Yesterday I drove to upstate New York (is anything not included in the NYC city limits considered upstate?) to fish the Neversink River. A little history: the Neversink was fished by Theodore Gordon, inventor of the Quill Gordon, and by Edward Hewitt, inventor of the Bivisible. Indeed, the Neversink reservoir now covers the land formerly owned by these two historic American fly fishermen.
Below the reservoir, the Neversink is a tail-water masquerading as a freestone stream: cold water releases from the dam keep the river cool year-round, while huge outcroppings of sandstone create immense pockets of deep, fast water. The Neversink Gorge, where I fished yesterday, is as steep and inaccessible a stretch of water as I've ever fished. The banks are sometimes non-existent; the gorge walls stumble down right upon the river at spots. Additionally, no trail runs directly along the river, an occurrence that helps keep fishing pressure relatively low. Despite being a New York state protected "unique area," I did not see a single other fisherman in the six hours I spent there. Think about it for a second: this is a river located less than 100 miles from New York City, a river with an unparalleled historic significance, a tail-water river with cold water in the middle of summer, a river full of wild trout, and a river with numerous wild brook trout tributaries. And I had it all to myself on a beautiful day in late August.
The fishing, however, was difficult. The Neversink had a decent flow that kept me from adequately casting. I struggled to find trout, cast, and wade. The accessibility issues caused me to fall a number of times. My feet sustained pretty nasty blisters. It wasn't the best of days.
However, I caught three wild brook trout on a spinner in a tributary - let's call it Mullet Brook for now. I also lost at least a 23-inch rainbow trout on a Muddler Minnow in the Neversink. It was easily the biggest trout of the year, maybe even the biggest non-steelhead of my life. But the hook was never really in its mouth very well...OH it kills me to think about it. Around 6ish a decent slate drake hatch started coming off the water. I switched to a dry fly and, after three trout missed the fly, including a BIG brown, I landed a 12 inch wild brown trout. I was elated. All the falls, all the blisters, and all the cuts were worth it because of that one fish: I had caught a trout in the same river as Gordon and Hewitt. Here's a video of the spot where I caught the trout:
A few minutes later I became completely soaked after a nasty fall and left.
Wildflowers: St John's Wort, turtlehead, wild mint, spotted touch-me-not, forget-me-not (photo), chickweed, white wood aster, smooth aster, birdsfoot trefoil, heal-all, purple loosestrife, blue vervain, and a few more. I didn't take as many pictures of flowers because I was concentrating on the fishing.
Overall Total: 150
River Breakdown:
Raritan River, South Branch - 22 (13 Stocked Brown, 7 Stocked Brook, 1 Wild Brook, 1 Wild Brown)
Bushkill Creek - 21 (17 Stocked Brown, 3 Stocked Rainbow, 1 Stocked Golden Rainbow)
Marshalls Creek - 20 (20 Wild Brook)
Pequest River - 17 (9 Stocked Brown, 6 Stocked Brook, 2 Stocked Rainbow)
Beaverkill River - 10 (7 Wild Brown, 2 Wild Brook, 1 Stocked Brown)
Poplar Run - 9 (7 Wild Brook, 2 Wild Brown)
Faulkner Brook - 7 (6 Wild Brook, 1 Wild Brown)
Stony Brook - 7 (7 Stocked Rainbow)
Spring Creek - 6 (3 Wild Brown, 3 Wild Rainbow)
Brodhead Creek - 4 (3 Stocked Brown, 1 Stocked Rainbow)
Paulinskill River - 4 (4 Stocked Brown)
Penns Creek - 4 (4 Wild Brown)
Rattlesnake Creek - 4 (4 Wild Brook)
Mill Creek - 3 (2 Wild Brook, 1 Wild Tiger)
Mullet Brook - 3 (3 Wild Brook)
Old Town Run - 2 (2 Wild Brown)
Stony Run - 2 (1 Stocked Brook, 1 Wild Brook)
Cherry Run - 1 (1 Wild Brook)
Lawrence Brook - 1 (1 Stocked Brook)
Musconetcong River - 1 (1 Stocked Brown)
Neversink River - 1 (1 Wild Brown)
Yellow Breeches Creek - (1 Wild Brown)
Species Breakdown:
Brown Trout - 70
Stocked - 48
Wild - 22
Brook Trout - 62
Wild - 47
Stocked - 15
Rainbow Trout - 17
Stocked - 13
Wild - 3
Golden Rainbow - 1
Tiger Trout - 1
Wild - 1
Stocked - 0
Stocked Trout - 77
Wild Trout - 73
Trout 15+ Inches: 5
Angling Breakdown:
Fly Fishing Rod - 81 (34 Stocked Brown, 18 Wild Brown, 11 Stocked Rainbow, 9 Stocked Brook, 5 Wild Brook, 3 Wild Rainbow, 1 Stocked Golden Rainbow)
Spinning Rod - 69 (42 Wild Brook, 14 Stocked Brown, 6 Stocked Brook, 4 Wild Brown, 2 Stocked Rainbow, 1 Wild Tiger)
State Breakdown:
Pennsylvania - 84
New Jersey - 52
New York - 14
