Native Midwesterner finds a fisherman’s paradise in New York
A native of Fairmont, Nebraska, Dale Reeves came to Upstate New York in 1969 to work for what eventually became the engineering firm of Stetson-Harza. He thought he was coming to the big city and would have to abandon his passion for fishing. Now 96 and a resident of Prestwick Glen in New Hartford, he submitted the following reminiscence about how wrong he was.
The last place I ever expected to live was New York.
We could only conceive of the huge city; no hills or woodlands or fields or lakes or streams. We had all kinds of misgivings about “New Yawkuhs” - blasé sophisticates with haughty accents and distant manners. And fishing, my favorite pastime? When I moved her, I expected those days were over.
Now that I am about to celebrate my 54th year in Upstate New York, I can look back at those ideas with a chuckle. At first, I missed the Midwest and my old friends, and expected to want to leave eventually. By the time I was ready to retire, I was not about to leave.
Now, I never came to think of myself as a New Yorker, but I eventually felt completely at home. I found friendly, down-to-earth people, and our son and daughter immediately had good friends in the neighborhood and at school. And where was this enormous city? It turned out to be quite far away.
My fishing experience had mostly been in Minnesota and Canada, and I had some great catches, including a 19-pound pike, which made me an official Manitoba Master Angler. I just couldn’t imagine New York could be any place for a fisherman.
My neighbor, Chuck Harvan, kept trying to tell me we could catch fish on Oneida Lake, just 25 miles away. I didn’t believe him. These New Yorkers didn’t know what real fishing is. He finally talked me into it, and I loaded up my old outboard and some tackle, and we went to the North Shore, got some minnows, rented a boat, and went out to the buoys. What a surprise. We started catching walleyes, nice ones from one to two pounds, and we took home a nice stringer of fish. It turned out this was the closest-to-home good fishing I ever had. After that, Chuck and I had a lot of good days together on the lake.
Then I tried Delta Lake. I went out with my son, Dick. On the first cast we nailed a 5-pound pike. And Delta turned out to be a great place for walleyes, my long-time favorite fish.
I began to believe the fish stories. There were numerous streams in the area, so I acquired a fly rod and started fishing them. My first catch was accidental. I was dragging my line behind me while maneuvering my way upstream when a fish hit. I was hooked. I started to go out evenings on the West Canada and Black River. There a few thrills equal to nailing a rising trout. You see a rise out, you work your way slowly to it, your cast hits the mark, the fish tightens your line, and you’ve had one of the great joys of fishing.
One day I was fishing a favorite pool on the Black. It was a nice, quiet place where I enjoyed the solace of being alone in a very picturesque setting. I began to hear some sounds behind me. When I turned around, I saw a fisherman working his way down the bank. I recognized him as a guy I had seen seeing at the office. As he was stepping into the water, as I was bringing in a 14-inch rainbow.
So, we finally met, Bill Bzychewski and I. We became real fishing buddies. We liked to canoe the West Canada from the Trenton Falls dam to Poland. We would stop and fly fish favorite spots, and spin fish as we drifted. Great fun, and scenic. Bzychewski and I fished the Ausable, the Willowemoc, Chenango, and Susquehanna. We also fished Delta and Oneida, and went smelting at the mouth of the Salmon. All-night netting in the shallows of rushing 31-egree water brought smelt by the bucketful. And what good eating!
Elite anglers John Millet, my dentist, and Bill Marscher, whose office was in my building, took me to the Salmon River. We wore insulated waders, and walked through two feet of snow to the fishing. They set me up on a nice sand bottom with a long rod with fish eggs on the hook. On one of my first casts, a large fish surprised me by jumping in midstream. Then I realized it had my hook. It fought its way down to John Millett, who netted it for me. My first steelhead, an eight-pound beauty.
Fred Bowen and Tom Gorman showed me how to fish for brook trout in early spring in the small creeks. Fred was a gourmet cook, and he took along his knapsack, a skillet, and some condiments. What he did with those small brookies was amazing. A real treat for the palate of cold, hungry fisherman.
Gorman and Bob Rothdeiner took me to Charleston Lake, Ontario. The first morning we caught a bunch of bullheads. Rothdeinder took over the cooking. He worked wonders on those bullheads. He fried a pan full of bacon, then threw away the bacon. He spent a couple of hours over the hot stove doing strange things while we starved. Then we had the feast of a lifetime, the best fish dinner I ever had. That same trip, we caught bass, northern pike, and lake trout. Another unforgettable experience. Later on, Fred and Tom took me up to their camps in Saranac, another great place for its beautiful scenery and fishing.
One day, I made the mistake of buying a boat, one that ended my fly fishing career. It was an 18-foot SeaRay, with a 175-horsepower inboard-outboard engine. It was touted to do 47 miles per hour, which I substantiated on a still day. It was a good boat for Oneida Lake, which is 23 miles long with good fishing the entire length. It was all out for walleyes, and many more days of good fishing.
Then my daughter married into a family of fishing fanatics from Albany. I latched on to Steve’s family, and from then on I did all my fishing on Lake George - 35 miles long, nestled in the Adirondacks, full of islands, so clear you could see the bottom 16 feet deep. We kept our boats at Hulett’s Landing, up the east shore. Fishing was good for smallmouths, landlocked salmon, and lake trout. Each summer, for several years, we rented a big house and got the families together. The men and women fished, the kids water skied. Best vacations we ever had.
So much for misconceptions. Now I can attest that New York truly is a fisherman’s paradise.
Notebook: Boater Safety courses to be offered
The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, New York Sea Grant, and Central New York Boat Show will hold a New York State Boater Safety Certification Course at the Central New York Boat Show in February at the New York State Fairgrounds.
The course is required to legally operate a motorized boat or personal watercraft alone on New York waters. Adults and youth must complete the 8-hour training and the same-day proctored exam to receive certification. The courses are free. Registration is required by contacting New York Sea Grant's Oswego office at 315-312-3042. The adult-level course will be offered at the CNY Boat Show at 1 p.m. on February 16 at Expo Center conference room at the fairgrounds, 561 State Fair Boulevard, Syracuse. Free admission to the 2024 CNY Boat Show is included. The youth course for those ages 10 to 17 will be offered on February 17 at 9:00 a.m. at the same site. Each youth pre-registering for the course will receive three free passes to the 2024 CNY Boat Show. Participants are asked to provide for their own lunch.
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Outdoors column: Love of fishing follows wherever you live
