Fly Fishing the Beaver
Kill.
. . . a brief introduction.
by Dan Ansbach
The Beaver Kill has been called the birthplace of American Flyfishing.
No other river has a more deep and storied history in
the flyfishing journals. Every flyfisherman should at
least once journey to these hallowed waters and cast
a line over its famous pools.
Located in the Western Foothills of the Catskill
Mountains in New York, the Beaver Kill starts as a trickle
in the high peaks region of Ulster County and flows
through a beautiful valley made up of farms and private
estates.
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| The Upper portion of the river is almost entirely posted
by wealthy owners or well established fishing clubs with the exception
of 1 mile at the Covered Bridge State Campground and 2 miles just above
Junction Pool in the Town of Roscoe. A leisurely drive up Beaver Kill Road
gives a person glimpses of this section of river with its falls, riffles
and small pools. Nymphs and high floating dry flys work well on the Upper
River. |
The Lower Beaver Kill
The Beaver Kill is joined by Willowemoc
Creek at Junction Pool in the Town of Roscoe and the river doubles in size.
This Lower River contains the pools and waters that make the Beaver Kill
famous. Over half a century ago the New York DEC had the foresight to acquire
fishing easements providing public access to most of the 18 miles of the
Lower Beaver Kill to its
confluence with the East Branch of the Delaware River. Two No-Kill/Artificial
Only Sections were created, known by fishermen as the Upper and Lower No-Kills.
The Upper No-Kill is 2.4 miles of regulated fishing with such famous pools
as Barnharts, Hendricksons, Horse Brook Run, Cairns and Wagon Tracks Pools.
A few miles downstream starts the Lower No-Kill consisting 1.6 miles flowing
through Cemetery, Horton, Acid Factory and Ben Grey “Sunoco” Pools. Some
of the best and unfortunately most pressured fishing occurs in these sections.
The Lower section is a classic freestone river with riffle to pool configuration.
All the major Eastern insect hatches can be found on these waters. It is
these hatches and the dry fly fishing that makes this river so popular.
It is not uncommon to see a dozen people fishing in Cairns during a hatch.
This makes for some very educated fish and most times it takes more than
a standard Catskill style dry to bring the big ones to the net. A look
at some of the regulars fly boxes would show comparaduns, emergers, cripples
and parachutes as well as a good selection of spinners.
The river fishes best in May, June and September.
In the summer the Beaverkill can reach temperatures in the mid 70's and
the fish are under extreme stress. Anglers are encouraged not to fish during
these periods.
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Willowemoc Creek
The Willowemoc, called the "Willow"
by its large following, is the Beaver Kill's sister
stream and should not be overlooked. As with the Beaver
Kill, the Upper Willow flows through a beautiful valley
of mostly private land. There is some state land and
fishing easements that are well marked with yellow signs,
some with parking areas.
The section has nice pocket water with a good
mix of native Brookies and Browns with stocked Brown
Trout making up more of the catch the lower you ascend
on the river.
Once the river has reached
Livingston Manor it has become a nice medium sized stream
of 30ft to 50ft wide to Junction Pool, where it joins
the Beaver Kill. The Lower section is a good mix of
pools and riffles with the occasional pocket water.
A few miles downstream from Livingston Manor there is
a 2.5-mile No-Kill/Artificial Only section. Typically
the trout are larger and more numerous in these regulated
waters than the open waters. The hatches mirror those
found on the Beaver Kill.
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