Paul Knauth of Hinsdale and I took our semiannual fly fishing trip to the Catskills in late May/early June. Our plan was to fish all week in the Beaverkill and Willowemoc rivers in and around Roscoe, N.Y. We love fishing there for it is steeped in fly fishing tradition. American fly fishing started in the Catskills.
“One afternoon, after returning to our motel room from fishing to rest and have a snack, we heard lovely violin music drifting in the breeze,” Gene Chague writes. “We subsequently discovered Peter Hendrick of Toronto, Canada, standing alone near the river playing the ‘Ashokan Farewell’ song.”
PHOTO BY GENE CHAGUE
I had previously tied up a good supply of my favorite dry fly, the Ausable Wulff, and was ready. That’s the fly that the late fly-tyer Francis Betters developed many years ago.
We were hoping to fish there during the fabled Eastern Green Drake (ephemera guttulata) mayfly hatch. It is a large greenish-yellow mayfly whose hatch typically lasts only seven-to-10 days. It is the largest river mayfly in the region and is considered to be the pinnacle of eastern fly hatches. It is over 2-inches long, hatches prolifically and has a huge spinner fall.
The Eastern Green Drake duns (subimagoes) are imitated on a large, size 8 or 10, hook. After a few days, they molt into what anglers call spinners (imagoes) and their bodies become bright white with variegated blackish wings. It’s at that stage that anglers refer to them as “Coffin Flies.” Our timing was perfect, for they were hatching.
The adult Greek Drake mayfly, up to 2 inches in size, is no longer green, but white with variegated blackish wings. Anglers call this fly in this stage of its life the Coffin Fly.
PHOTO BY GENE CHAGUE
CHUCK YEAGER
We always stay at the Roscoe Motel in Roscoe where the Beaverkill River flows right behind the motel. We book it a year in advance because it is always full of anglers also seeking to fish the Green Drake hatch.
I have written about this circa 1950-ish motel in the past. It is owned by Rachael Yeager who owns the lovable yellow lab dog named Chuck. Everyone who stays there knows Chuck Yeager, for if you don’t close your motel room door when you are eating a snack, he will come right in and join you.
There are 15 rooms in this one-story motel with a long porch with chairs and small tables in front of every room. It is perfect for meeting fellow anglers and because of that, Paul and I have made many friends whom we look forward to meeting every year. What other motel can you think of where the owner welcomes you back with a hug. This fall, Rachael’s mate Dylan Neuhause promised to make a venison ragout meal for us the next time we come. This year, they even had a cookout for us one evening. Frequently after a day of fishing, the guests sit around a bonfire and discuss their day’s fishing experience.
‘ASHOKEN FAREWELL’
One afternoon, after returning to our motel room from fishing to rest and have a snack, we heard lovely violin music drifting in the breeze. We subsequently discovered Peter Hendrick of Toronto, Canada, standing alone near the river playing the “Ashokan Farewell” song. (That’s the song that was in the background music of Ken Burns’ Civil War documentary.) We’ve known Peter for a few years now, but we never knew he played the violin. How appropriate for him to play that song, for the Ashokan Reservoir is located nearby in Kingston, N.Y. When it was created in 1915, several small villages were flooded, one being Shokan.
This year, we found the river to be quite low, similar to our home waters, because of the drought. Although the air temperatures were in the 80s, the river temperature was cool, in the 50s — perfect for mayfly activity.
Another close friend, Dwight Atkinson of Virginia, joined us on Tuesday, again with some homemade pies made by Amish bakers. He picks them up on the way to the Catskills. Readers may remember Dwight from my previous articles. He is the “Laird,” who owns property in Scotland. He has increased his landholdings there this year. His daughter bought him another 1-square-foot of land there. That was added to the 1-square-foot of land bought for him by his son last year. Pretty soon, he will have enough land to plant a crop of potatoes. I announced his arrival with a couple of boings from the Jaw’s Harp that he gave me last year. To show him our appreciation, Paul and I presented him with an expensive pie slicer. It cost darn near $10.
So, did we catch any fish? Yes.
On Tuesday we hired a guide, Chris Gallagher, christiangallagh@gmail.com, for the day. He has permission to guide on private land formerly leased by the DeBruce Fly Fishing Club. It comprises 1,100 acres on which the Willowemoc Creek flows in Livingston Manor, N.Y., and is connected to the Beaverkill River system.
We had this beautiful stretch of water all to ourselves that day, with the Green Drakes hatching. Chris took us to the more popular holes and we caught fish. My largest haul was a brown trout about 15-to-16 inches. Paul caught a couple even larger than that.
This property was once owned by the state of New York where they built a trout hatchery. After many years, the state sold the property and built a new hatchery. In 1959 and for 60 years thereafter, the property was leased from local landowners by the DeBruce Fly Fishing Club. There is a new owner now.
There is a plaque near the confluence of the Willowemoc and Mongaup Creek honoring George M.L. LaBranch (1876-1954) where he cast the first American dry fly. He was a pioneering American fly fisherman, author and conservationist who is best known for popularizing dry fly fishing in fast, broken water and introducing innovative casting techniques.
‘IRON MIKE’
Paul and I frequently returned to one particular spot on the Beaverkill River mainly because it affords me easy access. (I have neuropathy and balance issues.) We refer to the spot as Iron Mike’s place. Iron Mike is the name that Paul assigned to a large brown trout that has had his way with me in the past — usually by breaking my leader or just spitting out my fly when he no longer wishes to play this game. (Readers may recall “Iron Mike” Tyson was the former world heavyweight champion who trained in the Catskills.) This year, several trout were caught there, but not Iron Mike.
On the final night in town, we decided to fish it once more. Upon arriving at the spot, we discovered five or six other anglers in the area with one 30-ish-year-old fellow working his way to that spot. It would not have been right for me to step in the water right in front of him. I asked him if he was just fishing through and if so, I would wait until he moved on. But his intentions were to spend the night fishing that spot. He inquired as to why I asked and I told him of my physical problems and that particular spot afforded me the only easy access to the river. Unbelievably, he told me to go ahead and fish it and then moved on to another spot not far downstream. Wow! You don’t see that very often. His fishing buddies looked at him in disbelief.
Don’t you know, the only place the fish were rising was at the spot that I was fishing. They drew the attention of the nearby anglers, especially the fellow who ceded the spot to me. Just before dark, there was a loud explosive sound at the end of my fly line and it went limp. All the guys heard it and were looking at me as if to ask, What just happened there? I told them I didn’t move a muscle and some big fish hammered the fly and broke me off instantly. It was getting a little late and it would have been difficult to tie on a new tippet and fly in the poor light while also trying to hold onto the flyrod and wading staff. So, I called it quits.
Before leaving, I again thanked the fellow who ceded the spot and told him what fly I was using. It took him no time to claim that spot. No, the big fish didn’t hit Francis Better’s Ausable Wulff fly, but rather another fly that he developed, called The Usual, made from snowshoe hare foot fur.
In retrospect, I think that explosive hit was caused by Iron Mike or his offspring.
What a great trip. Looking forward to returning and seeing these and other old friends in September.