The good, the bad and the ugly

“By offering the gift of fly fishing to a youngster, you begin a process to create an educated and dedicated steward of our natural resources.”

—Phil Genova, “First Cast”

A group of Trout Unlimited men and women, members of the Upper Delaware Chapter, offered this gift to several youngsters Saturday, April 21. They put on a fly-fishing presentation that covered types of equipment, casting instruction and a brief description of the aquatic life in a trout stream. Andy Boyar described some of the gadgets that fly fishers find useful. Rich Casparie talked of various ways to fish with the emphasis on why he prefers to fly fish. Eric Hamill talked about fly rods and demonstrated why rods come in different lengths. Tom Brown gave the pupils a demonstration on the proper way to move their feet when wading in a stream. I am always surprised how quickly even quite young children grasp the basics of fly casting.

We had a young lady in the class, Adeline Bodnaruik, of Glen Spey. In a very short time, under the tutelage of Tom Brown, she mastered the basics of casting a fly. Young Larry Bracken of Grahamsville also proved to be an apt pupil. After a few style corrections by his coach, Val Reinhardt, the young lad was laying out fly line as if he was born with a fly rod in his hand. To me, the real surprise was Parker Hamill. The last time I saw Parker was at the Upper Delaware annual picnic last October. He made an attempt to cast for the Wild Rainbow Casting Cup. His results were typical of anyone with little idea of the mechanics of fly casting. I watched him carefully as he struggled to make a proper cast. His face did not portray any frustration with his lack of ability. Rather, the set of his jaw and the look in his eyes were that of a young fellow determined to learn how to make that fly line behave. In last November’s newsletter, I jokingly speculated that Parker would one day take home the Wild Rainbow Cup. The joke’s on me, folks. Saturday morning I was dumbfounded as I watched Parker drop his fly again and again into the center of a casting ring. Tom Brown had set that ring at the proper distance for the first station of our annual casting contest. I, ahem, went straight home, put out a casting ring on the lawn and did some practicing. I’ll be doggoned if I’ll have someone who is five or six years away from his first shave beat my score come October. I suffered enough kidding when Barbara Ann won the Wild Rainbow Cup and my score that year was not even close.

Now for the bad and the ugly. I read in the April 12 edition of this paper that a Ms. Elaine O’Neil of something called the Delaware Riverside Conservancy urged the Upper Delaware Council (UDC) to endorse the release plan proposed by the Friends of the Upper Delaware (FUDR). Apparently, Ms. O’Neil has no grasp of the workings of the Delaware River Basin Commissin (DRBC). The FUDR “plan” has absolutely no chance of becoming law. She is riding a dead horse. A change in DRBC regulations needs to be approved by all its members. Either New York City or the states of New Jersey or Delaware would most certainly veto the FUDR plan. Her only real hope is CP2, or a very close variation.

I cannot understand why this paper continues to quote Craig Findley and treat FUDR as if it is a responsible organization. In the April 5 edition, 39 column lines were devoted to an organization that does little but issue self-serving press releases. After these press releases are printed by a gullible media, nothing happens. Over a year ago, an FUDR press release stated they were going to repair tributaries to the Delaware River. To my knowledge, no work has been done on any Delaware trib.

Last fall came another lengthy press release. FUDR was considering suing the Town of Hancock for doing illegal stream repair work. No lawsuit was filed. Next time FUDR sends along another self-aggrandizing press release, I suggest you place it in the round file. Such hot air is the probable cause of global warming.