rod builder from Hancock, NY, delivered my new eight-foot, five-weight rod. Read more
The next generation
The fourth State of New York Trout Unlimited (TU) Fish Camp was held from July 17 through July 22. Fourteen teenagers, 11 boys and three girls, were in attendance. At each of these camps a number of TU men and women have been privileged to instruct these youngsters on the arts and mysteries of fishing with a fly rod. It should be noted that this camp would not exist without the time and energy expended by Kurt Nelson of the Al Hazzard Chapter of TU. He seems always able to surmount the countless problems that are involved in an operation of this size. Read more
Difficult times
In baseball when a batter fails to hit well over a period of time, it is said the batter is in a hitting slump. As a fly fisher I have been in a season-long fish-catching slump. While those that I usually fish with have not exactly been wearing out the trout, my results have been very disappointing. Of course, my time on the streams has been greatly curtailed. Heavy and frequent rains have turned the rivers into raging chocolate-colored rapids. On those days when I have been able to go fishing, I return home without even a tale of the big one that eluded me. Read more
The television star
Six weeks ago, I received an unusual request from our friend Misako Ishimura. Misako is a member of the Japanese Women’s Fly Fishing Organization. She wanted me to participate in the making of a fly fishing film that would be sponsored by the Shimano Tackle Company of Japan, the tentative title being “Fly Fishing in the Catskill Mountains of America.” The show is to be shown on Japanese television. Misako, or “Misa” as she prefers to be called, is such a wonderful, bubbly little lady it was impossible to refuse her plea. Read more
Frustration
We are in early June, and Barb and I can count on one hand the number of times we have fished. Long periods of rain, often with real downpours, have kept the rivers running high and dirty. In May, when we had a brief period without rain, my best fishing partner suggested we try the lower Beaverkill at the Trout Brook access. She felt the river might be warmer there, possibly bringing on a good hatch of flies. Off we went. We did find a large number of caddis flies in the air indicating there had already been a strong hatch. Read more
Those sweet grass rods
In June 2004, I began the fishing column that I write for The River Reporter with this sentence: “I’m in love again, head over heels in love again.” Readers were momentarily startled by this seemingly public confession of being unfaithful. As they read further they found my new love was seven and one half feet tall and weighed only four ounces. I had gone back to casting an old, long-unused, five-strip bamboo fly rod made by that maverick among rod makers, Nat Uslan. The sweet feeling of casting that rod made me wonder why on earth I had forsaken bamboo for graphite these many years. Read more
