Unfortunately I have some sad news to report also. Some ass clown took a bulldozer to my favorite dry fly section of stream and completely destroyed its fish holding potential. I'm contacting the proper authorities
to report this dirt bag.
People messing with the natural stream flows of rivers or streams can really mess up a lot of good fishing...
There is a beautiful wild trout stream near me which I considerd (and still do to an extent) my favorite place to fish. After hurricane Irene, the DEC allowed channelizing of the stream.. They completely channelized the lower section from a mile upstream to its confluence.
Which really is understandable because there is a small town that the stream runs through.. But a couple miles up where the stream falls at a steep gradient, they found it nessicary to channelize sections which pose ZERO threat to any dwellings because there are very few houses nearby and the characteristics of the stream. This section water happens to be on a decent sized public fishing easement which I like to fish after work..
In all, about a whole mile of productive pocket water has been ruined. After Irene, the stream anatomy changed darastically, in favor of the trout, creating more holding lies and protection from predators. These structures were almost completely removed to leave the stream flat and voulnerable to sun; the fish voulnerable to predation..
On top of that, Ive seen a few areas which fuel oil spilled, oil and hydraulic oil had leaked from excavators... Probally inducing fish kills. This past season I only caught fish in sections where the machines could not access and sections where the river has been un-changed.. Numbers of fish caught were signifigantly reduced compared to fishing it right after Irene to after they 'improved' stream flow..
Sometimes I think the DEC should pay more attention to what they are allowing to be done to wild trout streams. This whole ordeal really sickens me in the pit of my stomach.
Sorry for the rant btw!
