The Holy Waters of Beaverkill, New York.

I had a chance to “visit” the holy waters of Beaverkill with Charles the Fish Finder. Beaverkill is often called the birthplace of American fly fishing, and there is no other place that has more stories written about it. Located in the 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. The Beaver Kill is joined by Willowemoc Creek at Junction Pool in the Town of Roscoe.

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.

I say “visit” because we only spent half a day there, and I did not end up catching any fish. Charles and I were scheduled to head out on a guided trip in a couple of days, so Charles just took the opportunity to show me around this famous river. Charles fishes this river regularly and he certainly knew all the good spots. He drove me a round to show me a few of the spots he liked to fish, and he managed to catch a few browns (on dry fly at the end of November!). We had a great lunch and drove back down to New York City, planning the details of our next spring trips back here at Beaverkill. Charles has the photos of the browns he caught on his camera.