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Adirondacks and Catskills

1K views 11 replies 9 participants last post by  Bob Triggs 
#1 ·
Well I'm off tomorrow for 6 days of exploring through upstate New York. I've fished around there a few times when I was younger but never really got more than 20-30 outside of Old Forge. Does anyone have any suggestions or advice for either of these areas?

~cHris
 
#2 ·
I forgot what I was supposed to remember.

What in the hell are you going to New York for when we have all this open space in Washington to explore.

Jim

This is how I get so many posts making stupid statements on these posts where he is looking for advice. But I gave him some. There has got to be someplace in Washington where you haven't been. Because we're all going to miss your happy posts.

ME:smokin
 
#4 ·
Have a good trip Backyard, catch a few fish for me! I was in New York last weekend and the Poconos in Pennsylvania, but couldn't slip in any fishing time even though the shad are running in the Delaware.

I fished that area three years ago and spent a lot of time on the West Fork of the Ausable, if it wasn't short notice I would have given you Greyghost's cell number, that's where he's from. He's a bit hard to get ahold of though, he called me from a bar in Northern California the other night...

Anyway, have a good trip, stop by a couple of fly shops and ask around, and make sure to take lots of photos!

worldanglr
http://www.worldanglr.com/

Many men fish their entire lives without ever knowing it is not the fish they are after.

- Henry David Thoreau
 
#5 ·
I wish you had asked sooner so I could have put together something for you. I grew up there. We had a summer cabin on 13th Lake near North Creek on route 28, North River area,(where the Hudson River is only a few dozen yards wide. So, here goes:

Catskills: Go up NY Route 17 to Livingston manor and see the Catskill Fly Fishing Center and Museum. That will be an overwhelming thing in it's self as some of the first dry flies tied in America are there, along with samples of just about every legend of fly tying or rod making, art, tackle etc. And Lee Wulff's fly tying bench looks like he just stepped out for tea. Hary Darbee's stuff,(Harry's grand neice lives here in Port Townsend!) the Dette's stuff, Flies from Edward Ring Hewitt and Arthur Hendrickson...See the spring issur of Fish and Fly for some background and resources.

The people at the center are old friends. Look up Mary Freid and Doc Freid and Agnes VanPutt,(Agnes bakes the cookies for opening day and for Joan Wulff's School), very nice people. And John, who runs things there a lot, will show you everything.Most weeks they have guest fly tiers and demonstrations, events etc.Poul Jorgensen ties there a lot. You might even get a casting lesson from Joan Wulff.

You will be right on Wulff's Run on the Willowemock River so if the water is good, start there and work downstream. All you need is a 4 or 5 weight and floating line and some real Catskill dry flies.There are a few great shops up there; The Beaverkill Angler is my favorite, and the Dette House, where 3rd generation tier Mary Dette Clark still presides and can tie a fly faster than you can blow your nose- without a hanky! You can't come back without a bumpersticker from Trout Town USA and the Roscoe Diner.

A few miles upriver from the Center is a big covered bridge and a long deep pool. Nice place for a summertime brown very early a.m. or evening. If Mary or Doc Fried are around you can ask them about Art Flick's favorite spot upriver from the Center, near the DeBruce Hatchery. They will tell you how to find it. Try Hazel Bridge Pool downstream,A nioce place to stay is "Creekside cabins" right at hazel bridge. Hazel Bridge road is off of old route 17( you can get a map at the center). And of course there's Junction Pool, downriver in Roscoe. That's the junction of the Beaverkill and Willowemock Rivers.And downriver from there are miles of awesome classic fly water. You can't fish it all if you lived in your car and slept on the river and fished it every day for years- I know because I tried it. I am still a lisenced New York State Guide.

The lower Beaverkill is really almost unfished, down near Fish's Eddy and East Branch. Take the old road along the river for the best access. Then there's the Deleware and you may end up becoming a hobo there after spending a few days on the West Branch. Both the East and West Branches are tailwaters and run pretty cool most of the time, at least when they are releasing water.But there are problems with the City of New York and the water flows so always ask before you drive.

Look up a place in Hancock NY called River Essentials, and also Al Caucci's Deleware River Club, both have current real time river info and hatch info. Bugs rule up there. (They both are actually in Starlight Pennsylvania technically speaking.) But right on the river. Al Caucci has some nice little inexpensive campground there, with a few small cabins too.It is a kind of summertime dry fly mecca. Fishing there can be humbling as these are very educated trout indeed. Staying at the lodge is or was reasonable.Al caucci invented the Comparadun flies and wrote the epic tome "Hatches" and "Hatches II". All of Al's guides speak latin when they refer to the bugs. Really. One of his best Guides is a guy named Jeff Church, from Woodbury Connecticut. I would look him up. And Jim Serio is a wealth of knowledge too, try a Northeast regional website forum for them too. Also, upriver, near deposit NY there is the West Branch Angler. They have boats and a livery service. All those shops have guides, rentals etc. I would use a guide at least one day there.My favorite friend and a great senior guide is Floyd Franke of Roscoe NY. A day with him is a day of real education.

In the Hancock area ask around the shops for how to get to "Bard-Parker". Go at dawn or dusk...even later. and fish that long pool and the island below, and the riffles. You will be surrounded by cruising wild rainbow trout, and the occasional striped bass,( they swim all the way from the Atlantic Ocean and deleware Bay, past Philadelphia) and there should be shad running right now.I like the Shad fishing near Lakawaxen and the old Zane Gray Homestead. And at night the browns come out...God help you.

Downriver at Hankins NY is more great water and a good campground and neat little health food cafe. And a fly shop; go in there and meet Joe McFadden . He's a real old salt of the river and a great guy. Veteran western and eastern guide.And very generous about water and fishing.

But I would focus on the West Branch Deleware if I only had a few days there. Try very dark O Clock a.m.and into the dark of night, up near Deposit at the "Board factory" or at the old hale Eddy Bridge pools. There are some access sites on the Pennsylvania side that are great and not fished too much. Just do a little walking upstream from "Balls Eddy" access and wait till you see a three foot long eel swim right up to you with an attiutude! The trout there eat a lot of scuds there in the weedy shallows. Hard to land a three or more pound wild bow in deep weeds! There's a reason they call it the Big Horn of the east.

Ask the River essentials people about "The Weir", a few miles downriver from their shop. There have been legal issues about access but it is an awesome spot at dusk and dark. I had a 600 pound black bear sow walk right up to me in the dark there one night! And a few of the males have weighed in bigger. Nice bears though, no problems. Just be nice and they will be too.

Adirondacks: I would drive up The Northway,( route 87) and get off at route 28 for the towns of North Creek and North River, and don't forget to fish the Hudson River there, even if it's just so you can say you did it. And I would be thinking of the Lake Placid area. There's some nice shops in lake Placid and great local advice. A few miles up the road from Placid is Whiteface Mountain and the West Branch Ausasble River. I defy you to fish this river in one average length lifetime.

Drive downriver to Wilmington New York and look up Fran Betters at the "Adirondack Sport Shop", ( not to be confused with the "Hungry Trout").Fran invented the Haystack and Ausable Wulff flies, and a few others. When you walk in the door there will be a very gifted man sitting behind the counter, tying beautiful little trout flies for hours on end, day after day, for decades now. A veritable institution. Fran can tell you where to stay and where to fish and he won't lie. And on some saturday afternoons he gives a free barbeque and casting lessons. (LOCAL SHOPS TAKE NOTE!)

I would drive downriver from Fran's shop, go through the light, go straight a little bit and then bear right on the dirt road, keep going a little ways and you will see a state access for parking. Hike down the hill to the river and sit on the rocks and cast a dry fly for hours on the pocket water. Deep fast water and when they come up for a fly it's like a Polaris Missile! Ask Fran about that access and get one of his little Cinnamon Caddis.

And then there's downriver to the Town of Jay, NY, and more water than you can ever fish. back over on route 28 theres the Moose River and Cedar Flow, up near Big Indian.
Good luck buddy, you can't do it all in a lifetime. But you sure can try. And then go see the Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lakes, and the Lower Moose River, and Lake Tear In The Clouds, and...

Along the way you will drive past thousands of trout. So much water and so little time...My home of the heart.
Say hello to my old green hills for me won't you.
 
#6 ·
Have a great time...

I don't have too much advice, it's been 25 years since I was back there. I do remember one great summer in the Adirondacks cruising the Saranac lakes in canoes. Give me a holler when you get back.

Roper,

Good things come to those who wade...
 
#8 ·
Have a great time...

My semi famous fly tying Dad took me up to Roscoe, NY before I knew enough to appreciate it...He knows more about the history of fly fishing in that area than any person on earth...If you like the classic eastern fly fishing experience, that's the place to go...

I was humbled by educated browns as a pre- teen, but I eventually discovered that a #20 ostrich herl midge fished up stream in the film will fool those trout

I haven't been back east since 1986, I wonder if the fishing is still as good as it was...Drought conditions can ruin the fishing.:hmmm

Check it out and report back
-Piscean
 
#9 ·
The trip was great, I wasn't able to read the responses until a few days into it since it was so last minute. Thanks to all that reponded. Little Stone, damn! Thanks for all the good advice! I'll post a report sometime when I'm not all bizeeeee.

Sparse, Roper, Worldanglr, Bhudda.. we need to go fishing. Mac, you can be the net/camera guy. ;)


~Chris
 
#11 ·
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