Tangled early June 2025

A rock shelf formation on the private stream. This kind of terrain creates excellent cover for trout.
Patrick L. Sullivan
A rock shelf formation on the private stream. This kind of terrain creates excellent cover for trout.
When syndicated columnists get lazy they gather together bits and pieces that never made it out of the notebook, mash them together, and email it in.
Usually they try to unify the disparate items under a catch-all heading, such as “Heard on the Street” or “Things the Cabby Told Me.”
I’m working on that.
A few days before Memorial Day I was whiling away an idle hour or two on the Blackberry.
From the bridge at Beckley Furnace I observed a fellow fly-caster. We acknowledged each other, and after a couple casts he called up “Got any tips?”
I scrambled down. He was Andrew Stone of Illinois, with a teenager at one of the private schools.
I gave him the little mini-bugger I have been using with considerable success in recent years and almost immediately he was on a fish.
This was very good for my ego.
Andrew Stone netted a trout on the Blackberry in May, thanks in part to some stellar advice from yours truly.Patrick L. Sullivan
In the last week of May I went on my first solo trip to the private fishing club water. I had my button proclaiming my status as a paid-up member attached to my hat. On advice from the club president, I also made an enlarged photocopy of said button and left it on the dashboard.
The club has an arrangement with property owners along the medium-sized stream. Three members of this particular family drove by at various times, with much waving and tooting of horns.
Armed with an old Orvis seven and a half foot four weight with a slow action and a 10-foot Tenkara rod tucked in my pack, I slithered downstream along surprisingly slick cobble, swinging a team of traditional winged wet flies below me.
Nothing happened.
Then the stream took a hard left into a long shelf formation, and here I struck gold.
Alertly noticing the casings from a bug called isonychia on the streamside rocks, I changed over to a Leadwing Coachman winged wet fly on a dropper under an iso dry fly.
I like isos. They are big, and their imitations are big too. I can see them to tie on.
Isos are also good swimmers, so instead of obsessing about the perfect drift, I can put some English on them, especially the subsurface versions.
There are typically two rounds of isonychia in the streams I frequent in New York and Connecticut. The first starts around the beginning of June and seems to taper off as July approaches.
Then it all starts again in August, and runs for a couple months. I have caught fish in the Esopus and Housatonic in late October on iso imitations.
The first brown nabbed the wet fly, and a few minutes later another sportingly took the dry.
The first brown trout from the private fishing club stream looks much bigger than it was because I deliberately brought my smallest net.Patrick L. Sullivan
After an unfortunate encounter with some knotweed I switched over to the DragonTail Talon Mini 310, which is a fixed-line rod with a slow action that fishes at 10 feet and packs down to 12 inches when collapsed, which means it can be stuck in a shallow pocket on a vest or in the wader’s handwarming pocket or even in a pants pocket
The extra reach allowed me to simply flick the line back and forth in front of me, thus avoiding a back cast and the dratted knotweed.
Using a team of a yellow soft hackle wet in size 14 and the Leadwing, I rustled up a couple more of the truck fish from the stocking the first week of May. Neither paid any attention to the yellow fly, which I only included because I saw a yellowish bug flying around. This is called “Not Matching the Hatch.”
Back at base I next spent a thoroughly frustrating day failing to catch anything anywhere on a day that should have been perfect — overcast, warmish, drizzly. The kind of day that makes aquatic insects leap from their beds and rejoice in the promise of a new day.
After a solid five hours of fooling around I finally found some wild browns who were willing to play. They weren’t big but they were very wiggly, resulting in many “compassionate releases,” which is a convenient rationalization of the failure to land a fish.
Speaking of failure, I forgot to buy milk. Twice. So on two successive mornings I had to drink my coffee black.
I remembered to buy a quart, figuring I could bring it back to Connecticut in the cooler.
Well…
Let’s just say that as I peck this out on a rainy Saturday morning, May 31, I am enjoying a cup of black coffee.
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Guests of the carnival at Bunny McGuire Park had a wide variety of rides to choose from, including a classic merry-go-round.
NORTH CANAAN — Four days of festivities concluded Saturday, July 19, with the grand finale of Canaan Summer Nights.
The carnival first arrived at Bunny McGuire Park on Wednesday, kicking off North Canaan Event Committee’s new vision for summer activities in town.
What was previously known as Railroad Days was separated this year into two parts: Canaan Summer Nights in July; and Old Railroad Days Aug. 7 to 10.
Katelin Lopes and Tessa Dekker beneath the fireworks on Saturday, July 19.Photo by Simon Markow
In addition to the carnival last week, the Douglas Library hosted a Roaring 20s cocktail party (see story on Page A9) and the St. Martin of Tours Parish Church of St. Joseph hosted a barbecue chicken dinner on the lawn.
A mix of antique and modern fire engines from Canaan, Lakeville, Norfolk, Sharon, Winsted, Falls Village, Cornwall, Salisbury, and other regional departments paraded down Main Street in the Saturday evening sun. The town welcomed them with waves and applause. Shortly behind the rescue engines were local sports champions, tractors, racecars, trucks and “Ted’s Comedy Wagon” with an endless supply of jokes.
After the sun went down, the crowd only got bigger. At around 9:30 p.m. the fireworks show began and everyone that was lined up for a ride or cotton candy turned to watch. The lucky few at the top of the Ferris wheel got the best view. The fireworks were a token of gratitude for the support of local businesses, vendors, the fire department and to parents carrying prize stuffed animals larger than the children that won them.
Supported by a $250,000 LEAP grant in late June, the 5,200-acre acquisition of a permanent conservation easement by the Kent-based Northwest Connecticut Land Conservancy protects the land surrounding the Colebrook Reservoir, the state’s largest remaining untapped drinking water reservoir.
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont (D) announced July 15 that the state is awarding $14.3 million in Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition (OSWA) grants to protect 2,270 acres across 22 towns.
The grants, administered to land conservation groups by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), include five properties in the Northwest Connecticut towns of Cornwall, Kent, Salisbury and Sharon, encompassing more than 400 acres with awards totaling more than $3 million.
Trio of grants for NCLC
The Northwest Connecticut Land Conservancy (NCLC) has received three significant grant awards to support the acquisition and permanent protection of three properties essential for public recreation and ecological resilience, totaling 5,425 acres. A $1.3 million grant through OSWA leads a trio of recent awards supporting land conservation in Connecticut. The other two grants, totaling $348,500, were awarded by the Connecticut Land Conservation Council’s Land Easement and Acquisition Program (LEAP).
According to NCLC, together, these grants underscore the strong and widespread commitment of public agencies, private organizations, and local communities to conserving natural and working agricultural lands.
Properties being protected include Surdan Mountain Preserve in Sharon, the Colebrook Reservoir Conservation Easement and the Strauss Morrisey Preserve Expansion in Sherman.
The properties provide critical habitat for rare, threatened and endangered species by safeguarding clean water sources, supporting natural wildlife corridors and offering new public access to nature.
With the $1.3M award from OSWA, the protection of the 108-acre Surdan Mountain parcel, which adjoins the 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail corridor, will be accessible to all when the preserve opens to the public.
The property includes a dramatic scenic view stretching 20 miles to the summit of Bear Hill, the highest peak in Connecticut; to the peak of Mount Frissell in Massachusetts, and Mount Race in New York State.
The Colebrook Reservoir Conservation Easement was supported by a $250,000 LEAP grant award. The 5,200-acre acquisition of a permanent conservation easement on this parcel protects Connecticut’s largest remaining untapped drinking water reservoir, which directly feeds the designated National Wild and Scenic Farmington River.
“We are incredibly grateful to all our partners for helping to make these acquisitions possible, especially during a time of funding uncertainty,” said NCLC Executive Director Catherine Rawson. “These acquisitions are a big win for our environment and communities.”
A pair of grants
in Cornwall
The Cornwall Conservation Trust earned two OSWA grants, one in the amount of $122,200 for its 41.78-acre Cobble Forest project, and a second, $195,000 grant for its 90-acre Furnace Brook Forest project.
The Cobble Forest property boasts a scenic ridgeline containing Heffers Brook, a high-quality cold-water stream that flows into Mill Brook, a tributary of the Housatonic River. The property rises 330 feet from Heffers Brook along its frontage, up to the rocky slopes of The Cobble. The purchase will create a 332-acre forest lock including Cornwall Conservation Trust’s Day Preserve, Walker Preserve and the Housatonic State Forest.
Furnace Brook is a forested ridgeline parcel on the slopes of Dean Hill, across the road from Wyantenock State Forest. It links to the conservation trust’s Furnace Brook Preserve, a 2018 OSWA grant. The Housatonic Heritage Area’s Hou-Bike trail and Housatonic Covered Bridge trail pass along the property frontage.
Shelley Harms, executive director of Cornwall Conservation Trust, noted that the state’s open space grant program makes it possible for local land trusts to purchase important conservation lands and for landowners to achieve their conservation goals.
“We are so lucky. We live in this beautiful area, and we have a state that invests in protecting our precious forests and streams and wildlife,” said Harms. “With the help of these two state grants, Cornwall Conservation Trust is buying two properties upstream from the Housatonic River within a loop formed by the Mohawk Trail and the Appalachian Trail, part of a gorgeous scenic area and connected to other preserved land.
“People can admire those forested ridges from many points in Cornwall,” she noted, “and when the hiking trails are created, people can immerse themselves in nature and hike up to overlooks where they can enjoy the whole panorama.”
Protecting Kent’s
agricultural history
The Kent Land Trust received a $422,500 OSWA grant for its 62.2-acre Halsted Lovig Property project on Camp Flat Road.
The property in southern Kent bordering New Milford is iconic to Kent’s agricultural past. For several decades it was a humus farm but has been vacant for the past quarter-century. The Kent Land Trust plans to create a recreational resource and protect its critical ecological functions.
The property is exceptional for recreation, nestled between two popular trail systems enabling trail connectivity along a roadway convenient to Kent’s Center on the main route of the Western New England Greenway ad Hou-Bike Walk Trails.
The property also contains diverse wetlands and spring-fed open pools, with data suggesting these habitats support at least seven avian species in great need of protection.
Grant targets Salisbury’s Miles Mountain
The Salisbury Association, Inc., received a $886,600 OSWA grant for its 163.59-acre Miles Mountain project. “Ours was one of the larger ones,” said John Landon, committee chair for the Salisbury Association Land Trust. “We felt pretty secure,” he said of the grant submission,” but it’s official now.”
The property on Weatogue Road is easterly of Tom’s Hill, a previous Salisbury Association OSWA-acquired property. It is subject to a 57-acre conservation easement held by Trustees of Reservations, so the DEEP OSWA conservation easement will encumber 163.59 acres, which surrounds the already preserved parcel on three sides.
An LLC comprising community members had formed to protect Miles Mountain from development until the land trust could raise enough funds to purchase the land from the LLC.
Landon said OSWA will fund up to 65% of the purchase price, and he is optimistic that a Federal Highlands Grant will cover most of the balance, “very similar to the Tom’s Hill scenario,” which was also protected from development by a conservation-minded group of community members which formed an LLC to protect that land.
“From large tracts of land to small pocket parks, this group of projects benefits a variety of communities across the state,” said DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes, who noted that since the state’s open space program began in 1998, more than $190 million in state funding has been awarded to municipalities, nonprofit land conservation groups and water companies to assist in the protection of more than 48,000 acres of publicly accessible land.