After my August 25 column regarding river access, it appeared that the public had won in a dispute over the Bumps Eddy access point. Several of you highly motivated folks who had written Mr. Andrew Stiles of the New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) regarding Bumps Eddy told me that you had received a letter from him stating that, “the access would be turned over to the DEC.” However, Mr. Roger King of East Branch, NY, the landowner in the vicinity of this access, has now put up a number of “no trespassing signs” on trees between the DOT property and the river. Having failed in his attempt to have the DOT close this access, Mr. King is now claiming that he owns a tiny sliver of land that lies between the DOT property and the river. Apparently it offends Mr. King, who has built a lovely home overlooking the upper end of Bumps Eddy, to see anyone enjoying the river in view of his residence. Stay tuned folks: as Yogi Berra once said, “It ain’t over till it’s over.”

As for the Stockport access on the Main Stem, Coz Costelnik of Border Water Outfitters in Hancock was very upbeat when we discussed this access this week. It appears that the elected officials of Buckingham Township are not about to close off this long-used public access. It behooves those of us who use any public access to keep it free of trash and to respect landholders rights if using a DEC foot path.

Unfortunately, more and more riverfront property is being sold to developers, resulting in less and less public access along our rivers. Just last week I learned that a new development, East Branch Estates, is to be built approximately opposite the Centreville access. Will the new homeowners of these houses attempt to have the Centreville access closed? Some who read this column may believe that my attitude towards closing off public access would be quite different if I owned riverfront property. It so happens that I do own river frontage on the Main Stem. I have never denied anyone the right to cross my property in order to fish the river. My only caveat to those that seek my permission is that I don’t expect to need to pick up any trash when they leave. My attitude is that I really do not “own” this land. So long as I pay my taxes, I’m allowed to rent it for a while. Eventually my heirs will pass along the lease to someone else. Barb and I wish we were able to place a conservation easement on this land, but we own too small a parcel to be of interest to the Delaware Highlands Conservancy.

Enough whining. Let’s talk about fishing. On August 25 fishing the East Branch of the Delaware, a pretty eighteen-inch rainbow tried to eat a #14 Isonychia nymph that I was using to probe a run of fast water. The light, eight-foot eight-inch, two-weight fly rod gave this fish a good chance to strut its stuff. I managed to take a quick snapshot of it just before getting it in my hand. Aha, proof that the Tangler does occasionally catch a fish. After that, a traditional Texan would say that I have been drilling nothing but dry holes.

The Graham brothers, Ed and Jim, came up the last week of the regular season. They fished hard but were limited to one small Rainbow each. We had no luck finding a stretch of water that had hatching insects and rising fish. Val Reinhardt, the Prez of the Upper Delaware Chapter, found this very situation up by the airport on the East Branch. According to Val, the fish refused to come out and play. Tom Brown, on the other hand, did find a really nice late season fish. A twenty-one-and-one-half-inch Brown tried to gobble a Clouser Minnow he was using.

Good grief, it seems to me we just unpacked, yet in less than three weeks we will be on the road again. It’s time to cowboy up and ride with that rowdy bunch of fly fishers from the Fort Worth and Dallas clubs. Yeehah!