Thank you!
Your support is sustaining the future of local news in our communities.

An angler’s year testing rods, riversides and patience

An angler’s year testing rods, riversides and patience

Gary Dodson casting at dawn on the Salmon River in Pulaski, New York in late April. It was cold but it sure looked nice.

Patrick L. Sullivan

I was very optimistic as winter loosened its grip in the early part of 2025. I had a couple new rods to play with, my rotator cuff problem on my casting arm was resolved in a satisfactory manner, and I joined a private fishing club in the Catskills and was looking forward to exploring new water.

Some of the exploring and trying new things with new rods happened, but a lot of it did not. I blame Nature.

(Listening to anglers complain about the weather is as tedious as it gets, so feel free to skip the next bit.)

Just for laughs I plotted out the Housatonic flow from April 1 to Nov. 22 on the United States Geological Survey website. What I got back was an inverse bell curve, with high flows at the extremes and a long period of very low flows in between.

Amazingly, this corresponds to the rain, or lack thereof, between April 1 and Nov. 22. It’s just science.

So, looking back at the Tangled archives and my own hastily scribbled journal notes, I see that I started out when the snow and ice were still on the ground on the Blackberry in North Canaan and Macedonia Brook in Kent.

I do remember trying out a short rod, 6-feet 10-inches, from Zen Tenkara. I used it with two-fly rigs, including weighted flies, which should not work in theory, but it did in practice. The biggest problem was when a guy in the parking lot asked me what it was. I said, “It’s a Hachi” and the guy said, “Gesundheit.”

Eddie Curtis of New Jersey amused himself catching little smallmouth bass in the Housatonic during a Trout Unlimited event in August.Patrick L. Sullivan

I had an interesting encounter with a couple of DEEP guys who were putting some brown trout fry in the Blackberry, since they had them to spare and were wondering what would happen. I suggested that they would get eaten up fairly quickly by the adult trout and they agreed but did it anyway.

The private water was a bust. There’s no other way to put it. I got there three times all year, and by the beginning of July the drought had settled in and the stream was nothing but a trickle.

I’m going to reup because I enjoyed meeting my fellow club members and the nice landowners who allow us to barge around their properties This year I’m going to hit it often and hard in May and June, circumstances allowing.

My Catskill fishing buddy Gary Dodson has got the big fish bug bad. We went back to Pulaski in late April and I caught a steelhead using a decadent and depraved method called “plugging.” I’m glad to have done it once and feel zero need to do it again.

I’ve had an 11-foot-4 weight switch rod kicking around for a few years. I never knew how to rig it up. In the two-handed rod world, the line weight designation means diddly. It’s all about grains and different tips and all this stuff that I just don’t want to learn.

Since Gary was already down in that rabbit hole I just gave him the rod, a big inexpensive Redington reel and asked him to get the appropriate lines and tips and set it up for me. Which he did, for about $150.

And I got to deploy it on the water precisely once in September before…

My right hip got the Gang Gong from the medical profession.

Yep. By the time this is published, I will have had my new right hip for about a month.

At this rate I’m going to be about 40% after-market parts.

So the entire autumn fishing routine, normally a happy and productive time, was shot to hell. My hip worked just enough to let me know that the kind of aggressive and active fishing I like to do was out of the question.

So apart from fiddling around in a half-hearted way with the fall stockies on the Blackberry in October, I spent the fall and early winter sitting around watching YouTube fish videos and plotting and scheming for all the excellent fishing adventures I will have with my new right hip.

Latest News

Early morning Kent crash sends car into ditch, disrupts traffic on Rt. 341

A blue SUV remains in a ditch after an early-morning crash along Segar Mountain Road in Kent May 27.

Ruth Epstein

KENT – A driver escaped with minor injuries after an SUV crashed into a utility pole and water line before rolling into a ditch along Segar Mountain Road early Wednesday morning, May 27, disrupting traffic for much of the day and affecting water service to a nearby residence.

The single-vehicle crash occurred around 4:30 a.m. near 36 Segar Mountain Road, just under half a mile east of the intersection with South Kent Road. State police said the blue SUV struck the pole, went over a guardrail and came to stop in a roadside ditch.

Keep ReadingShow less

Pauline King Garfield

Pauline King Garfield

EAST CANAAN — Pauline K. (King) Garfield, 94 of 77 South Canaan Rd. formerly of East Canaan, died Sunday May 24, 2026, at Geer Village.She was the wife of the late Duane Garfield who passed August 14, 2017. Pauline was born April 3, 1932 in North Canaan, CT in the former Geer Hospital. She was the daughter of the late Charles and Rose (Van Vlack) King.

Pauline spent her career at Becton Dickinson in Canaan, after being a stay-at-home mother for many years.She was employed at Becton Dickinson for 23 years. She enjoyed bus trips with her late husband Duane to the Casinos, spending time with her family watching the grandchildren grow up. Recently she made a comment to care givers that was “wait until I see that husband of mine for leaving me here, I am going to read him the riot act.” Over the years she enjoyed many crafts, but her favorite was crocheting gifts for everyone.

Keep ReadingShow less
A blessing for pets — and a lifeline for their health
Lazarus, a Eurasian eagle owl, poses with Dr. Laura, his longtime handler. The rescue raptor — known as the event’s “wow factor” for his striking presence and six-foot wingspan — will appear as the Raptor Ambassador at Rhinebeck’s Blessing of the Animals.
provided

For many pet owners, animals are family. On Saturday, May 30, that bond will be celebrated in a uniquely practical and heartfelt way when the Blessing of the Animals returns to Third Lutheran Evangelical Church in Rhinebeck alongside a free rabies vaccination clinic hosted by Hudson Valley Animal Rescue & Sanctuary.

The event, scheduled from noon to 4 p.m., is free for Dutchess County residents and open to dogs, cats and domestic ferrets three months and older. While the clinic itself provides an important public health service, organizers say the day has become about much more than vaccinations.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

Local filmmaker Yonah Sadeh takes his lens to China

Filmmaker Yonah Sadeh on a shoot last year in New York City.

Matt Kashtan
When I was around 12, a family friend showed me how to use my family’s computer...from that point on, it was pretty much all movies. — Yonah Sadeh

Filmmaker Yonah Sadeh of Falls Village left May 8 for China, where he will shoot a short documentary.

“I got into a documentary film intensive program where we have two weeks to shoot, edit and screen a 10-minute documentary about a topic of our choosing,” he said.“I’ll be in Changsha, Hunan, making a film about a fifth-generation shadow puppet master.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Silvano Monasterios wows packed Cornwall Town Hall audience

Silvano Monasterios thrilled a sold out audience in Cornwall.

Natalia Zukerman

Grammy-nominated pianist, composer and producer Silvano Monasterios performed works from his upcoming “Solo in Paris,” his seventh album, on Sunday, May 23 at Cornwall Town Hall to a packed audience. Presented by Music Mountain in partnership with the Cornwall Town Hall and Cornwall Library, the concert showcased Monasterios’ signature fusion of sophisticated jazz harmonies and vibrant Latin rhythms. Throughout the performance, he moved seamlessly between intricate compositions and spontaneous improvisation. The concert built excitement for Music Mountain’s upcoming summer jazz series, which will bring an array of acclaimed performers to the historic venue. For more information, visit musicmountain.org

Author Courtney Maum to discuss new novel at Norfolk Library

Norfolk Library celebrates the release of Courtney Maum’s latest novel, “Alan Opts Out,” with a book launch party Tuesday, June 2, at 5:30 p.m. The author will speak about her book in conversation with WAMC radio producer Sarah LaDuke.

A graduate of Brown University with a degree in comparative literature, Maum is an acclaimed author of five books, including the romantic comedy “Touch,” a New York Times Editors’ Choice and NPR Best Book of the Year; “Costalegre;” and “I’m Having So Much Fun Without You.” Her memoir, “The Year of the Horses,” was chosen by the TODAY show as top pick for Mental Health Awareness Month. Vanity Fair listed her author’s guidebook “Before and After the Book Deal,” as a best resource for writers, and she has an eponymous Substack newsletter.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.