Vintage Flies and Other Memories

February is starting out on a with a busy first week agenda, with holidays to follow, and on this first day of the month, the bitter cold of the past week has slipped away. Tuesday was Groundhog Day and the sun was shining in Punxsutawney, Pa., where the nation’s official weather forecaster was rousted out of his sleeping quarters.

Last Friday Eddie Schwartz, Vice- President of the Oasis Sportsmen’s Club, brought back the traps I had lent him. Seems he had to wait to use them to trap coyotes because he had to take

trapping course in order to get his first trapping license, and he wouldn’t finish it until after the coyote season ended. Ed said Rob, who runs The Angler’s Den, a fly shop in Pawling, noted for “English angling trappings,” was having an open house last Saturday, and he called Rob and asked him if he could bring me along.

The shop was packed when we walked in and stayed that way the entire time we spent there. Fly-tying demonstrations were being conducted, and I toured Rob’s new location. I needed some peacock herl, and selected a few more fly-tying components, parting with 20 bucks. That should have covered the cost of the components Rob’s wife used to cook up the vat of chili they were serving, so with the cash register ringing all day, it was

profitable event at the Angler’s Den.

I told Rob of my years of collecting old fishing tackle, and he said he would take some of my stuff on consignment, better than seeing me croak anytime soon, with all of it ending up in a dumpster. I’m looking at an 1886

Robinson Mouse,” rubber-coated black head and tail, with what looks like rabbit fur covering the rest of its body. My set of lure collecting reference books went south to Florida when Larry Schrieman’s Silver Bullet Gun Shop in Lake Carmel closed after his passing, and his brother cleaned out the store, taking it to sell in his shop in Florida. I had lent them to Larry and neglected to pick them up, never thinking about Larry having a heart attack Oh well, the books were 20 or so years old, values antiquated now. I’m going to have to buy 2010 fishing lure guides to determine whatever my stuff is worth these days.

Groundhog Day is an important date for Mama and me—it marked our 53rd wedding anniversary. I have no idea why this woman has put up with me all these years; guess you could say I’m a lucky boy!

Our grandsons, Kevin and Kyle, will turn four on Sunday, which just happens to be Valentine’s Day, and while picking up their Birthday cards,

better buy Mama a Valentine’s Day card to insure my longevity here.

If the ice holds up and the winter weather forecast for the coming weekend doesn’t bury us in ice and snow, I might be able to get out on the ice for the first time this winter and catch her a mess of panfish—her favorite meal.

I keep the 1886 fly rod mouse I referred to earlier in a Piper Heidsieck chewing tobacco box, carefully wrapped in soft tissue paper to protect it from any further wear, although it’s in mint condition, including fragile whiskers on it’s chin. The edge of the box reads “quality since 1883, Taylor Brothers Inc., Winston Salem, N.C.” There is date on the box but it looks old. I bought a couple of the vintage boxes at a long ago flea market for a buck or two each. They contained 12 plugs of chewing tobacco each when they were first purchased, by a guy who must have likd their “champagne” flavor.

If I make it to the April 1 opening of the N.Y. trout season, I could take my boat out and troll around Lake Gleneida, here in Carmel, with my home-tied flies suspended at 10-foot intervals on my trolling line, with Gleneida’s 70- foot average depth, and 120 feet at the deepest hole. And with two rods out, that’s a lot of lures moving through the water

With a limit of three lake trout and five brown or rainbow trout a day, and I know my bugs will also catch perch, crappies and other panfish, I could buy a new pickup truck and peddle fresh fish, and maybe travel up to Patterson to see my Friend Casey at Magnolia’s Restaurant and have her put fresh fish on her menu board. I know my bugs will take shad during the spring run on the Delaware River, and I can open a road stand to sell roe and fresh shad fillets here on Ridge Road—but I’d need a permit from the Town to do that. Better yet I’ll set up shop in the upper driveway, put a sign out on the road “Greenwood’s Lane > Turn Here > Fresh Fish For Sale. Take a Free Tour of the Birthplace of the Putnam Sportsman!”