'Rock snot' infestation shuts Vermont hatchery

 

An infestation of the invasive algae didymo, or "rock snot" has prompted the Connecticut River Atlantic Salmon Commission to close the Bethel Federal Fish Hatchery in Vermont so it can be thoroughly decontaminated. Some 3,000 hatchery salmon will be donated to Native American tribes, while the fate of 434,000 lake trout will be decided later. Via AP.

More Ramblings

I was looking through my computer stuff and came up with this site http://globalflyfisher.com/ it is without a doubt one of the most informative sites for FlyFisherman on the Internet and all the info is free. Go take a look I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

The Global FlyFisher - The Internet's Cutting Edge Fly Fishing Site
Site Developed by GFF Partners: Martin Joergensen, Steve Schweitzer, Bob Petti, Bob Skehan & Kasper Mühlbach

Ramblings

I have a few things I’d like to give you today. The first being a podcast from The Orvis Company, Tom Rosenbauer :

Tom Rosenbauer's Fall Fly-Fishing Secrets

Crisp days in autumn bring another worldly beauty to the forest and winding Matapedia River. This is a time to get to know the river in an entirely new way.
Credit: Charles Cusson/Atlantic Salmon Federation

In the podcast this week, I go on a minor rant about the ethics of crowding on today's trout streams, and pretty much tell you if you don't like the crowds, take a hike (literally). I do give some suggestions on how to handle crowded situations if you have no other choice, but there is almost always another choice. And in the main part of the podcast, I share with you some fall fishing secrets. We have touched on this subject before, but since the last time I have received some more tips from all of you that I really should share.
I also announce a very special contest for the best suggestion for next week's podcast. The prize is an autographed copy of my new book, The Orvis Guide to The Essential American Flies, which is a large format book with spectacular color photos

Click the play button below to listen to this episode. Go to orvis.com/podcast to subscribe to future episodes
If you cannot see the podcast player, please click this link to listen.

Share my fall fly fishing tips with your fishing buddies:

 

 

The second is a neat video about An American Eagle that was raised by some folks after being found blown out of its nest when just five weeks old:

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=oOZF4vTAF2M&vq=medium

Appetite for Catch and Release Is Tempered

 

By ADAM CLYMER

Published: October 22, 2011

• LEENANE, Ireland — After my years of faithfulness (well, almost) to the religion of catch-and-release fishing in the United States and Canada, I found it heretical to be told that the salmon I caught would have to be killed.

 

Delphi Lodge

The waters at Delphi Lodge in Connemarra, on Ireland's northwest coast. Delphi, which got into the hatchery business in 1990, releases 50,000 smolts each year; perhaps 1,500 return.

For the first five days, I fished in continual rain at Delphi Lodge in Connemarra, on Ireland’s northwest coast, it seemed a moot point. One tap, perhaps, but no real strikes. Nothing to test my faith.

But then on my last day, in another steady rain, I had a solid hookup on a Willie Gunn, a tube fly tied with yellow, orange and black bucktail. Two leaps and 15 minutes later, a seven-pound spring salmon was netted by Dave Duffy, the ghillie who rowed me around Finlough, the smaller of Delphi’s two lakes on the Bundorragha River.

Once the fish was in the boat, Duffy was excited to see that it was missing the adipose fin. That meant it was a keeper, not because it was deformed, but because Delphi runs a hatchery and clips those fins off before releasing the smolts. And the fish have to be killed to prevent interbreeding with the smaller stock of natural wild salmon. Indeed, when the season ends each fall, the remaining hatchery fish are netted and killed; the wild fish are released to spawn and return to sea.

read more:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/sports/appetite-for-catch-and-release-tempered-at-delphi-lodge.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

Fly-Fishing: Suspending laws allowed damage to trout streams

 

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Morgan Lyle

A crew uses heavy machinery to scoop out the bed in Styles Brook in the town of Keene late last month. -(AP)

 

By now, most of us who spend a lot of time hanging around creeks have heard about the so-called emergency repairs done to protected trout streams in the Catskills and the Adirondacks in the wake of Tropical Storms Irene and Lee.

Numerous environmental groups, including the New York State Council of Trout Unlimited, have lodged protests with Gov. Andrew Cuomo for issuing a month-long blanket exemption from stream protection laws — an “emergency authoriz­ation” that was supposed to cover only imminent threats to life, property, etc.

Local governments and property owners appear to have taken the emergency authorization as a green light to go in and bulldoze, without penalty, streams they’ve wanted to bulldoze for years. The result has left streams all over eastern New York scraped flat and smooth, with sloping sides, like irrigation ditches, and local officials demanding the emergency auth­orization be extended so they can continue bulldozing.

This kind of work obviously

ruins trout habitat. But channelizing streams also makes them more dangerous, not less. Removing the boulders and contours — the “roughness” of the streambed — serves to accelerate water.

READ MORE: http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2011/oct/06/1006_FlyFishing/

The Underground’s Short Casts for 2011-10-07

 

by Tom Chandler on October 7, 2011 · 0 comments

• Ready for another "brutal" winter? Brutal Winter Predicted for U.S.: Scientific American http://ow.ly/6PIoe #
• It's not just Vermont; New York suspends stream protection laws, trout streams getting hammered: http://ow.ly/6PIuW #

Trout-killing program slowed by poor conditions

 

By ROB THORNBERRY Idaho Falls Post Register | Posted: Thursday, October 6, 2011 12:00 am

Tough fishing conditions have put a damper on the Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s efforts to kill rainbow trout in the South Fork of the Snake River.

Biologists have fitted 1,175 fish with tags that are redeemable for rewards of between $50 and $1,000. There are 14 fish with $1,000 tags.

The goal is to trim the river’s population of rainbows, a nonnative trout that competes with native Yellowstone cutthroat.

The worry is that nonnative rainbows will displace the native fish population. If that happens, Yellowstone cutthroat could be listed as a threatened or endangered species and river management — everything from fishing rules to irrigation releases — could be altered to favor the fish and not anglers or irrigators.

Last year between June and August, anglers turned in 1,642 rainbows. This year during the same time period, anglers turned in 339.

Read more: http://billingsgazette.com/lifestyles/recreation/article_1f7c6a97-108b-56ae-a02c-09f5297b7d54.html#ixzz1a0hOImi8

Hurricane Irene Update: Good News for the Battenkill

 

Posted by: James Hathaway

Date: 09/19/11

We have received a lot of emails from readers concerned about trout populations in Vermont post-Irene. For the Battenkill, anyway, there is good news for anglers.

It is not often that Monday morning brings good news, so I was very pleased to get an email this morning from our local state representative here in Sunderland. She was forwarding me a report from Ken Cox, VT Fish & Wildlife Fisheries Biologist on the state of the Battenkill river post-Irene and the condition of habitat restoration Orvis funded a couple of years ago.

There is good news, indeed, and it's a fascinating read. Here is his letter in its entirety:

Subject: Status of Batten Kill post Irene
This message concerns how the Batten Kill has fared with Irene with respect to stream damages, habitat impacts, effects on habitat restoration, and trout populations.
Yesterday, Dan MacKinley, Scott Wixsom (both with the U.S. Forest Service, Green Mountain National Forest) and I inspected the lower Batten Kill which I define here as the VT 313 bridge by the Arlington recreation field downstream to the NY state line. Even though the river overtopped its banks inundating numerous locations throughout its floodplain, the river came through remarkably unscathed. Very little new bank erosion has occurred, most of the large wood habitat structures installed into the river since 2006 remain in place, and the riparian woodlands are intact. Overall conditions remain pretty much as they were prior to the flood, and we were unanimous in our conclusion that it is extremely unlikely that the recovering trout population experienced any setback as a result of the flood. If there is anything good to be said for the timing of Irene with respect to trout populations is that it occurred before the spawning season and the river substrate is loose and not overburdened with sediments. So, the prognosis for spawning and egg incubation success looks good pending “normal” winter and spring river conditions.
Being that the majority of habitat structures weathered this record flood event, we do not see any need to change their design and placement. There is no evidence that any of the large wood placed in the river resulted or contributed to damage to private property, roads and bridges. No doubt Irene caused much debris flow but most of this material appears to have originated from the Roaring Branch and Kelly Road washout. The new concrete arch bridge that replaced two old undersized culverts on Benedict Hollow Brook and designed to provide trout access to spawning habitat came through the flood fine and conducted water and any debris downstream without incident.
Dan, Scott and I attribute the ability of the Kill to come through the flood event so well to so much of the flood plain continuing to be accessible river overflow which allows the river to lose power that can be destructive to transportation infrastructure, personal property and stream and riparian habitat. Furthermore, much of the upper river flows through wetlands that have the ability to dissipate hydraulic energy, store water and capture excessive debris and sediments. Where trees remain on the river banks (which is the case throughout much of the river’s length) banks are held in place minimizing erosion and large debris is retained within the river corridor.

Personal History: Birth of an Angler

 

Posted by: Gordon M. Wickstrom  
Date: 09/15/11


Pearl Street in Boulder, Colorado, just a few years before this story takes place.


It was after morning recess in Mrs. Winter’s sixth-grade class at Mapleton School in Boulder, Colorado. I remember the moment precisely, when the boy behind me, right in the middle of the lesson, leaned over his desk and my shoulder to whisper in my ear that if I’d take a nickel down to Woolworth's at Broadway and Pearl, I could buy this fishing “thing” with which I could catch lots of fish out at East Dagues Lake.
There’s no way for me to explain why my imagination was so immediately galvanized, if not downright obsessed. I could think of nothing else the rest of the day. And that was strange because I knew nothing of fishing. My father had never fished; though assorted of my uncles sort of had, and one of those had taken me at the tender age of five, out to Johnson’s Trout Farm, where I was allowed to pull out a lot of pan-size rainbow stockers.
But that was the extent of it. Granted that, as a small boy, I had doted on what was to be known as Goose Creek and is now lost under melancholy development. It was a lovely, small brook flowing east along the other side of this great old hill. There I could chase garter snakes, watch minnows and red-winged blackbirds, and generally dream away an afternoon with the sandwich my grandmother had made me.
READ MORE: http://www.orvisnews.com/en/FlyFishing/Personal-History-birth-of-an-Angler.aspx

Trout Survival After the Floods

 

Posted by: Drew Price  

Date: 09/12/11

 

|

 

When you see a trout stream transformed into a frightening, raging torrent—as the
Williams River was—you have to wonder how a trout could survive such power.

photo by Len Emery

My home state of Vermont was recently ravaged by flooding from the rains of Tropical Storm Irene. Tiny creeks became rushing torrents, midsize rivers hit record levels, and the state’s largest rivers flowed over parts of their floodplains that rarely see water. The devastating impacts of this flooding on the residents of the Green Mountain State have been widely broadcast, and recovery will take a great deal of time. I wondered about the impacts of this flooding on the local fisheries, so I began to research what happens to fish during floods.

Eminently Adaptable
Fish are incredibly adaptable animals. Stream-dwelling trout, for example, live in an environment that has a tendency to change a fair amount. Spring flooding is part of the normal cycle for these and other animals, and they have learned to make it through this annual event for millennia. A flash-flood event is somewhat similar, albeit far more abrupt.

READ MORE http://www.orvisnews.com/en/FlyFishing/Survival-After-the-Floods.aspx

A Better Way To Save Your Catch

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Unique Fish Portraits by Josi Etter

Here is the alternative to a plastic mount of your fish. The modern way of fish taxidermy: Have Your fish painted!!!

From your photograph or description we create an original and unique watercolor painting of your fish.

Send us your fish photograph...

...and we create an exact life-size replica:

Fly Fishing Life Magazine

Fly Fishing Life Magazine – One of the flip-book online fly fishing magazines. This one has some great articles (New Zealand, guide interviews, etc.) and photography (Louis Cahill).

A Real Good Site

I just found a real neat site with a lot of good info on it. Go take a look.

http://www.flyfishingtechniques.co/

2011 fly tying and fly fishing symposium in Utica, NY

Saturday March 19th we will be having our 3rd annual Fly Tying Symposium.

It will be held at the Hotel Utica and will begin at 9:00am.

There will be no price for admission.

Come enjoy the fun with bucket raffles and seminars all day.  We hope to have at least 25 exhibition tyers at the event and we also will have side by side fly tying all day long for kids of all ages.

If you are interested in being a guest tier, please contact Harold... email here. 

If you are interested in having a booth or doing a seminar, please email JP Ross. 

We are looking for sponsors so please contact us if you are willing to send us a monitary donation for this event.  More details to come.

Upcoming Event

Mark and Sunrise Ruffalo,
On Behalf of The Catskill Mountainkeeper
Would Like to Invite You to Join Them at the
2nd Annual Barnfest
Saturday July 31st, 2010 at the Adams' Barn in Beaverkill, NY
The Festivities kick off at 3:30 pm.
· · · · · · · · · · · · ·
There will be activities for the whole family,
plenty to eat and drink, art to buy, and
an important keynote by the renowned environmentalist
Bill McKibben
as well as
a performance by legendary folk musicians
Jay Ungar & Molly Mason
· · · · · · · · · · · · ·
Barnfest is Free by Invitation
Please RSVP
by email at
info@catskillmountainkeeper.org
or at
845-482-5400
· · · · · · · · · · · · ·
Click Here
For more about Bill McKibben
For More about Jay Ungar & Molly Mason
To see a map/directions

A Long Time and No Posts

I am afraid that I have been posting here very often I will try to change that and keep this Blog up to date.

The enchanted circle of the New York Catskills

by Floyd Franke
The enchanted circle of the New York Catskills is steeped in fly fishing history and remains as popular today as it was a hundred years ago. Located just three hours driving distance from downtown Manhattan, the area has managed to retain much of its rural charm. Small villages, wooded hillsides, and babbling brooks dot the landscape. The brooks merge to become the creeks and rivers of the Enchanted Circle.
With a geographical center near Claryville and a radius of approximately 30 miles, the circle includes the:

• Beaverkill River
• Willowemoc Creek
• East Branch of the Delaware River
• Esopous Creek
• Schoharie Creek
• Neversink River

Each offers the visiting fly fisher a variety of opportunities.
The cold, clear waters of the Enchanted Circle’s upper reaches tumble over rocky runs, around gravel bars and deadfalls, and through deep pools that harbor wild brook trout, small in size but eager to take a fly. An angler with a short 7- to 8-foot, 3-weight rod, a dozen size-14 Royal Wulffs, and a sense of adventure will find peace here.
Those who seek more open space but still like being able to cast to the far bank will find themselves at home on the Schoharie, Willowemoc, or Neversink. The equipment of choice for these waters is a 9-foot, 4-weight rod.
The lower sections of the Beaverkill, Esopous, and East Branch of the Delaware are favored by those who like the challenges of big water, wading deep, and making long casts.
The town of Roscoe at the junction of the Beaverkill and Willowemoc makes a good base camp for those wishing to fish the southern half of the circle. Named by the Federation of Fly Fishers as A Trout Town USA, it hosts three fly shops, five restaurants, and three motels. Its location offers ready access to the Beaverkill and Willowemoc along Old Route 17. The East Branch of the Delaware lies a short 20-minute drive to the west on the future I-86, the present Route 17. The Neversink lays to the east, a 35-minute drive away. The town of Phoenicia, located near the top of the circle, offers similar services to those fishing the Esopous and Schoharie.
The Beaverkill, the best known of all the Catskills rivers, offers 13 miles of public access from the Route 206 Bridge downstream to the confluence of the East Branch. The upper Beaverkill, the portion of river above the Route 206 Bridge, is private with two exceptions. The first is the 2 miles of river flowing through the state-owned Beaverkill Campground. The second is a short 200-yard section of river that begins approximately 50 yards upstream of the Cragie Claire Bridge.
The Beaverkill is stocked each spring with nearly 25,000 brown trout stocked. Most are between 8 and 9 inches long, but the river holds larger fish as well. Given several summers of good water flows and cool weather, it can produce an excellent population of fish in the 16-to-18 inch range. This can be attributed to the abundant insect life that the river holds. In the catch-and-release sections, where the survival rate is highest, 20-inch fish are not that uncommon.
In addition to brown trout, an ever-increasing number of wild rainbows make their way up the river from the Delaware. Although the majority of fish taken are from the spring stocking, approximately 25 percent are stream bred or holdovers.
The Willowemoc, the sister river of the Beaverkill, begins in the mountains near the village of the same name. It flows west through the village of De Bruce and town of Livingston Manor until it joins the Beaverkill near Roscoe. The creek can be divided into three sections. The upper reach is small brook trout water with limited access along Route 82. The section from the Parkston Bridge downstream to Livingston Manor becomes bigger with the increased flow of several tributaries and offers good fishing for a mix of brooks and browns. The river continues to grow in size with the addition of a significant volume of waters from the Little Beaverkill, which enters at Livingston Manor.
By the time the Willowemoc joins with the Beaverkill in Roscoe, its flow is greater than that of the Beaverkill. But a cruel act of geology robbed the Willowemoc of its name beyond the confluence of the two rivers, as the Beaverkill was found to be the older of the two.
This lower section of the Willowemoc, between Livingston Manor and the Junction Pool near Roscoe, receives the greatest fishing pressure. As with the Beaverkill, the lower Willowemoc receives an annual stocking of 8- to 9-inch brown trout. Although the number of fish stocked is lower (about 13,000), fewer anglers fish the Willowemoc than the Beaverkill. When deciding between the two rivers, one must choose between the quiet solitude and slower pace of the Willowemoc or the more crowded conditions but generally bigger fish of the Beaverkill.
Schoharie Creek, located at the top of the Enchanted Circle, has its beginnings in the mountain valleys lying to the northwest of the village of Saugerties. The collected waters flow through hemlocks forests to the village of Hunter, beyond which point the valley widens and the forest begin to fade. The 18-mile section from Hunter to the village of Prattsville receives an annual stocking of 15,000 browns. It is this section that is of greatest interest to fisherman.
Unfortunately, the temperature of the water rises quickly in summer. The best fishing occurs during the early months of spring or in September and October at the confluence of its three major tributaries: the Batavia Kill, West Kill, and East Kill.
The same warming that serves to shorten the season also reduces the number of holdovers to just 5 percent. The Schoharie is slowly losing its battle with humans’ ever-growing demands for more water for residential use. Below Prattsville the river enters the Schoharie Reservoir and becomes a warm water fishery.
Summer warming, although not as great as on the Schoharie, affects all the freestone waters of the Enchanted Circle. It is best to avoid the hotter summer months when daytime water temperatures can rise above 70 degrees, a temperature above which conservation-minded anglers refrain from fishing.
Fortunately the circle includes three tailwater fisheries that offer excellent fishing in the heat of the summer or when rains swell the freestone rivers over their banks.
Sections of the East Branch of the Delaware, the Esopous, and the Neversink are tailwater fisheries, receiving cold-water releases from upstream reservoirs.
Of these three, the East Branch of the Delaware is technically the most difficult. The usually minimal water releases from the Pepacton Dam produce a spring-creek-like environment for 15 miles, from the dam to its joining with the Beaverkill near the village of East Branch. There is plenty of vegetation, long, slow pools, and crystal clear water. The 9,500 brown that are stalked annually are small, usually less than ten inches, but there are big fish to be found as well.
Your casts, however, had better be accurate. One chance may be all you will get. A fumbled cast or splashy misstep can send the fish scurrying for cover and the angler to the comfort of the bank. It will be some time before the fish resume feeding.
Below the junction with the Beaverkill, the water warms as the river winds its way westward to the town of Hancock and its meeting with the West Branch to form the Delaware, or “Big D” as it is known locally. The section between East Branch and Hancock offers good fishing in the spring and fall months.

Esopous Creek is the second tailwater fishery of the Enchanted Circle. It lies to the southeast of the Schoharie near the top of the circle. The creek itself is divided into two sections. The section above the Shandaken Tunnel or “portal” is classic trout water, a free-flowing mountain stream with pools and riffles in abundance. The scenery is beautiful, the pace relaxed, and the trout, mostly browns, eager. The section below the tunnel is a tailwater fishery, transformed by the cold water releases from the Schoharie reservoir.
In recent years, this water has been ladened with silt. This makes little difference to the hundreds of tubers who come to ride the portal’s flow, but to fly fishers the silt is a major concern. The water is so off color at times as to make fly fishing difficult and detract from the natural beauty of the area.
The wild rainbow trout that inhabit this lower section tend to run small in size, but a chance encounter with one of the big spawning rainbows that migrate up from the Ashokan reservoir can bring you back time and time again. Although usually fished using a wet fly, the heavy hatches of Isonychia can produce exciting dry-fly action.
The Neversink River, the third tailwater fishery within the Enchanted Circle, lies south of the Esopous, near the town of Fallsburg. Once the favorite haunt of pioneer fly fishermen such as Theodore Gordon, George La Branch, and Edward Ringwood Hewitt, much of the river they fished lies at the bottom of today’s Neversink Reservoir. However, fishermen today can enjoy the Neversink’s tailwaters, which run from the dam almost 40 miles to the town of Port Jervis, where they join the Delaware. The section from the dam to Cuddybackville, almost 30 miles of river, holds wild brook trout and stocked browns, about 1,000 of them.
The best fishing is from Hasbrouck Bridge downstream to where the Neversink passes under Route 17 near Bridgeport. Road access to this section of the river is good. Use Hasbrouck Drive to fish north of the village of Woodbourne. To fish south of Woodbourne, use Route 42 to the town of South Fallsburg, and then follow local roads as far as Route 17.
Below the Route 17 Bridge, the river begins its decent through the 5,000-acre Neversink Gorge Unique Area. The gorge offers the opportunity to fish water seen only by the few who are willing and able enough to make the 2-hour hike into its depths. Few paths follow the river, and the going gets difficult at times. Most of the fish encountered are wild, a mix of brooks and browns.
Enchanted Circle hatches are predictable and at times prolific. The Hendrickson hatch in April is a personal favorite, but nothing can match the hatches of March Browns, Grey Foxes, and Green Drakes that come off the Willowemoc and Beaverkill during “Bug Week,” usually the first week of June.
The Catskills gave birth to dry-fly fishing in America and the classic fly patterns it inspired are still favored. Art Flick’s The New Streamside Guide to Naturals and Their Imitations is recommended reading for anyone planning to fish the Catskills, but especially for those planning to fish the Schoharie. It was here that Flick did his research on the waters he called home.
The most popular rod for use on the waters of the circle is an 8 1/2 to 9 foot, 5 weight rod. Those fishing the smaller upper sections of its rivers would find a 7 foot, 3 or 4 weight easier to handle in the tight quarters. Conversely, a 9 or 9 1/2 foot, 6 weight rod would be an advantage in overcoming both the greater casting distances and the windy conditions encountered on sections of the lower rivers. – Floyd Franke

Stretch of Batten Kill restored

Article from The Rutland Herald

Stretch of Batten Kill restored

PATRICK McARDLE, Herald Staff
September 13, 2008

ARLINGTON — Another half mile of the Batten Kill’s banks and wildlife habitats were restored over the last few weeks as the Batten Kill Watershed Alliance and other agencies work to restore the river’s trout population.

Workers from the Green Mountain National Forest, the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources’ Fish & Wildlife Department and Dorset private contractors Dydo & Company and Bruce Waite Logging have been working on the "Twin Rivers Extension" project since the beginning of the month using the lands of Dr. William Lesko as a staging area.

Project leader Scott Wixsom, with the Green Mountain National Forest, said the habitat improvement will primarily benefit brook and brown trout but also other river species.

As they have for the past two years, workers are restoring woody vegetation, primarily through the use of "root wads," to restore cover for the trout population. The cover, which also includes whole trees and boulders, provides a cooler place for fish and protection from enemies.

The Batten Kill has seen a decline in recent years of the younger, smaller fish which will be the next generation of desirable targets for anglers. While the Batten Kill is a popular spot for anglers looking for a challenge, it remains a "catch and release" river.

Root wads are uprooted trees with intact root systems. They are an important part of the habitat restoration because in appearance and substance they blend in with the natural environment.

Many of the root wads used on the Batten Kill this year were provided by another state agency. When the Agency of Transportation cleared land for the construction of the northern leg of the Bennington Bypass, a number of the trees were saved for the Arlington project.

Workers also built "rock tables" out of donated pieces of slate. The structures are simple — two side pieces with a third piece laid on top — but they serve to slow the water down and allow the trout to access food.

"It’s like the trout are looking up at a conveyor belt that’s bringing the food to them," said Cynthia Browning, executive director of the Batten Kill Watershed Alliance.

Chris Alexopolous explained that when trout food, like insects, is carried down the river, the current hits the tables which slows it down as it passes over the table top and back down to the river, allowing the trout to catch the food more easily.

Alexopolous said he had spoken to fishing guides who said the tables also provided a useful spot for anglers to drop their lines, knowing trout already fed in the area.

The final piece of the restoration effort will involve planting trees and bushes along the banks to create and restore riparian buffers which prevent erosion and flooding problems.

Wixsom, who designed the placement of the structures, said they had been placed close enough to the banks of the Batten Kill so they would not affect its other recreational uses like canoeing and kayaking.

The local pool known as the John Atherton pool, named for the artist who lived and fished there with his friend Norman Rockwell, was also part of this year’s restoration.

Browning said the restoration of the Batten Kill serves multiple purposes. It benefits the people who like to fish the river by bringing the trout numbers back up, which in turn can benefit hotels and restaurants in Arlington. Landowners and the town benefit because of the erosion controls and flood abatement issues.

"The river is an economic engine, a recreational force, an important part of the local ecology. There are any number of reasons why it’s important to Arlington," Browning said.

Browning and Shelly Stiles, district manager of the Bennington County Conservation District, were able to reach the landowners whose properties are along the Batten Kill and secure their cooperation. Those owners include former longtime Arlington Town Clerk Joyce "Birdie" Wyman and Vermont Commissioner of Taxation Thomas Pelham.

In 2006 and 2007, restoration efforts were conducted on a quarter mile of the Batten Kill each year at a two-year cost of about $84,000. Browning said this year, by doing a full half-mile at one time, the cost was brought down to about $50,000.

Both costs do not include factors like donated materials and volunteer time.

The alliance funneled money raised internally and contributed by the Green Mountain National Forest, the Orvis Company, the Trout and Salmon Foundation and the Southwestern Vermont Chapter of Trout Unlimited into the Twin Rivers Extension project.

Browning said she was optimistic that next year, the alliance may try to restore a full mile, which would make the four-year total 2 miles.

Contact Patrick McArdle at patrick.mcardle@rutlandherald.com.

Hopefully Getting Out to Fish

Well it’s been a long time since I cast a fly, but it looks like I might be out on the water soon. The Chiropractor says my pinched nerve seems to be getting better. You cannot imagine what is like not to fish all summer, I like fall fishing very much and can’t wait. We have been getting some rain in the last few days, maybe the creeks will be coming up and cooling down a little.

I’ll let you know how I am doing as soon as I get out.