Hook Line and Sinker by Judy Van Put

I recently bought a pair of Ono’s polarized sunglasses with built-in readers. For the past two years I’ve needed magnifiers in order to tie on a fly or change a tippet, and the last pair I had were so uncomfortable and heavy that they kept pulling the brim of my hat further down over my eyes.

Fishing conditions on the Pepacton Reservoir have been pretty good according to Sonny Somelofski of the Tremperskill Country Store. Up at the source end of Pepacton, fishermen have been finding the trout down about 20 to 23 feet, and have had success using sawbellies, shiners, and Krocodile lures. Another popular lure is the large Mepps Squirrel Tail spinner.

Area rivers and streams are a bit low for this time of year, but have been fishing well. According to the United States Geological Survey website, the Beaverkill at Cooks Falls is flowing at 300 cubic feet per second (cfs). The average flow on this date is 519 cfs.

The first weekend of May had many local residents shaking their heads in disbelief, especially those of us who awoke on Saturday morning with the wood stove still relieving the chilly temperatures of the night before, and then feeling a midsummer-like wave of heat the very next morning and watching the thermometer reach 90 degrees before noon!

Fishing conditions these past two weeks have been more like mid-May than mid-April. The trees and flowers have also followed suit. We’ve seen several flowering cherry trees along Route 17 on our way to Binghamton. Also out are the tiny but perky Coltsfoot, whose cheery yellow flowers are open around the same time that the Hendricksons hatch.

Early season fishing has been spurred on by the unseasonably warm weather we were greeted with during the first week in April. Despite high water conditions, air temperatures that reached the 70s have encouraged trees and flowers to bud and blossom, and have helped warm the normally-chilly waters a bit.

Trout fishers are eagerly anticipating the opening day of the season on Thursday, April 1. Depending on how much rain we receive these next couple of days, the outlook for the season opener is a sunny one, with temperatures predicted to soar into the 60s and even 70s by the weekend.

With a week of hot summer weather under our belts, fishing has held up well, due to the rains that have kept area rivers and streams and reservoirs filled. Trout fishers are finding good numbers of hungry trout, and smallmouth bass have been hitting “really well.” Sonny Somelofski of the Tremperskill Country Store reported bass anglers have had success using jointed Rapalas.

The results of the Pepacton Trout Derby, which ran through the month of July, are in - Al Carpenter, of Al’s Sports Store, Downsville, was happy to report the winners of his contest:
First prize was won by John Rutkowski, of New Jersey, for his large brown trout that tipped the scales at 11 pounds, five ounces. The big fish measured 28 ½ inches in length.

By Judy Van Put
Al Carpenter of Al’s Sports Store in Downsville reported that Pepacton Reservoir fishing has been good if you are out at the right time. One fisherman caught ‘a fair number of fish’ during the late afternoon, while his buddies were not at all successful fishing all morning. Al said that with a full moon, things change - and while the best fishing is traditionally early morning and late evening, fishing has been spotty during the full moon period. He predicted that conditions should be getting more predictable and improved this next week coming up; that a new moon fishes better than a full moon.