I was up in New York the last two weeks of June visiting my two NY granddaughters and their mom. The girls were still in school so each day I’d head out in the morning to fish a 2-mile-long gorge that is only about 10 minutes away. Even though it is a state park I seldom find any other flyfishers as I hike down the gorge trying out the pools below waterfalls and the runs between. Earlier in the year, I heard the fishing here is easy but by June the fish stocked back in April are getting pretty skittish (hmmm, maybe that’s why I seldom see others fishing.) Still, I can pretty well count on one or two trout per hole before they are spooked. Here are some photos of the place.
Small Run
Waterfall
Ledge pool
Indian Pipe
Mossy Log
My girls like to fish and of course, they are not picky—they’d just as soon drop worms off a dock but I keep thinking, “If I could just get them to hook one trout on a dry fly, they’ll be hooked for life.” To that end, they have taken a couple of hikes with me in the gorge and have exhibited great patience as we’ve tried to manage a fish. Naturally, their skills are such that while we could and have raised trout, neither girl has been successful. You can probably imagine the scene: I cast out the caddis, it’s sitting in the still water below the falls, as I hand it to the closest girl—“Can you see the fly?”, “Sure”, “Quickkkkk, there’s a fish!;” “Where?” “Too late, let’s try again…..,” , “Let’s move on.” You know, I know better—I should just keep to the dockside fishing but ohhhh it is so enticing to imagine one of the girls with a trout.
On Thursday before the fourth the girls were out of school so we went camping in the same park. In the morning, my wife took the girls to 4-H camp while I did a bit of fishing. I fished an area next to the campground that I really didn’t think would be any good…..you know how that goes. I ended up catching about 20 fish out of one pool below the last falls in the gorge. I was surprised but shouldn’t have been. This is the last pool that the trout from the lake can reach during spawning runs. It was loaded with small (4-6 inch rainbows) and browns with some as large as 14 inches. I immediately started looking for a “safe” way down to the pool for the girls and that afternoon brought them back out. This time I brought along my Tenkara rod, thinking that they would find it more fitting to their skill levels. I was right, for once, they were both able to cast their own fly, set the hook and land the fish. There was much hollering going on in the gorge that night as both girls consistently caught fish–somewhere around 7 each. We only stopped because it was getting too dark to climb out safely.
First Trout
First Trout
Grandpa was one proud Grandpa. The girls were really proud of themselves: casting, hooking, and landing trout on a dry fly. I think they are hooked.