Hook, Line and Sinker by Judy Van Put

This Thursday, July 28 is a very special day. Don Tracy of Susquehanna, Pennsylvania sent out a notice that it’s the 4th Annual “Fishing With the Blind” day. Each year a group of about 25 blind/partially blind folks from the NYC area gather to spend a week in July at “The Land of the Vikings,” a local resort located about two miles from the Hale Eddy bridge.

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!