SOUTHERN N.Y. THREAD (L.I., WESTCHESTER, PUTNAM, DUTCHESS, SULLIVAN, ORANGE COUN

[Gamalot]

Hardwater Diehard/Gamalot thank you for the information on walleyes in Sullivan county and wooden pipe line by Rio reservoir . The first time I saw the remaining parts of pipe line thought they might be part of D&H canal system then my mind said why would a canal system have an enclosed pipeline. My family had a vacation home in hamlet of Smallwood(Town of Bethel )for around 55 years the community was started in 1928 and has a man made lake called Mountain Lake(also know as Smallwood Lake) believe they damned White Lake brook to create the lake so there probably are some tout in this lake. The community was originally  know as Mountain Lake subdivision and later took on the name of developer so became Smallwood.
I believe profits from Hurleyville fire department ice and summer contests are divided 3 ways with a portion used to stock walleyes in Morningside Lake. The money is also split between fire dept. and town of Fallsburg division for youth programs.

 Nice that you have a piece of wood from pipeline Gamalot part of your childhood and county history.
Steve

You could easily grab a piece of that wood yourself Steve. The pipe right along side of the road and just before the small creek bridge is falling apart and Eagle Creek wouldn't care if you took a piece. It does however stink so toss it in the bed and then leave it outside at home. I think a lot of that land is now open for hunting and there are still some parts of that pipe in tact if you wanted to go hike up and take some pictures. It was pretty cool during the winter when the water sprayed and froze solid from where the bullets made holes and it formed frozen water falls all around it.

Gam

[hardwater diehard]

Info is hard for me to find here on previous years. This one says 7,000 walleyes stocked in RIo and another says 8,700 that were 1.5 inches long. I can't figure out how to go back in years to see what they claim.

Gam

2012  7000    4.4"
2014  8700    1.6"
2015  8700    1.5"
2016  8700    1.7"

[Gamalot]

2012  7000    4.4"
2014  8700    1.6"
2015  8700    1.5"
2016  8700    1.7"

Thanks Hardwater. Over 31,000 walleyes stocked in Rio since 2012 and I can't catch a single one.

Gam

[hardwater diehard]

Would be nice if the DEC would allow ice fishing on Rio with restrictions for the protection of the eagles ...hand/electric augers slot limits etc . Would be nice to have a walleye fishery in Sullivan Co for ice fishing ...White Lk may be an good option now that walleye seem to be caught quite regularly there.

[Gamalot]

Would be nice if the DEC would allow ice fishing on Rio with restrictions for the protection of the eagles ...hand/electric augers slot limits etc . Would be nice to have a walleye fishery in Sullivan Co for ice fishing ...White Lk may be an good option now that walleye seem to be caught quite regularly there.

That can't be done on the Rio. Right now the dock is sitting almost completely on dry ground with the water level down a good 10 feet. A few weeks ago the dock was floating at full height. With such drastic water level changes throughout the entire year I think being on the ice would be disastrous. If Eagle Creek who owns the power rights had their way they would close Swinging Bridge to Ice fishing as well. That reservoir goes up and down like a yo yo to but I do believe the DEC has some controls over just how far up and down they can take it. I have hiked in to Cliff lake only to find it a trickle of a stream at times and if you go to the eagle viewing station on Mongaup Falls reservoir you will see it full one week and near empty the next. This spring at the Rio dam the deep spot was 92 feet but yesterday the same exact spot marked on my GPS chart was 80 feet deep. Neither O&R or Eagle Creek give a dam about fish or fishing and it is all about generation of power. I don't believe the DEC has much control over what they do as far as water levels go and I know for sure the high end home owners who own the million dollar homes around Toronto are in constant battle with the power company. One day their boats are floating by their docks and the next day the dock and boats are sitting on the ground.

The same or at least similar situation happens with the DEP who owns the NY City reservoirs. Streams coming out of them and even the Delaware river all scream when they shut the flows off. They are destroying the trout fishing in the famed Esopus and it also affects the Williowwemock and Beaverkill.

Gam

[hardwater diehard]

I believe there is some agreement between management and kayakers concerning  water flow into the Mongaup from Rio for the spring and summer months .

[Gamalot]

I believe there is some agreement between management and kayakers concerning  water flow into the Mongaup from Rio for the spring and summer months .

Yes, Eagle creek posts when they will be running the generator or generators and lets them know in advance how much water they will be releasing. That determines the class of the rapids they will have in the river. When they are running at full bore you better be a real accomplished kayaker or you will drown.

Gam

[bowski76]

My uncle was an executive at O & R. He used to take my father to many of the closed places to hunt and fish. One night, my uncle stopped by the house with a trunk full of pickerel that looked like pike, they were huge. He caught them ice fishing on the Rio (without my father). He finally got our group of guys on Rio res in late February. 10 guys, 49 tip ups, we were there for 8-9 hours and not a FLAG! That day went down in history for the single worst outing we ever had. To make matters worse, we cut our holes with a spud through 20" of ice; I still remember the water level was 10" below the ice.
How time fly's, that was over 40 years ago! BLAME IT ON RIO!

[Gamalot]

My uncle was an executive at O & R. He used to take my father to many of the closed places to hunt and fish. One night, my uncle stopped by the house with a trunk full of pickerel that looked like pike, they were huge. He caught them ice fishing on the Rio (without my father). He finally got our group of guys on Rio res in late February. 10 guys, 49 tip ups, we were there for 8-9 hours and not a FLAG! That day went down in history for the single worst outing we ever had. To make matters worse, we cut our holes with a spud through 20" of ice; I still remember the water level was 10" below the ice.
How time fly's, that was over 40 years ago! BLAME IT ON RIO!

Good story but I think your uncle was pulling your leg about giant pickerel caught in RIO. I live just 4 miles from the Rio and have been fishing it for over 55 years and to the best of my recollection I have caught about 2 pickerel there in my entire life. Sure there is pickerel in the Rio and in every other lake, pond and swamp around these parts but certainly not in big numbers in the Rio. I would be way more inclined to believe uncle fished in Lebanon or in Dingle Daisy or even the Basher Kill to get the trunk load of big pickerel back then. Back in the 60s I practically lived on the Basher Swamp fishing and catching huge pickerel just north of the Haven bridge. Pickerel or as I  call them, Slime Darts are about the easiest fish to catch around these waters and as you saw on that bad day of ice fishing the Rio they just were not there or you would have caught them with 50 lines down the holes. Back then, in the 1970s the Rio was a great trout fishery. I also don't ever remember ice fishing ever being allowed on the Rio but back then as an employee of O&R anything could have been possible.

I fished in Lebanon twice in the past 3 weeks and it is way overloaded with slime darts and the weeds they love. We caught a few decent Bass and easily a hundred pickerel and not one of them was over 14 inches. That tells me the forage base is all but gone because fish grow to a size the lake is capable of feeding them in. Not enough bait keeps all the fish small and voracious. On just about every cast we got attacked by small darts making for dreadful fishing unless you had a couple kids who just liked the action of catching any fish that will bite. If a buddy said he wanted to go pickerel fishing the very last place I would take him would be the Rio.

Gam

[mr.clean]

Gamalot  I will pass on getting a piece of pipe line wood recently moved into a condominium complex don't think my neighbors would care for the smell of creosote .
Steve

[bowski76]

Good story but I think your uncle was pulling your leg about giant pickerel caught in RIO. I live just 4 miles from the Rio and have been fishing it for over 55 years and to the best of my recollection I have caught about 2 pickerel there in my entire life. Sure there is pickerel in the Rio and in every other lake, pond and swamp around these parts but certainly not in big numbers in the Rio. I would be way more inclined to believe uncle fished in Lebanon or in Dingle Daisy or even the Basher Kill to get the trunk load of big pickerel back then. Back in the 60s I practically lived on the Basher Swamp fishing and catching huge pickerel just north of the Haven bridge. Pickerel or as I  call them, Slime Darts are about the easiest fish to catch around these waters and as you saw on that bad day of ice fishing the Rio they just were not there or you would have caught them with 50 lines down the holes. Back then, in the 1970s the Rio was a great trout fishery. I also don't ever remember ice fishing ever being allowed on the Rio but back then as an employee of O&R anything could have been possible.

I fished in Lebanon twice in the past 3 weeks and it is way overloaded with slime darts and the weeds they love. We caught a few decent Bass and easily a hundred pickerel and not one of them was over 14 inches. That tells me the forage base is all but gone because fish grow to a size the lake is capable of feeding them in. Not enough bait keeps all the fish small and voracious. On just about every cast we got attacked by small darts making for dreadful fishing unless you had a couple kids who just liked the action of catching any fish that will bite. If a buddy said he wanted to go pickerel fishing the very last place I would take him would be the Rio.

Gam

If my Uncle was pulling our leg, he was a cruel man, but i did see a Fury III with a trunk full of huge pickerel. O & R allowed ice fishing on the Rio twice a year, we only went the one time.

[Gamalot]

If my Uncle was pulling our leg, he was a cruel man, but i did see a Fury III with a trunk full of huge pickerel. O & R allowed ice fishing on the Rio twice a year, we only went the one time.

I honestly don't know what to say about that story. What I do know about the Rio since the mid 1960s right up until today is you will absolutely catch some nice trout, nice Walleyes, lots of small mouth and some big large mouth Bass and if you find them some good sized Crappie. I am sure there are some Pickerel there too but it has never in my life been a very prolific Pickerel fishery. I caught one around 20 inches right off the public dock about 10 years ago and another about that same size in the cove right before going over the dam just a couple years ago. Your uncle being an O&R employee back then and I would be willing to bet that trunk load of large Pickerel really came out of Lebanon Lake that truly was a world class Pickerel lake for a lot of years in the early 1970s when I had my first car and could sneak up there with a buddy. We caught a couple big ones that went 28 inches out of there and also out of Dingle Daisey pond and both are pretty close to the Rio. The Basher Kill was also a killer Pickerel spot and we always caught a little one, cut the belly fins off it and tossed it out on a Johnson Silver Minnow weedless spoon. Lots of big Pickerel coming out of the Rio and I would have to see it to believe it but I am not saying it couldn't happen, just very unlikely IMHO. If they allowed me to ice fish there I would be after big Browns and nothing else unless a nice Walleye came along.

Gam

[Loudmouth879]

You guys are over here talking fishing and it's deer season! 

[Gamalot]

You guys are over here talking fishing and it's deer season! 

Some of us can do more than one season at a time!

Gam

[NYBasser]

I'm currently attending college in Madison, Wisconsin. Temps are already in the mid 30's/low 40's here. Hoping to see safe ice by early December.

[mr.clean]

NYBasser all the best with your college studies. Have you checked to see if your college has a sportsmen's club if so they might do some ice fishing trips. Also introduce yourself in the Wisconsin forum sure there are some members in the Madison area who may want to meet up with you for a trip.
Steve

[NYBasser]

NYBasser all the best with your college studies. Have you checked to see if your college has a sportsmen's club if so they might do some ice fishing trips. Also introduce yourself in the Wisconsin forum sure there are some members in the Madison area who may want to meet up with you for a trip.
Steve

Thanks for the good wishes. My college does actually have a fishing club/team which I am a part of and they do run ice fishing trips every winter. I'll make sure to hop over to the Wisconsin forum to say hello. Hope all is well for you too Steve.

[hardwater diehard]

new winter outlook

https://weather.com/storms/winter/news/2017-11-17-winter-outlook-update-the-weather-company-noaa-2017-2018

[pooley]

Hey gang, I'm still kickin! Just checking in. I'm ready for some ice! Working on the venison too.

[Gamalot]

Hey gang, I'm still kickin! Just checking in. I'm ready for some ice! Working on the venison too.

Slow down Pooley. I sat in a tree all day and was praying for some warmer weather. Ice can come right around early December but I sure would like a few days of 40s.

Gam

[pooley]

I hear you bro! I need some meat in the freezer too!

[Gamalot]

I hear you bro! I need some meat in the freezer too!

Here in Forestburgh it is horns only and they make lousy soup and IMO only good for ground meat and stew. Others like do like buck meat but I have buddies in Orange county that get more doe permits than they can harvest so I get what they don't have room for. Had a scraggly 7 point walk by at 7 this morning right after 2 nice does but the right side tine was deformed so he can try again next year if no one takes him. There is a nice 10 or 12 running close by but he did not grow those horns by being stupid so I will wait and hope some of the gals get him to drop his guard.

Gam

[mr.clean]

Greetings Pooley,Gamalot may both of you have safe and successful deer hunting seasons. Windy day here in New Windsor(Orange county) should help get water in lakes turned over so when temperatures drop lakes are ready to make ice. Hopefully some of the smaller bodies of water here in seny will be ready by Christmas.
Steve

[Loudmouth879]

my freezer is full already have 3 does down and still one more doe permit to go.... ate my bow season buck tag... passed on a 105" 7pt with the bow so ate my bow tag for now.... would've been an 8 but he broke off his g3 on his right side so he got the pass. Currently after a 3.5 year old 7pt that I have on camera...

[pooley]

A buddy shot a doe for my freezer this morning. Nice! 

[Loudmouth879]

and doe number 4 went down tonight  so after giving one to the owner of the one property I got 3 does for myself.... now if I can just get the 130"+ buck im after to come buy during daylight 

[kb]

 I am having a lousy year this year. I passed on a couple small doe on opening day, and haven’t seen anything since.   I missed a nice doe during archery. 

I might end up having to make deer tag soup come December.....  lol

[BlueSail]

I'm glad to hear most are having a good deer harvest, quite a few down up by me too.

On another topic, my small Sullivan Co. lake was more than 1/2 frozen over this morning, woohoo!

[hardwater diehard]

I'm glad to hear most are having a good deer harvest, quite a few down up by me too.

On another topic, my small Sullivan Co. lake was more than 1/2 frozen over this morning, woohoo!

Yeah ...lakes in our area are primed ...hoping for a late December outing for perch ...some new gear has arrived and more on the way .

[Gamalot]

Lucky me! Switched the tractor from mower to blower on Sunday and wrenched my back in the process. Beautiful day today to be hunting but I couldn't bend down far enough to get a pair of socks on right now. This getting old crap SUX! I guess I should get help the next time I try dragging a 50 inch Kubota mower deck and a 50 inch snow blower.

I did see 2 nice slammer bucks yesterday on my way to Middletown and on the Mt. Hope road just before the Kingdom Hall and Pocatello FH.

Gam