 The Pool at Creekside Cabins |
The Pool only a few yards behind the Creekside Cabins on the
Willowemoc near Roscoe, NY. It was pretty tough to roll out of bed and into the
waders and then have to walk about 125 feet to this pool. It has everything,
fast deeper water at the head, rocky bottom, moving into shallower water and
finally, a fine tailwater, shallow and clear, holding some pretty big
Browns. It had been raining for at least 14 days before we planned to arrive, but stopped two days before actual departure time. The rivers near Roscoe had been nearly all unfishable. While somewhat high when we got there, the water levels dropped every day and cleared right up for us. |
| Peter Just, on our
first morning on the Willowemoc ties in to a good one, with what I suspect was
a "Doublewing". Note how clear the water is, and take a look at how
he is preparing to net this fish. He has it upstream of him and is holding the
rod at right angles to the fish. He will raise the fish's head, and let the
current lead it into the net. No broken rod tips this way. |
 Peter Just hooks a good one! |
 Almost in the net |
After getting the fish's head lifted so that the can not swim readily, Peter can hold his net under the surface, and let the fish slide back over it. He then lifts the net straight up and has his fish. Swiping at the fish with a net is generally a good way to scare it into evasive action, and with a light tippet, break it off. |
 Bill hooks one too! |
About mid-morning, the shadows start to cover half of the pool.
There is a steep hillside on the opposite bank, and a number of pretty large
rocks in the water. Trout hold and feed in this protected shady water. Fly hatches were fairly abundant, and the water was high at the beginning, due to weeks of rain, but the weather cleared when we arrived. The water levels dropped steadily, and hatches picked up. March Browns and Sulphurs were there, and the Green Drakes came on while we were there. Trout really seemed to key in on the March Browns, as I watched one fish chase a freshly hatched dun across the pool making several splashy rises in an attempt to catch it. |
| The current was pretty strong the first morning, and using a
3-weight bamboo rod meant you had to be very careful to maneuver the fish to
take advantage of it. Holding a fish in the current and getting downstream of it makes the netting possible since the rod certainly doesn't have enough backbone to lead or pull the fish. 6X tippet makes that pretty impossible anyway |
 Safely in the net |
 A nice 14 inch Brown Trout ready for release |
Last year, I got a new shallow "release" bag for my
net. I also got one of those magnetic holders for it, making it easier than a
snap to hold it to the back of my vest. I still have the "bungee
cord" attached, in case I drop it. The shallow bag makes it easier to handle fish gently, and more quickly for release. This Brown Trout was full of vim and vigor, and the wet net was needed to gently hold him and remove the size 12 March Brown from his jaw. |
| Only a few feet from The Pool is a gathering place for those
who want to rest, observe, and provide constructive (?) commentary to those who
are fishing. It so happens that the table is at the tailout portion of the pool, which was inhabited by a few fairly large Browns. These fish were for the most part, over 20 inches, and were named "Pete", "George", etc. They hung out near the opposite bank, and it was a tricky long cast to get a good float over them. Many were hooked and lost, then hooked again, providing a great opportunity for the critics to say, "You shouldda," or "You shouldn'tave," or something similar. This was NOT a good place to fish if you didn't want an audience and a lot of free advice. |
 The "Critics" gathered Skip Klepacki, Richard Frank, Lindsey Grandison, Paul Wilcox, Debbie Perry, Earle Grossman (standing) |
 "Big Fish Bob" Shearer does it again |
Robert proved to be the big fish expert on this trip, so much
so that we were ready to revoke his fishing license if he didn't settle down
and catch small ones like the rest of us. He came back after a solo and very
successful afternoon in Horse Brook Run, on the Beaverkill, with tales of these
huge fish he caught, and released. Next day we all went with him, and by golly, he showed us how it's done all over again. Hooking a big Brown in this fast water means a trip downstream with him. That's what Robert is doing in this picture. |
| In
the process of scrambling downstream along the shore to help Robert net this
fish, and get a picture of it, I discovered I had just used the last shot on
the film. Having another roll in my vest, I attempted to load it on the run
with net in hand, and in the process, dropped the roll in the grass, where it
fell into the only water-filled footprint within fifty feet. Drying the film off as best I could, I loaded it into the camera while Robert followed his fish down into the head of Cairns Pool. I got there in time to take this picture with the waterstreaked film, as Robert netted the fish, all 20 inches of it. |
 20 inches of Brown Trout |
 Lunch at Horse Brook Run on the Beaverkill |
We
found a spot in the shade, under the Route 17 "Quickway" bridge at
Horse Brook Run, where we could set up the portable charcoal grill and cook
some great sausages that "Big Louie", our steadfast and reliable
guide had brought along. It was HOT and so the shade was welcome, even if the
pavement and passing traffic made it less than picturesque. We could cross the road and look down into the run and keep an eye on the hatches. A big stonefly landed near us, and proceeded to walk across the road toward the river, without being run over by a car. |
| Richard Frank was the organizer of NEC VII, the seventh
Northeast Clave of the Flyfish@ List, with help from Chris Knight, AKA
"Rainmaker". Chris earned this nickname, since he has a nearly
never-failing ability to bring rain with him wherever he goes. He somewhat
failed on this trip as for the most part the rain held off and the weather all
week was near perfect, except for a short hot spell and a short
thunderstorm. John James joined us, all the way from California, taking the prize for whoever had travelled the longest distance to get here. |
 John James, Chris "Rainmaker" Knight, and Richard Frank |
 Our guide "Big Louie" (aka Richard Frank) |
Richard earned the name "Big Louie" after
"guiding" so many successful trips for the "Roscoe
Raiders", ranging from the Battenkill in Vermont to the upper Connecticut
River in New Hampshire, and the Catskills. An e-mail with the suggestion
"Why don't we all meet at...." is enough to get it all started. Next season, it looks like back to Roscoe for one trip, and the Rangely region of Maine for another. Maybe Yellowstone, or Alaska one of these days? |
