By Ted Waddell
ROSCOE — April 8, 2008 — On Saturday evening, about 12 hours after the First Cast – the traditional opening of the state’s trout fishing season at Junction Pool – the Rockland Chamber of Commerce hosted its annual Two-Headed Trout fundraising dinner at the Rockland House.
Rockland Chamber of Commerce President Rick Baxter announced that the town was recently awarded a Category 6 grant of about $30,000 from Sullivan Renaissance to help beautify the area and complete projects such as the construction of an 8-foot trout.
“You’re going to see some neat changes around here,” Baxter said.
As one course followed another, folks at the tables swapped fish tales and talked about local history and the sport of fly fishing in the Catskills.
Sandy Stone moved to the United States from his native Scotland in 1959, and recalled staying at the Antrim Lodge, which is now being re-restored after a disastrous fire a couple of years ago, back in the early 1960s. 
Staying in room No. 1 for the price of $6 a night, as the only room with a bath, Stone said he complained vociferously when the price rose to $8. Stone said he still has a key from the room, a centennial button from the old hotel, a presidential memento from when President Jimmy Carter fished the local waters and stayed at the Antrim, and a memento the nature of which he wouldn’t reveal. Stone and wife Miriam, who served as co-chairs of the annual Two-Headed Trout Dinner, named in honor of the famed BEAMOC, attended their 12th First Cast ceremony in the morning.
Over hors d'oueuvres, Stone said that while at the junction of the Willowemoc and Beaverkill, he spied a gentleman wearing what he thought was a “Smokey the Bear hat… I thought he was nuts,” until he saw all the Boy Scout patches and about half a dozen Boy Scouts.
Asked what he likes about the sport of fly fishing, Stone replied, “Being on my own, thinking about nice things.
“I don’t care if I never catch another fish, because fly fishing is cheaper than a psychiatrist,” he added.
At the conclusion of the annual dinner the master of ceremonies Jim Krul, who is also the Executive Director of the Catskill Fly Fishing Center & Museum, exchanged a nice bit of English-Polish banter with guest speaker Olek Krupa, a native of Poland. Krupa, who has appeared in television shows and films here in the U.S., joined fellow anglers at Junction Pool Saturday morning for the season’s ceremonial First Cast.