River Gypsy

My good friend Wayne Snyder asked me some time ago to write a foreword to a book he had in the works about the rivers of Appalachia.  I’ve fished the Smoky Mountains, been to the Laurel Highlands in Pennsylvania, and recently won a Trout Unlimited essay contest for my depiction of a tributary in the Highlands.  It should have been a no brainer right, an easy foreword to write?  It wasn’t and I’m teetering on the precipice of calling the stretch of time between when he gave me the deadline and I turned in the piece my worst case of writer’s block.  I was paralyzed and couldn’t get anywhere.  In the end though It worked out well, I think Wayne was pleased with it and I hope the folks that decide to pick up the book; River Gypsy Volume 2 The Rivers of Appalachia will enjoy it. 

 

 

This is my second go round writing a foreword for Wayne.  In 2010 I wrote a note for his seminal work, The Golden Age Fly Fishing in Michigan 2^nd Edition.  Wayne has a great touch with the history of fly fishing.  The people and places that make it special to so many people.  You’ll be educated and entertained all at once no matter which Wayne Snyder book you pick up.  I don’t advocate wasting money.  So don’t go out and get the book just for the foreword, get it for the people and places that Wayne is so good at describing.  After you read either of these book you’ll want to take a trip across the big mitten or visit those tall hills and hollows.    

 

 

Wayne has wrapped up his trip through the Appalachian’s and is waiting out what is left of winter in sunny Florida.  The last couple of weeks here in the Great Lakes can only be described as that, what’s left of winter.  We danced with spring in February, touching 70 on more than one occasion during a two-week stretch.  But a trough in the jet stream brought us back to reality and it’s been hanging tough ever since.  The weather is about to break though, and tomorrow we’ll flirt with 70 again.  You can feel the excitement, at least in fishing circles.  I’m ready for the bass to start bedding and some small stream trout action.