Tangled Lines gift guide

The official Tangled Lines wader lineup. One set needs patching. One was purchased when the author was much larger. One never fit quite right but you never know. There’s another set in the car.

Patrick L. Sullivan

Tangled Lines gift guide

Here is the annual gift guide for those of you with fly-fishers on the list. I have attempted to keep this simple and intelligible to the unafflicted.

The easy way out is the gift certificate. Most retailers offer them. I have been on the receiving end of an Orvis gift card many times.

So how much do you make it for? Hard to say, but know this: $100 just gets things started. If the goal is to get Fred a new set of waders so he stops complaining about the old leaky ones, better start at $300. Note also that they will still leak, eventually, but this is not your fault.

The old waders can probably be salvaged, too. Look for a wader repair kit with a small tube of stuff called Aquaseal and some patches that can be cut to size. Fred should have one of these kits anyway. Sometimes they come with the new waders.

Then you can get Fred a freestanding rack to hold all the spare waders that might or might not leak. (See photo.)

Rods: I am a big fan of Echo rods, especially the entry-level models. You can do a lot worse than getting a budding angler an Echo Lift kit, which is a rod, reel with pre-spooled line, and case for just under $200.

Anything else is going to require some subtlety on your part. Example: “Hi Fred. What sort of fly rod do you really want? And how’s Mom?”

Fred replies: “I have been eyeing the Spatzenjammer GBH 12-foot trout mini-spey for 250 grain Skagit heads.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” you say, keeping it subtle. “Have you seen a specialist?”

For extra subtlety, try asking Fred’s main fishing buddy what a good rod would be. This could be difficult, because Fred probably doesn’t know his buddy’s last name, home town, or anything that might identify him except a phone number. And even that will be in some kind of code. I have a contact in my phone that says “K fishing.” That’s it. I have no idea who or what this is, and when I tried calling I got a no longer in service message. Didn’t delete it from the phone, though. That would make too much sense.

You could throw yourself on the mercy of the fly shop. We have two actual fly shops in driving distance -- the Orvis store in Avon, and UpCountry in the Pleasant Valley section of Barkhamsted, with the West Branch of the Farmington River out back.

You’ll need to know some basic stuff. Where does Fred fish? What does he fish for? And Fred’s dimensions, plus a quick sketch of his condition, habits and general disposition.

Here’s an idea that could work: A bunch of flies and a nifty new box from a big online fly retailer such as Big Y Fly Company in Oregon or Fly Shack in New York.

I’ll save you the guesswork. If your intended recipient is a trout person, get a Fishpond/Tacky Double Haul fly box (about $35) and the following flies, six of each: Chubby Chernobyl size 12, Parachute Adams size 12, Light Cahill dun size 14, Elk Hair caddis size 14, Stimulator size 6, Pheasant Tail beadhead size 16, Hare’s Ear beadhead size 16, and Leadwing Coachman size 10.

The total for this should be about $100.

Don’t put the flies in the box because you’ll do it wrong. Let Fred do it. It will take forever and the family, busy with festive holiday activities, will be grateful not to have the glum snowbound angler getting in the way.

Latest News

'Gather' at Troutbeck

Romane Recalde speaking about her new business at Gather.

Natalia Zukerman

Hosted by Jason Klein and Sascha Lewis, an ongoing series called “Gather” at Troutbeck in Amenia brings together a curious crowd of local entrepreneurs, artists, and others with a story to tell for an intimate midday chat. On Thursday, Jan. 16, floral designer Romane Recalde, owner of the newly opened Le Jardin in Amenia, took center stage to share her journey from modeling in Miami to cultivating flowers in the Hudson Valley. Gather is a place to share stories, swap advice, and celebrate some of the unique businesses that make our area vibrant — all with a delicious lunch on the side. The gatherings are unconventional in the best way, with no agenda beyond good conversation and community building.

Recalde’s story isn’t just about creating a flower shop; it’s about a complete reinvention of self. “I hated Miami so much,” said the French-born Recalde, recalling her time in Florida before moving to New York. She worked as a model in New York, and eventually met her husband, James. Their pandemic escape to Turks and Caicos turned into a six-month stay, which in turn led them to Millbrook and finally to their home in Amenia, where Recalde’s connection to nature blossomed.

Keep ReadingShow less
Mad Rose opens ‘Assembled’ exhibition
Mad Rose Gallery director Michael Flowers contributed to the gallery's "Assembled" exhibit with a series of collaged landscape photographs
Nathan Miller

Mad Rose Gallery’s “Assembled” exhibition opened Saturday, Jan. 18, with a public reception.

The eclectic exhibition — on view until March 2 at the gallery on the intersection of Routes 22 and 44 in Millerton — gathers together work from a group of diverse artists with decades of experience between them. The exhibition itself is true to the name, featuring photographs, sculptures, drawings and mixed media works in all shapes and sizes.

Keep ReadingShow less
The fragile bonds of family: a review of Betsy Lerner’s 'Shred Sisters'

Betsy Lerner’s 'Shred Sisters' is written with such verve and poetic imagination that it’s hard to fathom how it could be the author’s first novel. Ms. Lerner, 64, has worked for three decades as a literary agent, editor, and non-fiction writer, but at some point during the Covid pandemic — without any forethought — she sat down and typed out the first line of the novel exactly as it now appears in the book, and then completed it without telling anyone what she was up to.

The novel takes place over twenty years — from the 1970s into the ’90s — and is a kind of guide for that era. It reads like a memoir accompanied by some bouncy dialogue, but is actually a work of what’s called autofiction in which Lerner mixes her own experiences — including her own struggle with mental illness — with things she simply makes up. The fictional narrator is Amy Shred, the younger of two sisters in an upper-middle-class, secular Jewish family living in the suburbs of New Haven, Connecticut.

Keep ReadingShow less
Lazy, hazy days of...winter?

This small stream is fishable, despite the wintry conditions. It probably won't be a pleasant or productive experience, but it can be done.

Patrick L. Sullivan

When syndicated columnists run out of ideas they do one of two things.

First they collect the last couple year’s worth of columns and call it a book. These are published to great acclaim from other syndicated columnists and show up in due course in gigantic, ziggurat-shaped mounds at Costco for $4.98 a pop.

Keep ReadingShow less