Hi Guys,
Well, it?s over )-: I believe it?s safe to say that everyone who attended the Roscoe Fish-In had a good time. RW is preparing a photo album, with description, of the weeks? activities and hopefully it will appear on this site in a couple of weeks. The photos will make those who weren?t there wish they were. I don?t want to take anything away from his presentation so I?ll just give a general summary of the week.
The rivers we fished were the Beaverkill, Upper Beaverkill, Willowemoc, Upper Willowemoc, Neversink and the East Branch of the Delaware. As each of us arrived we were greeted by beautiful weather. The rivers were low and clear but the water temperatures were excellent. The bugs I saw were: numerous caddis?, Green Drakes, Isonychias, March Browns, Gray Fox, some small olives, Yellow Sallies, beetles, ants. One night on the upper Beaverkill there were clouds of Yellow Sallies. One night the lower Beaverkill had thousands of big black caddis flying upstream overhead. I heard they did touch down at some point. The trout did not ?hold? in the water. Where it was possible to see trout, like at Cairns Pool, they were cruising, would take selectively and move away. It seemed like each trout had a different preference for the insects and, if you did get a rise and missed, you didn?t get a second chance at that fish. Well, as the saying goes, ?if it was easy, they?d call it catching.?
Officially we got together daily for breakfast, had a fly swap on Wednesday, a cookout Thursday evening, Ray Dubois provided us with an informative casting clinic on Friday, and a getaway dinner with a ?gift swap? on Saturday.
Each evening many of us met at the Reynold?s House for fly tying sessions with demonstrations that also included a lot of information sharing, BSing, jokes and other frivolities. On Saturday night, instead of tying, we spent a couple of hours brainstorming the events of the week and tossed around some ideas for a Fish-In 2006.
First, should we have a Fish-In at all? The overwhelming response was YES!
Second, the question came up about having it elsewhere, possibly the Adirondacks.
There were some Positive things about that idea:
a) Everyone would be at a single location at a facility able to accommodate our numbers
b) Fly shop on premises
c) Thinking of the Hungry Trout, we?d be fishing private water with possibly less angler congestion.
d) Guides available for those with that desire.
However, many felt there were more positive things about the Roscoe area and negative about the Adirondack location:
a) The Adirondacks would be totally new water to almost everyone.
b) The travel distance to the Adirondacks is much further for almost everyone.
c) Cost.
d) The Adirondacks would have limited water whereas the Catskills has hundreds of miles within 30-45 minutes of Roscoe.
e) Many people are gaining familiarity with the Roscoe area, accommodations and the Catskill rivers.
f) Roscoe?s local fly shops
g) Friendly atmosphere of the general population to us and the good will of many merchants.
h) Of course Mother Nature has the final say and we can only hope that next year the rivers are somewhat higher and the area doesn?t have weather that duplicates last September and April floods.
So, the overwhelming consensus was to continue to use Roscoe as the center of activities with a couple of possibilities. Like trying to find a large house to rent for the week. What we?d look for would have 4 or 5 bedrooms to accommodate the needs of 8 to 10 people. The ideal house would have all amenities and people would be prepared to share rooms. In several months the area realtors will be contacted about this possibility. Another option may be to contact some of the area lodges to see about a group arrangement. Another suggestion was the ?bunkhouses? at the CFFC&M. I called and learned that each is just one large room with 5 bunk beds. I don?t think that would be acceptable.
A fishing suggestion was a trip to the Esopus River. Another suggestion was to set the tying sessions for the non-peak hours, say 3 till 6 in the afternoon. This might make for a more relaxing post fishing evening.
Oh, I forgot to mention that some guys participated in, or visited, the tying program at the Kings Inn to support Theodore Gordon Flyfishers.
Well, that?s it for another year. Personally speaking, the week went by too quickly.
Allan
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