I was reading “Fishing Stories” by Nick Lyons the other day, and learned that during his teenage years, Nick lived in Brooklyn; on the opening day of trout season, he and two friends fished the East Branch of the Croton River in Putnam County. 

That East Branch is part of the vast New York City DEP’s New Croton Reservoir water supply system. The section in discussion flows from East Branch Reservoir into Diverting Reservoir before ending in the Muscoot Reservoir. 

Every year, immediately before Opening Day, Nick and his friends gathered worms, packed food and readied tackle for the big day. Then early on the morning of Opening Day, they took the 5:45 a.m. train from Grand Central Station to Brewster, not far from the river. Nick’s story told of cold, rainy opening days, of being wet through and through before returning to the Brewster station in order to catch the next train to Grand Central.

They fished the East Branch on Opening Day for several years before going on to life’s other obligations and adventures.

We also fished the East Branch of the Croton, likely during the same time period as Nick, which was possibly in the late 1950s. But never on Opening Day. Instead, we fished the small brook trout streams that flowed into and were also part of the vast NewYork City, New Croton water supply reservoirs. 

Next, we took our worms to the Amawalk Outlet, and once the water warmed, we began fishing the bigger streams and rivers like the East Branch of the Croton. Not that the East Branch was big, but it was bigger than the others. 

We had two favorite locations where we fished every time. There was a country road bridge, about a hundred yards below the dam on East Branch Reservoir, where a big, long pool extended under the bridge before flowing left, heading downstream. The pool flowed between laid-up stone walls that sloped from the top to the water. We called the pool “the bathtub” because of its shape. This pool always held a lot of brown trout, likely because the state stocked there, due to the ease of access. I often fished that pool, because the trout were easily visible, but I don’t recall ever catching one; those fish knew I was there! 

Upon more than one occasion we would head upstream from the Bathtub to where the Route 22 bridge crossed the East Branch; it was in a DEP restricted area with good flow, and always held trout. We always caught a few nice browns in that section and never got caught! 

We also fished below the bridge, downstream from the Bathtub, where on one fishing trip I caught a 14-inch brown, my largest trout up to that date. Below and around the corner was the biggest and deepest pool on the East Branch. I think it was called the Phoebe Hole, but I also think Nick might have called it the Big Bend Pool. Despite its size and depth, I never caught a trout from that pool. Perhaps it was because really big fish lived there and fed at dusk? 

On one outing, when I was just beginning to fly fish, and while flailing away with a poorly balanced fly casting outfit, a kindly older gentleman came by, opened his fly box and handed me a Pink Lady and Brown Bi-Visible, two beautiful dry flies! A true act of kindness to a budding and novice fly fisherman. 

Although we fished the East Branch up by the dam on a regular basis, our favorite section was just upstream from the bridge in Brewster. There was parking just off the bridge and close to the river.  There was an old dam of some sort in that area that rose about eight feet above the river, with water flowing in from the broken structure. A lot of trout lived in the pool below. Once, when out of worms, we checked a debris pile created by the East Branch, where we found large white grubs, which later turned out to be crane fly larvae. Those grubs were deadly as bait and likely would be illegal to use today.

One morning shortly after we arrived, a man was casting across and upstream in the East Branch and catching trout after trout. When questioned, he kindly explained that he was using small Mepps Spinners, which were soon added to our arsenal of lures. My friend’s father used them all the time and found them to be deadly. Plus, he didn’t much care for worms.

In retrospect, I find it more than coincidental that Nick and I began our trout fishing careers by fishing the East Branch of the Croton River near Brewster. Years later, Nick went on to become a professor, editor, publisher and writer of fishing stories. In addition to many stories, he has 23 books to his credit, and is considered a giant in the world of fly fishing writers. I, on the other hand, went on to become a fisheries biologist, who had the privilege and opportunity to survey the East Branch of the Croton River in 1972, then implement a series of special angling regulations that dramatically improved the fishery. From two boys who began their angling careers fishing the East Branch of the Croton River, both went on to make significant contributions to the angling literature and trout fisheries management. How cool is that?