It seems that every time I begin a column, I have to go way back in time for subject matter, and that’s the case here. One day in my late teenage years, I was introduced by Ted Boeglin to the East Branch of the Delaware River below the Pepacton Reservoir. 

Our trip to the East Branch was well before the adoption of the Water Releases Legislation, which was implemented in 1976. At the time, the summer conservation release for the East Branch from Pepacton Reservoir was 19 cubic feet per second (CFS), certainly a dismal amount of water.

Upon arrival, we found that the Pepacton was spilling a bit, supplemented by the flow from Downs Brook. There was enough water so the East Branch was fishable, though. We chose a section of river not far downstream from the reservoir, accessed from the Firemen’s Field just outside of Downsville. 

Even though there were some quill Gordons on the water when I arrived, there were no trout rising. Since there would be no dry fly fishing, I attached two number 12 nymphs to my tippet and began to drift the flies along the bottom, hoping for a strike. It didn’t take long before the leader stopped; I raised the rod and was into a fish. After a short struggle, I landed and released a 10-inch brook trout. 

Frankly that was quite a surprise, because the East Branch, since the construction of the reservoir, was considered a brown trout fishery.

As the morning progressed, I continued to fish my nymphs and landed several more brook trout. 

That trip was likely in late April, normally the time of year when quill Gordons appear. When I told Ted about the brook trout; he was also surprised.

Although I have no proof, I’m guessing the brook trout I caught were spawned in Downs Brook, and migrated downstream into the East Branch. As an aside, anglers need to be aware that despite a lot of negative publicity, almost every headwater stream in the Catskills that maintains a flow of cold water throughout the summer supports a population of wild brook trout. The fish tend to be on the small size, but are beautifully colored and are indicators of high-quality environments. 

After that trip, I went off to college, started to work for the DEC and did not think about brook trout in the upper East Branch of the Delaware River. However, once the flows were increased as a result of the water releases legislation, we all began to fish the river on a regular basis. And while I don’t recall the exact date, we suddenly began to find brook trout all over the upper reaches of the East Branch. As funny as this may sound, if we didn’t fish until dark, we probably would not have caught a single brook trout. It appeared they were strictly nocturnal. 

I caught my first brook trout one evening at dusk while fishing the Airport Pool. As the light receded, small dimples appeared all across the surface, indicating a lot of feeding trout. At first I thought that they were small browns. But when I cast to the closest rise, I immediately hooked what turned out to be a nine-inch brook trout. More casts, more brook trout. 

As the years passed, we continued to find brook trout as far downstream as the Mattsons’ farm, which is a considerable distance from the reservoir. Even though the brookies were on the small side, we were happy to fish for them, because they often saved the day when the browns weren’t cooperating!

We were also pleased that brook trout were so abundant, because the species can only thrive in clean, cold water.

As the years passed, the releases from Pepacton Reservoir were increased, and while I still fished ‘til dark, I suddenly realized that there were no dimples of rising trout at dusk. That same scenario continued night after night. Then one afternoon when the releases were increased to create a void in the reservoir, Roger and I were fishing in the upper river, where I caught two brookies, about 10 inches each. That was in 2016 and it was the last two brook trout that I caught in the East Branch. 

What happened to the brook trout?

I’ve spoken to angling friends and biologists, and no one has an answer. There has been some speculation that the predation on young brook trout by brown trout is the cause. That just doesn’t make sense, because there were plenty of brook trout in the river years back, despite large populations of good size browns. Some speculated that recent flooding compromised spawning success. While that could be a factor, there still should be a residual population. So the lack of spawning doesn’t make sense either.

I just wrote a rather lengthy piece, that will appear in this year’s Fish Magazine in the River Reporter, which blames the release of very cold water for the decline in mayfly populations in the East Branch. Is it possible, that even though brook trout need clean, cold water to thrive when compared to other salmonids, that the upper river is just too cold for them too? What about downriver, where the water warms a bit? From what I’ve observed over the last 10 years, brook trout are long gone from the entire East Branch and we have no clue why.