By Rick Knack
ROSCOE — April 9, 2002 – “Two Anglers are standing side by side in the brook and a funeral procession passes over the bridge, and the first angler takes his hat off and places it over his heart until the procession passes. The second angler looks over and is very touched by this and says, ‘That was very nice.’ The first angler then states, ‘Well it’s the least I could do. Next week we would have been married 35 years.’”
This was one of guest speaker Larry Solomon’s opening jokes for the evening at the annual Two-Headed Trout Dinner.
According to Miriam Stone, who served as one of the event chairpersons and is President of the Catskill Fly-Fishing Center, this year’s dinner – which was held this past Saturday, April 6 – was one of the biggest to date.
A total of with 240 people attended the dinner, which was held at the Rockland House, just outside of Roscoe – which is more commonly known this time of year as “Trout Town, USA.”
The event also featured a large raffle, where several area businesses offered gift certificates and prizes.
The dinner, which has been held since the early 1960s, has attracted a wide range of people during the years. Among those joining the local and visiting anglers at this year’s Two-Headed Trout Dinner was Town of Rockland Supervisor Pat Pomeroy.
Serving as Master of Ceremonies for the evening was Sandy Stone. Stone, a local businessman and angler, started the evening off by asking if anyone had a funny fishing story. Throughout the evening, anglers would get up and tell about funny moments throughout their lifetimes of fishing. One of the funnier moments in the evening was when the local conservation officer won the contest with a story about one of his unusual exploits while in the line of duty.
Wayne Elliot, the DEC Regional Fisheries Manager (Region 3), gave a brief report on the Beaverkill Willowemoc Initiative.
According to Elliot, the DEC has been working in the Beaverkill Willowemoc area since 1935. In 2000 the DEC, along with other fisheries and Cornell University, started a comprehensive study to determine the status and possible enhancement of the Beaverkill watershed. The study will continue through 2005.
Next up was the guest speaker of the evening. Solomon noted that he has been coming up to fish at Junction Pool since 1959. According to Solomon, the 1960s were a time of magic, with anglers who referred to as kings and queens and the spots that they fished out of kingdoms.
Anglers were respected throughout the fishing community, and fly-fishing was a big sport. Solomon, who has added to the ever-growing list of books on fly-fishing has always examined the relationship between the bug and the fish.
In closing, Solomon shared a piece of fishing advice he learned early on in his life, “that Mother Nature dictates the rules of the game.”
Solomon also lives by this saying every day and asked that everyone do the same.
“Observe and experiment is the key to learning the game,” Solomon said.