Catching Tiny Trout and Rationalizing It

Or not catching any trout and pretending to love it. Admittedly slow fishing walked almost the entire length of the river from the dam to the railroad tracks and had two fish flash a grin at me. The bait guys were holding firm on the dam and upstream a couple of guys in kayaks carrying spinning rods claimed when they bought their permits no one informed them of the rules. Sounds fishy to me, but I asked them to look at the sign on the boathouse as the rules are posted. So where are the fish? Not a complicated problem! Last years dredging took it's time to impact the lower river in the form of increased sediment, algae blooms never flushed away over the winter (the upper river is coated), the stocked fish didn't hold because of the decreased cover (the bottom was scoured and coated with sand thus fish stand out from the air), predators have had a field day and the brook trout while still present and still great at hiding only come out to feed when their is something to feed on. A small BWO hatch upstream yesterday revealed a few feeding and for a half hour I stood their and got a few fish to rise to my fly and reject my offerings.

I believe that it may take a few seasons for the river to recover from the last dredging, some increased weed growth and insect activity will draw the fish out of the lake back upstream into the holes. The brook trout will be coaxed out of the safety of the tangled underbrush when there is something worth the effort. But, all this tinkering and studying May have changed the river forever and only time will tell how.

One sign of life was the sole tan caddis I saw yesterday, buzzing around and dipping to lay eggs, the BWO's were tiny 26 and abundant in that isolated pool. The trout were greedily and regularly feeding, then darting back to cover. My appearance sent 5or 6 egrets away from the pool where they were stalking the trout. So as a positive my presence allowed the trout to feed uninterrupted. The one fish I hooked quickly shook off my offering. I made a dozen cast before it decided to try my fly.

Speaking of kayaker and make no mistake about it I own a few and enjoy a paddle now and again and believe firmly in the concept of multiple use and sharing the river etc. the Town of Brookhaven in their greed is responsible for the sudden increase in boat traffic. They closed off access to the tidal section when they granted a concessioner to replace Glacier Bay. This has sent a few folks to put in around the railroad tracks and go thru the gate below lower lake. Since the park pretty much runs on the honor system not much anyone can do. Free access to the tidal section needs to be enhanced the DEC fishing access is unworkable for most people and the Town needs to gettheir concessioner  to allow free access as a sign of good will to the community which supports their existence.