Paulinskill 4/19
I fished the area around Blairstown today and figured I'd wait until the morning crowds left. Even at 10:30 the popular stocking points were still packed so I moved downstream away from the picket lines. I haven't been to this stretch in quite a few years and it always brings back fond memories of fishing with my family when I was a lot younger. A few things changed but not too much. Some of the log jams were gone but the fish were not. The first run that I fished had a few cooperative rainbows which must have washed down from the bridge area. One of the big holes was occupied by several fishermen, so I continued further downstream to a long deep run that always held trout. I dropped a nice fish and had no more takers so I kept moving even farther away from where they stocked. I hooked a brookie that had a state jaw tag (Hook a Winner). Further downstream was another one of my favorite deep, fast stretches and it didn't disappoint me. A brightly colored 20 inch brookie took me up and down the stream and peeled line off my fly reel, and had my rod doubled over in the strong current and deep water. Finally he moved upstream and I was able to get below him and slip him in my net. I caught my breath and decided to head back upstream to where I dropped a fish earlier. My first cast produced a 12 inch brookie. My next cast resulted in an arm-jarring hit that once again bent my rod over and pulled line off my fly reel as the fish headed straight downstream. I was concerned that he might get into my backing because he wasn't stopping at about 25 yards in the middle of the current. As I tried to catch up to him, I had to avoid a log which I did successfully but the submerged log that I didn't see, caused an embarrassing splashdown. Getting to my knees, I was able to keep my rod high and get the fish closer to the bank out of the fast water. Finally, I was able to land another 20 inch brookie. That was it for me, but I'll be back. The stream level was down but in better shape than the streams on the other side of Route 80. I was done by 12:30 and headed home with a few more good memories of a stream that my uncle introduced me to when I was 16 years old.......a long, long time ago.
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