{"id":90476,"date":"2008-10-24T14:27:13","date_gmt":"2008-10-24T12:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/2008\/10\/roundout-creek-2\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T19:48:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T17:48:32","slug":"roundout-creek-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/2008\/10\/roundout-creek-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Roundout Creek"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was in the eighties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My wife and I were living in a tumbledown house in upstate New York, top left on the map.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We led a hermit’s life, deep in the forest, on the bank of the magnificent Rondout Creek, twenty minutes by canoe from our nearest neighbours, an elderly English couple, the Tetlows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dollars we had precious few, but happiness couldn’t give a damn about money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We spent most of our time stark naked, patching up the place with chewing gum, painting huge unsellable canvases, screwing like rabbits and pinching ears of corn from the field across from the house, on the other side of the river.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then one evening, on that wretched river, something happened that left me completely gobsmacked. The surface of the water began to boil \u2014 but to boil with silver bubbles. As though some blind-drunk God were shaking scraps of chocolate wrapping paper over the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In truth, this unsettling spectacle was not the devil’s handiwork, but the work of thousands of tiny fish \u2014 bleak, or something of the sort \u2014 literally leaping out of the water to gorge themselves on microscopic nameless things, like airborne bogeys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A fry-up of those little silver fish could certainly improve the daily fare, granted \u2014 but how on earth was one to catch the blighters?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we had moved into our shack, I had unearthed in the attic an old box containing a whole jumble of fishing tackle. A heap of rusty bits and pieces, tangled lines, moth-eaten flies, and a small tin of tiny hooks which, I reckoned, ought to do the job for the fry-up \u2014 and so I set about, as best I could, tying the miracle fly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The method I used would have given any self-respecting fly-tying purist a heart attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To put it plainly, my technique consisted of wrapping black thread pulled from an old sock of mine around the shank of the hook and\u2026 that was it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the incredible thing was \u2014 it worked like an absolute charm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bleak hurled themselves at it like a miser pouncing on a chest stuffed with gold coins, and in two shakes my basket was full.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such was my joy that I reached into the pocket of my shorts, pulled out the single one-dollar bill to my name, screwed it into a ball, tossed it into the water, and, like a lucky man stepping away from the roulette table at the Casino de Monte-Carlo, declared in a confident voice:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“For the staff!”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fl\u00e8che<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was in the eighties. My wife and I were living in a tumbledown house in upstate New York, top left on the map. We led a hermit’s life, deep in the forest, on the bank of the magnificent Rondout Creek, twenty minutes by canoe from our nearest neighbours, an elderly English couple, the Tetlows. Dollars we had precious few, but happiness couldn’t give a damn about money. We spent most of our time stark naked, patching up the place […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":90475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15845,15855],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","category-books"],"yoast_head":"\nRoundout Creek - Le Mouching<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/2008\/10\/roundout-creek-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Roundout Creek - Le Mouching\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It was in the eighties. My wife and I were living in a tumbledown house in upstate New York, top left on the map. We led a hermit’s life, deep in the forest, on the bank of the magnificent Rondout Creek, twenty minutes by canoe from our nearest neighbours, an elderly English couple, the Tetlows. Dollars we had precious few, but happiness couldn’t give a damn about money. We spent most of our time stark naked, patching up the place […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/2008\/10\/roundout-creek-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Le Mouching\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LeMouching\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-10-24T12:27:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-01T17:48:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/ablette.jpg.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"448\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"336\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"flechemuller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@LeMouching\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@LeMouching\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"flechemuller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lemouching.com\\\/en\\\/2008\\\/10\\\/roundout-creek-2\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lemouching.com\\\/en\\\/2008\\\/10\\\/roundout-creek-2\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"flechemuller\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lemouching.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4d8e17867d7ec8928f1040666b9915c7\"},\"headline\":\"Roundout Creek\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-10-24T12:27:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-01T17:48:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lemouching.com\\\/en\\\/2008\\\/10\\\/roundout-creek-2\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":422,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lemouching.com\\\/en\\\/2008\\\/10\\\/roundout-creek-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/lemouching.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2008\\\/10\\\/ablette.jpg.webp?fit=448%2C336&ssl=1\",\"articleSection\":[\"ART\",\"READINGS\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/lemouching.com\\\/en\\\/2008\\\/10\\\/roundout-creek-2\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lemouching.com\\\/en\\\/2008\\\/10\\\/roundout-creek-2\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lemouching.com\\\/en\\\/2008\\\/10\\\/roundout-creek-2\\\/\",\"name\":\"Roundout Creek - Le Mouching\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lemouching.com\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lemouching.com\\\/en\\\/2008\\\/10\\\/roundout-creek-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lemouching.com\\\/en\\\/2008\\\/10\\\/roundout-creek-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/lemouching.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2008\\\/10\\\/ablette.jpg.webp?fit=448%2C336&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2008-10-24T12:27:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-01T17:48:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lemouching.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4d8e17867d7ec8928f1040666b9915c7\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lemouching.com\\\/en\\\/2008\\\/10\\\/roundout-creek-2\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/lemouching.com\\\/en\\\/2008\\\/10\\\/roundout-creek-2\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lemouching.com\\\/en\\\/2008\\\/10\\\/roundout-creek-2\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/lemouching.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2008\\\/10\\\/ablette.jpg.webp?fit=448%2C336&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/lemouching.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2008\\\/10\\\/ablette.jpg.webp?fit=448%2C336&ssl=1\",\"width\":448,\"height\":336},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lemouching.com\\\/en\\\/2008\\\/10\\\/roundout-creek-2\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lemouching.com\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Roundout Creek\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lemouching.com\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lemouching.com\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Le Mouching\",\"description\":\"P\u00eache \u00e0 la Mouche \\\/ Fly Fishing Lifestyle\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lemouching.com\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lemouching.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4d8e17867d7ec8928f1040666b9915c7\",\"name\":\"flechemuller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2d068fa7e7654844360ae3a762ab99564174721eafeccbac66240108771ebe65?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2d068fa7e7654844360ae3a762ab99564174721eafeccbac66240108771ebe65?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2d068fa7e7654844360ae3a762ab99564174721eafeccbac66240108771ebe65?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"flechemuller\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lemouching.com\\\/en\\\/author\\\/flechemuller\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Roundout Creek - Le Mouching","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/2008\/10\/roundout-creek-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Roundout Creek - Le Mouching","og_description":"It was in the eighties. My wife and I were living in a tumbledown house in upstate New York, top left on the map. We led a hermit’s life, deep in the forest, on the bank of the magnificent Rondout Creek, twenty minutes by canoe from our nearest neighbours, an elderly English couple, the Tetlows. Dollars we had precious few, but happiness couldn’t give a damn about money. We spent most of our time stark naked, patching up the place […]","og_url":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/2008\/10\/roundout-creek-2\/","og_site_name":"Le Mouching","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LeMouching\/","article_published_time":"2008-10-24T12:27:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-01T17:48:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":448,"height":336,"url":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/ablette.jpg.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"flechemuller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@LeMouching","twitter_site":"@LeMouching","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"flechemuller","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/2008\/10\/roundout-creek-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/2008\/10\/roundout-creek-2\/"},"author":{"name":"flechemuller","@id":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/4d8e17867d7ec8928f1040666b9915c7"},"headline":"Roundout Creek","datePublished":"2008-10-24T12:27:13+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-01T17:48:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/2008\/10\/roundout-creek-2\/"},"wordCount":422,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/2008\/10\/roundout-creek-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemouching.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/ablette.jpg.webp?fit=448%2C336&ssl=1","articleSection":["ART","READINGS"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/2008\/10\/roundout-creek-2\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/2008\/10\/roundout-creek-2\/","url":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/2008\/10\/roundout-creek-2\/","name":"Roundout Creek - Le Mouching","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/2008\/10\/roundout-creek-2\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/2008\/10\/roundout-creek-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemouching.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/ablette.jpg.webp?fit=448%2C336&ssl=1","datePublished":"2008-10-24T12:27:13+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-01T17:48:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/4d8e17867d7ec8928f1040666b9915c7"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/2008\/10\/roundout-creek-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/2008\/10\/roundout-creek-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/2008\/10\/roundout-creek-2\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemouching.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/ablette.jpg.webp?fit=448%2C336&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemouching.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/ablette.jpg.webp?fit=448%2C336&ssl=1","width":448,"height":336},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/2008\/10\/roundout-creek-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Roundout Creek"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/","name":"Le Mouching","description":"P\u00eache \u00e0 la Mouche \/ Fly Fishing Lifestyle","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/4d8e17867d7ec8928f1040666b9915c7","name":"flechemuller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2d068fa7e7654844360ae3a762ab99564174721eafeccbac66240108771ebe65?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2d068fa7e7654844360ae3a762ab99564174721eafeccbac66240108771ebe65?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2d068fa7e7654844360ae3a762ab99564174721eafeccbac66240108771ebe65?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"flechemuller"},"url":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/author\/flechemuller\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemouching.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/ablette.jpg.webp?fit=448%2C336&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2lRyg-nxi","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90476"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90481,"href":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90476\/revisions\/90481"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lemouching.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}