America's trout - roscoe

tom-deschaine · November 18, 2013, 12:00pm

Roscoe, New York is located about 2 hours northwest of New York City, nestled in the south-west corner of Catskill State Park. The park of 600,000 acres (900 sq. mi.) is one of America’s greatest freestone fisheries, containing thousands of miles of world class trout waters. Billed as “Trout Town USA” you are within easy driving distance of the Beaverkill, Willowemoc, Delaware, Neversink and Espous Rivers. Each year thousands of fly fishermen flock to these historic rivers where American dry fly fishing and the “Catskill” style of fly was born.

The Beaverkill is a very productive and scenic river that has a lot of riffles and pools. You’ll find brook, brown and rainbow trout throughout the river system that provides a lot of access sites. The Willowemoc (Willow) is quite similar to the Beaverkill but the river is smaller and with less access. The Catskill’s Fly Fishing Museum in located on its banks and is highly recommended as a point of interest. The Neversink is dominated with pocket waters and very deep pools containing many very large browns. I personally found access very limited. The Delaware consist of three branches, east, west and main. The river has some very tremendous hatches and contains all three species of trout. Browns seem to dominate the east branch with rainbows dominating the main branch.
The Esopus is loaded with rainbow trout in the fast waters and in the pools.

I found most of the guide books very poor, sending me to non-existent access sites and sending me down roads and trails that don’t exist. Local fly shops do have very good maps and excellent advice. Non-residents licenses are fairly priced.

Beaverkill outside of the Roscoe Motel
Fly shops in Roscoe come and go but two have sustained the test of time: “Catskill Flies” and the “Beaverkill Angler.” Both shops are fully staffed with truly professional people. Take their recommendations on fly selections and river information … you’ll not be disappointed. As a must for your trip is a stop at “Dette Trout Flies,” located just a couple of blocks outside of town. Mary Dette and her grandson Joe Fox run the fly shop. Hand tied flies by Mary can still be purchased, but

the waiting list is long.

Roscoe has several excellent motels and on this trip I chose to stay at the “Roscoe Motel” right on the banks of the Beaverkill. I highly recommend it. The motel units are small and clean, each unit contains a fridge and microwave along with phone, cable and Wi-Fi. The advantage is that you can step outside of your motel room and fish the Beaverkill. The location is actually prime. I caught several very nice keepers there. During my stay in Roscoe I discovered two extremely nice restaurants.

Right down town is the “Live Bait and Grill.” Fishermen gather there for lunch and dinner. Fly fishing is spoken there. The food is great, the prices right and the portions are large. Those of you seeking a more upscale place I recommend the “Riverside Café & Lounge.” The restaurant is a little on the pricey side but the food is excellent and it provides a wonderful view of the Beaverkill from its dining room. I recommend the ‘trout, stuffed with crabmeat.’

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Roscoe Motel

See you on the water…..

Originally published November 18, 2013 on Fly Anglers Online by Tom Deschaine.