David Siskind | Sunday, 11 May 2025
I’m back in the air flying toward NYC. I booked a flight to Newark International. This airport has been having problems. Besides the long developing understaffing at EWR in particular, and Musk’s DOGE layoffs, there was, a couple of days ago, a 90 second loss of the ATC radar contact with all the flights in the air. Apparently the controllers and pilots were freaking out. There were stories of stress, fear and tears. Pretty awful. It’s understandably getting a lot of press. There’s a feeling that all things aviation are falling apart, collisions at Dulles, the outage at Newark, near misses as well, and fighters rolling off the deck of the USS Truman into the Red Sea -- dogs and cats living together. No point worrying, but I hope they sort this out sooner than later as I’ll be flying out of Newark to Wyoming at the end of the month.
My OG fishing buddy, Marty, will be picking me up this coming Monday and driving us up to his place in North Branch to fish the Beaverkill, the Willowemoc and the Delaware. It’s been raining a bit but the rivers should be in great shape and the spring hatches will be in full bloom. Could be good. Marty is a good fisher. He’s been fishing these rivers for 40 years and has confidence in his methods. That’s his special gift. He never seems to be affected by doubt. The Beaverkill, especially, is problematic for me. One is rarely fishing alone - fishers are lined up in the evening, 100’ apart, fishing to risers in the main currents of the big glides and pools. Success and failure are very public and, for me, distracting. I should get over myself.
I’ve got a few guide-flies I want to try up there. I’m not sure that Marty has the materials on his bench but I’m hoping. Mostly want to tie a few Skinny Timmies for the mayflies, I might see Hendricksons, March Browns and some early sulfurs. The original bushier Timmy might work for the grannom that should also be hatching. But in the end, I’ll fish whatever Marty tells me to. I usually find that my own ideas, stubbornly pursued, lead to humiliation on the big stage. And we can’t have that.
Finally, on the subject of humiliation. I filmed my Lazy Tail (see prior mentions in this space) and found that it’s just a garden variety tail. Nothing special, just a little weak. With a little more speed I’m sure I could tie knots with it. The signature of a concave tip path is clear. Since I’ve trained for a week at low power with longer pauses between strokes, I have to struggle to create the early shock that causes it. I hope the newer smoother stroke will soon be my default under pressure. I’m feeling pretty good about it.
And, oh yeah, we have a new pope, seems like a nice man.
David Siskind