East Branch: Six Years on a Catskill Trout Stream

by Mitch Keller

Overview

In this creative nonfiction narrative, Mitch Keller chronicles his move from New York City to live as a hand-to-mouth trout bum upstate and shares what it is really like to move to trout country to try to build a life around fly fishing—a dream of so many anglers. All the joys and rewards of the angling life are here in abundance, but so are the chronic financial hardship, the menial jobs, the interminable winters, the moments of doubt—everything that comes with that life and the decision to live it.

This compelling story of life living along and fishing a classic trout stream of the Catskills is sure to not only interest those that fish the area but also captivate anyone who has dreamed of leaving the hustle of the city behind to live a more deliberate life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780811769327
Publisher:	Stackpole Books
Publication date:	12/07/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	417 KB

About the Author

Mitch Keller has worked as a reporter or editor for five daily newspapers in five states. He spent the last seventeen years of his newspaper life at the New York Times, where he was desk head and then managing editor of the New York Times News Service and wrote for the City section.His work has also appeared in Newsday, Outdoor America magazine, the Woodstock (N.Y.) Times, and the collection More New York Stories: The Best of the City Section of The New York Times (New York University Press, 2010). He divides his time between New York City and the Catskill Mountains.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Part 1 The Call of Trout Country

Chapter 1 Making the break

Finding a home

The two East Branches

The cabin

Space, silence, solitude 3

Chapter 2 Earlier times

A fisherman's progress

First fly rod

The big bang

Stranded in the city

Escape to the Beaverkill

Jim Deren

The trusty Adams

Roscoe and the Antrim

A wandering angler 17

Chapter 3 The Town and the river

Where I fished

The haunted Pepacton

A place once defiled

A.J. McClane 45

Part 2 East Branch Days

Chapter 4 First winter

Days without talking

My neighbor Bill

Scraping up work

"Tender haze of green"

My deficiencies exposed

Dog days and raspberries

Trout see everything 67

Chapter 5 Hermitry 101

Cabin fever

My greatest fishing experience

So much to know

Flirting with absurdity 91

Chapter 6 Ten thousand dollars!

Professional advancement

Fly-fishing failure

Bergman on my mind

The angler I wanted to be

A legendary local 105

Chapter 7 Roiling my own

Thirty below

The best time of year

The flies I tied

Fly-fishing perfection

Catch-and-release misgivings 119

Chapter 8 First stirring of change

Out on the farm

Big drakes

A rare sighting 133

Chapter 9 Stalled out

The Flood of '96

Moving into town

A river made over

Fishing in town

The state of my gear

Leaving 145

Bibliography 163

Index 165

Editorial Reviews

East Branch is the fulfillment of a dream that many anglers want to realize but most will not pursue. It’s a recounting of leaving one life to search for a better one—one that coexists with trout waters and trout towns. Few anglers, even the most passionate, will ever take this leap and discover what lies on the other side. But Mitch Keller’s eloquent prose and honest storytelling takes you there with him: to the beautiful trout, rivers, aquatic insects, and animals sharing equal footing with the harsh climate and financial headwinds that identify and define many who persist in New York’s Catskill Mountain trout country. It’s a journey worth sharing.

Paul Weamer

It was enjoyable to learn the etymology of towns and landmarks in the Catskills that are so familiar. The deeply personal saga was fascinating, and the exhilaration felt at the beginning of snowmelt is tangible. East Branch is an interesting, informative and satisfying read.

Judy Van Put

Mitch Keller’s book is a heartwarming yet intriguing story of how a fly angler traded the comforts of city life for one on a Catskill trout stream. Despite the challenges and financial uncertainties he faced living for several years tucked away in the mountains, Keller emerged from his experience with more than simply netting trout—a perspective of life itself.

Mike Valla