Stir-crazy angler takes first trip of new year

Stir-crazy angler takes first trip of new year

Shelf ice on the Blackberry River last week. Do not stand on shelf ice. It's a great way to get hurt.

Patrick L. Sullivan

I’ve got a bad case of the Shack Nasties.

With a slight change in the weather I ventured out Wednesday and Thursday, March 5 and 6.

First I scouted a couple of little blue lines. No good. Still too much ice and snow for solid footing.

Since I am nursing a rotator cuff injury and my right pinky toe still aches from when I cleverly slammed it into the furniture two months ago, I am not in the mood for adventurous wading.

That left the Blackberry.

At one spot the shelf ice was still in effect. It was theoretically fishable but I kept going to Beckley Furnace, where the big pool beneath the dam was clear.

I pounded it hard, starting with junk flies such as squirmy worms and brightly-colored mops.

Then I got cute with a double-nymph rig: a little black stone on a dropper and a Bread and Butter nymph with a tungsten head on point to drag the whole thing down into the depths.

I managed two bumps. One could have been a hangup but I’m counting it as a bump.

Downstream below the second, smaller dam the shelf ice presented serious challenges.

There’s really only one way to get rid of shelf ice besides waiting for it to melt.

That is to stand on it and break it.

This is an excellent way to break up shelf ice.

It is also an excellent way to sprain or break an ankle.

Maybe it’s old age creeping up on me, but somehow I am not inclined to take the chance.

Imagine really banging yourself up mere weeks before fishing starts in earnest, and then sitting sullenly in a dark room watching old Filipino horror movies as the broken or sprained element heals while outside trout are merrily gobbling up bugs after the long winter.

Thursday I went further afield. Furnace Brook in Cornwall, always an early season favorite, was roaring after the inch-plus of rain we got Wednesday night.

That left Macedonia Brook in Kent, which was actually fishable above the waterfall.

I probed that for a couple hours with a Tenkara rod and a series of darkish nymphs that could be mistaken for an early black stonefly.

Or just something to eat. I doubt any holdover trout in there are all that picky about the menu.

I managed to tickle precisely one small brown trout.

In fact I messed with that little guy for about an hour.

It went like this:

Cast. Drift into strike zone. Lift out before fly gets stuck in brush buildup. Watch bemusedly as little brown trout pecks at nymph on the way up.

Cast three or four more times with no result. Sit on rock. Ponder the infinite. Consider changing fly. Conclude it makes no difference. Watch passenger car slither around on muddy dirt road.

After 10 minutes of this, drift nymph into strike zone and miss fish again. Sit back down on boulder…

Standard operating procedure in these cases is to say, “Oh well. At least it was nice to get out.”

This is baloney. It was cold and windy and nobody with any sense would go out and stand in cold water just for the sake of getting out of the house.

But…

I didn’t injure myself. My waders didn’t leak. I was wondering if I could get an orthotic insert into the wader boot without problems. I could.

I didn’t break or lose any equipment other than a black conehead Wooly Bugger, size 8, which was claimed by the tree that is sticking into the Beckley pool.

And I didn’t get stuck in the mud on the seriously gooey Macedonia State Park road.

So this initial salvo of the 2025 campaign goes in the win column.

Latest News

Millerton Police Dept. rebuilds after fire; new cruisers on the way

The borrowed Pine Plains cruiser parked on Main Street in front of the Millerton Inn during the Millerton Street Fair on Saturday, June 28.

Photo by Aly Morrissy

MILLERTON — After receiving substantial state grant funding in July 2024 and beginning to roll out new equipment that fall, the Millerton Police Department suffered a setback when the February fire at the Village Water and Highway Department building destroyed much of its newly acquired gear — including patrol vehicles outfitted with cutting-edge technology.

Thanks to full-value insurance coverage and swift support from the Town of Pine Plains — which loaned the department a vehicle — Millerton officers were able to remain active in the community. Millerton Police Chief Joseph Olenik said two custom-built, four-wheel-drive Ford Interceptor cruisers are now in production and are expected to arrive by the end of the summer.

Keep ReadingShow less
Uncertainty looms over Millerton community pool timeline

Groundbreaking of the new pool planned for Eddie Collins Park has been delayed after the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation intervened to determine the status of wetlands in the proposed building site.

Archive photo

MILLERTON — The long-awaited groundbreaking for a new community pool at Eddie Collins Memorial Park — once expected this past April — now faces significant delays with no definitive timeline in sight, Mayor Jenn Najdek said.

The primary setback stems from a still-pending permitting process, as the village awaits final approvals from the Dutchess County Board of Health and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation regarding septic placement and wetland buffers. A patch of wetlands on the site — roughly five feet by five feet, Najdek said — requires a protective buffer, which could range anywhere from 5 to 100 feet. That determination will dictate whether the current pool design needs to be altered or moved altogether.

Keep ReadingShow less
North East town records brought into the digital age

Chris Virtuoso reorganized parcel records in the North East Town Hall basement by parcel number during the process of scanning and digitizing the documents.

Photo by Grace DeMarco

MILLERTON — Within the walls of the two-story Victorian housing the North East Town Hall lies a room-full of town records dating back to the late 19th century. Stored in labeled cardboard boxes and protected by dehumidifiers, the records are in the process of being dated, organized, and scanned into categorized online programs.

As the Town Hall works to relocate to 5603 Route 22 at the former Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witness, the consolidation and digitalization of records, as well as the disposal of those unneeded, is a time-sensitive project. Marcy Wheatley, the Deputy Town Clerk, emphasized their current heavy focus on organizing and scanning. “Now, when we move, we can get rid of a lot,” Wheatley stated.

Keep ReadingShow less
Fun, food and facts bring crowds to downtown Millerton

Nora Garcia, 6, of Millerton, bottom right, gets a face painting treatment from Maddy Rowe, a Webutuck High School senior. Nora’s sister, Juliana, 8, top right, is decorated by Giana Kall, a Webutuck senior. The program was sponsored by the Webutuck PTA.

Photo by John Coston

Locals and visitors packed into downtown Millerton Saturday, June 28, for the first ever Millerton Street Fair hosted by the Millerton News, the Millerton Business Alliance and Townscape. Representatives from local nonprofits, businesses along Main Street, Bee Bee the Clown and face painters from Webutuck High School drew in crowds all afternoon.

Festivities officially opened at 10 a.m., and a steady stream of visitors soon followed. Volunteer firefighters hosted a bouncy castle, a duck pool, a “put out the fire” ring toss game, and the “touch a truck” event at the fire department’s garage.

Keep ReadingShow less