Category Archives: Uncategorized

Halfway Lake

Posted on May 28, 2020 by

The small seven-acre lake was a good choice for a meeting of the clans. My son and his wife would drive north from Arlington, VA to meet us at Halfway Lake, a feature of Raymond B. Winter State Park in … Continue reading →

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Spinners, the Final Stage

Posted on May 21, 2020 by

“Spinners” form the fourth and final stage in the life cycle of a mayfly. The aquatic insect lives through egg, nymph, adult (dun), and spinner stages. The adult typically rises from the stream as nature says, “It’s time to mate.” … Continue reading →

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Between the River and the Rail

Posted on May 13, 2020 by

Railroad fever gripped the nation during the latter decades of the nineteenth-century. As the New York and Pennsylvania timber and tanning industries burgeoned from dreams of endless forest and mineral wealth, many towns in the region clamored for a train … Continue reading →

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An Early Canisteo Cabin

Posted on May 7, 2020 by

[On the first white settlement in this watershed– a place that became my permanent home two centuries later… Understandably, no photo of original cabin is available.] The American Revolution had ended. General Sullivan, acting on the orders of George Washington, … Continue reading →

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Picket Pin

Posted on May 1, 2020 by

One of my older fishing pals told me that his favorite fly pattern for night angling on the home river was a Picket Pin. Another elder told me that he likes to cast the same time-honored pattern (first developed in … Continue reading →

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River SCOP Rambles

Posted on April 23, 2020 by

Scop, you say? Well, my dictionary defines the word as a bard, or poet, of the Anglo-Saxon days in ancient England. I was drawn to the word and to the scop’s role in medieval time because of the pandemic and … Continue reading →

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The Wild Trout Throw a Party

Posted on April 15, 2020 by

I woke up around 3:15 a.m. with several lines of silly thought reverberating in my head. For better or worse, these lines may have given impetus for this latest post. One of them was close to a throw-away: “We’ve got … Continue reading →

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On the Duty of Staying Home

Posted on April 8, 2020 by

April is National Poetry Month and, one week into it, I was pleasantly surprised to get a postcard from a friend in Richmond who wrote, “Trying times for us all, but there are moments of clarity. I was drawn back … Continue reading →

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The Gnats

Posted on March 31, 2020 by

I parked 20 feet from an old black truck at a pull-off by the river. I began to pull on my waders when I saw two fishermen with rods and nets returning to their vehicle. Before I knew it, I … Continue reading →

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The Far and Fine, from Home

Posted on March 25, 2020 by

1. The sun on rusted rails extending through a chain of ponds. Sun that softens the edge of ice; walkin’ blues colored by a smile. Sun reflecting from an eagle; thermals of the western ridge. The sun on a leaning … Continue reading →

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