Tag Archives: headwaters

Quiet Angler

Posted on April 8, 2024 by rivertoprambles

“… I might go a-fishing. That’s the true industry for poets.” — H.D. Thoreau To catch and release the wild fish, he is quiet on approach and works to keep himself small inside the landscape. He enjoys the solitude and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, books, coming-up, fly-fishing, gratitude, headwaters, nature, poetry, roc-the-eclipse, solar eclipse, Thoreau, upper Genesee River, writing | 17 Comments

The Pulse of the Run

Posted on March 16, 2021 by rivertoprambles

The deep woods hike in middle March was a tough climb through the melting snow, two miles up the Pennsylvania tributary, and back. I wrote of this mountain hollow in Beautiful Like a Mayfly, 2015: “The tributary flows through the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged birds, fishing, headwaters, hiking, nature, solitude, Spring, transitions, trees, tributaries, wakefulness, writing | 26 Comments

Operation Perdigon

Posted on June 4, 2020 by rivertoprambles

I’d intended to fish the brook ever since a friend indicated that his son had looked for trout there years ago. Through my decades of digging into local history, especially with regard to native fish populations, I had never seen … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged brook trout, exploration, fishing, friendship, headwaters, local life, nature, nymphing, Perdigons, preservation, small streams, writing | 11 Comments

Winter Spring

Posted on February 13, 2020 by rivertoprambles

Mid-February, and I track through the snow toward a big spring in the hills. I’d follow the deer prints but it’s easier to step inside the wheel ruts of an ATV. I read new promise in the strengthening light. Grouse … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Aldo Leopold, community, environmental law, headwaters, nature, place, poetry, politics, preservation, prose, small streams, winter spring, writing | 24 Comments

Just Good Fishing

Posted on September 12, 2019 by rivertoprambles

The cooling temperatures of late summer and early fall brings a spike in fish behavior and in human interest on the stream. Although I’m anchored to another academic year, I try to focus on the local streams and overgrown trails … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged autumn, cardinal flower, fly-fishing, good fishing, headwaters, nature, origins, poetry, roots, sense of place, Tricos, wild trout, writing | 16 Comments

Old Woodenhead’s Wish

Posted on December 14, 2018 by rivertoprambles

[In this rapidly changing world of ours, I’m glad that some things are relatively stable and unchanging. For example, it’s December and the winter snow and ice are here again, and Old Woodenhead (my alter-ego of December’s Holi-Daze) has made … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Allegheny River, blogging, Christmas, environment, fly-fishing, headwaters, Nine Mile Run, Old Woodenhead, photography, Pine Creek, small streams, Wings Over Water, winter holidays, writing | 17 Comments

Branching Out (from Genesee)

Posted on April 16, 2018 by rivertoprambles

Some readers of Rivertop Rambles may recall that every year, around the Opening Day of the Pennsylvania trout fishing season, I try to fish the three branches of my home river. Again this year, I drove to the state-line village … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged backyard naturalist, branching out, Earth Day, environmentalism, fly-fishing, headwaters, PA trout season, pollution, Spring, tradition, Triple Divide, upper Genesee River, Walt Frankllin, writing | 18 Comments

Providence

Posted on February 14, 2018 by rivertoprambles

Providence, Rhode Island, founded in 1636 by religious exile Roger Williams, is one of the oldest cities in America. I recently got an introduction to this coastal city that is slowly shifting from industrialism to the service sector with a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Atlantic Ocean, cities, family, festivals, fishing, headwaters, history, hope, Newport RI, Providence, Rhode Island, scrimshaw, stripers, writing | 16 Comments

The High Bridge

Posted on October 30, 2017 by rivertoprambles

The high bridge that I have in mind is not some railroad or passageway on a trestle over an impressive gorge or canyon. It’s a simple concrete bridge that takes a forest road in northern Pennsylvania over a favorite trout … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bridge, Butternut Hollow, ecology, fly-fishing, habitat, headwaters, native trout, Pennsylvania, photography, small streams, stream remediation, wild trout, writing | 16 Comments

Flycatcher

Posted on June 13, 2017 by rivertoprambles

When the weather finally turned irresistible for the craft of venturing into the stream-lined depths of mother nature, I got on the West Branch Genesee and, later, the main stem Genesee. There, among the hills and hollows of the dual-state … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged caddis, environment, fly patterns, flycatcher, flyfishing, Genesee River, Grannom, headwaters, nature, photography, rivertops, stocked trout, upper Genesee, wild trout, writing | 25 Comments