A Dear Field Letter

Dear Field,

I’m writing you this letter because our friendship is in peril.  It seems like the nexus of our problem stems from that dam Fife.  He seems to be flooding you constantly with hyper-hydro affection. Every time I wade in your direction, you push me away with the torrents of rage that stem from Fife.  Is there no end to his tyranny over you?

It’s been this way for two years. You’ve been so full of yourself. Even though you’ve released your schedule to me, the only times you are available are in the middle of the week when I am at work or from midnight to dawn.  Never on a weekend when I have time to hang out with you.

You love all the attention you are getting from the guys who tickle your ribs with their oars.  You take them to places that I can only dream about.  They have exclusive access to all your multi-colored toys.  Do you catch my drift?

For a while there, you had room in your cohort for your friends like me who slid down your slopes and stumbled through your riffles.  But now, my dear Field, one needs a guide to navigate your treacherous moods.

I think the final straw was when I planned to meet you at the pool by the railroad overpass. How did you expect me to react when you blocked my access with concrete barriers?  As I looked for a place to park along that beautiful stretch below the Zoar where we have played so often, you put up sign after sign, warning me to stay away.

What have I done to deserve such treatment?  It’s not me who has abused you, but the hordes of your so-called friends who float and flaunt your beauty and leave their empty beer cans and broken flipflops in your pockets.

And so, dear Field, your overflowing ego has left me no choice but to fly to the swift, to branch out to the east, and to tighten my line where the stones are free.

I will miss you, old friend.

Sincerely yours,

Wade Fisher

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9 thoughts on “A Dear Field Letter

  1. Was anybody else put off and taken aback by the concrete barriers that were placed in the only access point below the Zoar Picnic area? That whole stretch has been covered with no parking signs.

  2. I havent been there for about a year, so I’m not sure of any parking/no parking changes along the Fife/Deerfield.
    Realistically, the updated no parking anywhere that we recreate such as fly fish etc doesn’t surprise me. Interesting though. Probably the shape of things to come which will be unfortunate.

  3. Does anyone know who was responsible for the concrete barrier and all those “No Parking” signs just downstream of the Zoar Picnic area? I noticed they put up a new guardrail about the same time. Was it the highway dept, MassWildlife, or some other entity? I can understand why they wouldn’t want people parking alongside the road where there is really no pulloff room with the rr close-by on one side of the road and the river on the other, but why they put up the barriers by the rr overpass pulloff and put up two “No Parking between the signs” signs in the one pulloff that accommodates 3-4 vehicles on the opposite side of the road from the river is beyond me. Who would we contact about that?

  4. Bill, maybe the local chapter of TU in that area maybe a source of info on what’s going on, etc?
    Food for thought, anyway.

  5. Hey Bill, it’s been a while since I fished the Dear, but your love letter was so well written that I was touched and pissed at the same time. If there’s a movement afoot to fix things out there let us know.

    1. Richard, I loved the descriptors “touched and pissed.” Owner of the Evening Sun Fly Shop, Charlie Shadan, tells me that his sources revealed that the barriers and signs were put up because of the tubing crowd trashing the area and choking the road by parking on the road’s narrow shoulders. What are the chances we could get them to remove the signs and barriers during the cooler months (Sept-midMay) when its too cold for tubing?

  6. I haven’t been able to get there since summer and don’t know what things look like now but ask the guys at the Deerfield Fly Shop. They would know.

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