New Year’s, Fore and Aft

With a little help from a Roman god named Janus, I can glance backward at the year and then hope to look ahead, as well. I’ll be able to state that my year outdoors and on the water went pretty well…

I fished a total of 103 days– not bad for a guy as old as Janus and still working a full-time job. The northern winter, long and brutal, was still kind enough to allow me to catch some splendid brown trout on a spring creek in New York.

W. M., @ Ausable

In March I was privileged to adopt the Slate Run Sportsmen’s “Founders’ Rod” for a year’s duration. I accepted the Heddon 35 Peerless with a promise to record my experiences with the bamboo wand and then report on such when I passed the rod off to another member in the following March.

I finally got some close views of a bobcat and a fisher ( great weasel, not ubiquitous flyrodder); and the Cryder Creek eagles were a common sight, adding to richness of the year’s experiences.

In spring and autumn I was able to immerse myself in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains where the brook trout fishing was remarkable. Summer found me casting in the Adirondacks on the West Branch Ausable, meeting up with Walt McLaughlin who, several months later, was largely responsible for reprinting my book, River’s Edge. 

The year wasn’t all a picnic, that’s for sure, but Janus, with his views from atop the holy mount, tends to focus on highlights, remember, so let us hear him out…

I got lucky with an excellent steelhead late in April, and in fall got beat up by a ton of fair-hooked salmon near Ontario. In summer I learned a little more about the night-fishing game from my partner in Trutta madness, Tim D.

And the brook trout fishing… How could I forget the superfine headwaters near my home and the Triple Divide? While anglers complained about the lousy spring fishing on the larger waters, rivertop natives eagerly darted left and right for beadhead nymphs or rose to an Adams or a Wulff.

Soon it was the Summer of the Small Stream in north-central Pennsylvania, and I can only hope for something similar in 2015. If we’re lucky, those friends of Janus, the gods and goddesses of fair weather and sufficient rainfall, will oblige…

The Cedar Run Experience came very close to fruition. I fished a good eight miles of the run this year, and with a mile or so of rivertop remaining to be walked in spring, it’s looking very nice.

And so Janus, seeing the past and future all at once, now hints at what’s to come…

My Top 10 Fishing/Exploration Goals for 2015, or my “Climbing the Runs” project for the year, are listed, in no particular order of importance. If anyone wants to join me for any of these, just holler. I’m always open for 1 or 2 crazy flyfishers or hikers for company, if you’re interested…

1/ Finish the Cedar Run Experience, with possible sidestream visitations at Fahneystock, Frying Pan, and Slide Run Draft.

2/ Blue Run, a Long Run, Pine Creek feeder stream near Gaines, PA.

3/ Windfall Run, a tributary of Cross Fork Creek in the Kettle Creek watershed.

4/ Cushman Run and Apple Tree Branch, in the Slate Run headwaters.

5/ Rock Run, the Hawk Run headwaters of this Lycoming Creek feeder.

6/ Four Mile Run, and Left Branch, in the Pine Creek Canyon, PA.

7/ Middle Branch Genesee River, headwaters at Gold, PA (Scheduled for April).

8/ Pine Creek Canyon at Owassie Rapids (3-Fly wets, in April).

9/ Miller Run, a Pine Creek tributary below Slate Run.

10/ Rapidan and Rose rivers in VA, the week of Easter.

Okay, in 2014, Rivertop Rambles got some 24,000 views from 67 countries across the globe. I’m not complaining. In fact, I’m thankful that you, and so many others, have been here to read my nickel’s worth and are (hopefully) considering a return. Drop me a Like or, better yet, a Comment when you’re able. Your support is, and has been, much appreciated.

Happy New Year to you and yours!

And let’s close the book with an instrumental classic by John Fahey (1964)…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1EAQi48Ddg