I did a trip to the berkshire mountians with my family. We camped in a local state park and did some hiking and general goofing around. One night dropped below 40…to about 35 degrees. Brrrrr…winter reaching out to us at night. Summer was busy packing her bag.
I did not have much time to fish. Snuck in a couple of strokes at Bog pond, while my seven year old daughter took a break on our hike/recon mission. I also squeaked in a half hour on tannery brook after chilling at the falls and about 40 minutes at Cold river.
The back story on the Cold river is that I used to work in the area in the late 1990s and would often drive along the cold river. A beautiful river. Classic for flyfishing. Crystal clear water. I used to envy the flyfishermen as I would drive to my destination.
As noted I did not fish much, but did some hiking. We hiked up Mt Todd and on my way out I spoke with the ranger. Asked about the trout situation. He quickly informed me that since hurricane Irene the state stopped stocking the Cold river and because of some impediments no fish could travel up river. Irene was in 2011.
Oh the horror!!!
I may have forever missed my opportunity to catch a trout in that beautiful river.
Just a reminder, to do the things you dream of doing…today.
So there are no naturally reproducing trout in the river whatsoever and the state was solely responsible for keeping the fish population up? That’s not acceptable regardless of a hurricane especially if they are collecting those licensing fees.
I’ve heard rumours about this from a few people and read it on a couple of less than reputable sites. Guess I’m glad to know it’s true; however unfortunate. Cold River has been a classic southern New England spot for decades. Many places in New England have suffered since Irene hit, including many here in Vermont. This includes places with native trout and stocked.
Unfortunately, it’s that way in many of the New England states. I know it certainly is here. The stated reason is always that fish and wildlife funding keeps decreasing every year.
This could likely become another thread entirely in and of itself around the topic of stocking versus natives. Not to mention river health and the ability of fish to maintain healthy populations in certain waters. But then we could also digress into the ethical nature of stocking fish in habitats where they cannot naturally survive. All potentially fascinating discussions.