Neversink Report!
On Sunday April 7th, I took a day trip with my good friend Anthony to The Neversink River in NY. The “Sink” is the first river on the Catskill River Circuit. When I arrived to pick Anthony up he asked if I was ready for some hiking today. I had already figured that we were going to fish “The Gorge” section of the river, since we had talked about it last season on the way home from one of our trips on The West Branch of the Delaware
We arrived at The Neversink River Unique Area, an official designation given by the NY DEC which provides this portion of the river with special protection and also a semi-wilderness status.
We arrived at The Neversink River Unique Area, an official designation given by the NY DEC which provides this portion of the river with special protection and also a semi-wilderness status.
This would be my first time there, and it was a very unique day of fishing to say the least. The parking lot’s elevation is about 1600 feet above sea level, and there is almost a mile hike down to get to the river. This harder than usual access naturally removes much angling pressure from this stretch of river. Here, you are looking at primarily pocket water fishing along challenging banks. Wild browns, rainbows and brook trout all inhabit this part of the river along with very few strays of stocked fish. This river has water for every type of fly fishing. Wolf Brook and Mullet Brook are just a couple of smaller brooks that can provide the angler with the opportunity to fish for brook trout, and help provide thermal refuge areas for the trout during the summer months.
Access to the river is challenging. Following the trail map
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| Anthony with a football wild rainbow! |
http://www.nynjtc.org/files/NeversinkGorgeTrailMap_BW_2010.pdf
we hiked through forest, rocky ridges, and steep foot paths to reach parts of the river that the average angler would not want to try and access. At, times we were miles away from any human presence, and we were in terrain that was only accessible by foot. In total we probably covered well over 6 miles. Our hiking time was 1.5 hours each way, and that nice mile hike down to the river was only .75 miles back, since we used a different trial to get back. The bad part was that last .75 of a mile was all up hill, and about 800 ft up in elevation. Oh, did I mention we wore our waders and carried a lot of equipment the entire day! Next time we will wet wade! As for the fishing, Golden Stone Flies, and tiny midges hatched during the afternoon. The water was clear and it was at medium flow which made the trout picky, but some were brought to the net and released to give other anglers some pleasure. |
| Check out the red spots on this wild brownie! |
This trip will be one that I won’t forget, and it is a day that is more than just about fishing. You feel like you are in another world, not NYS, and I look forward to making it again once the soreness leaves my legs!
Solitude, nature and large wild trout? Sounds perfect.
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