I think the Neversink has always followed the seasons and regs of the rest of New York...
With fishing prohibited after October 15th...
I always heard the whole reservoir was managed primarilly for the landlockers, even though by all reports the success has been questionable for the most part. That would explain why it closes the same time as most other trout waters in New York. The Neversink Reservoir was the very first lake in New York State to get plantings of atlantic salmon (13th Lake in the ADKS was second the following year) but the first fish planted from Nova Scotia were sea-runs and apparently they hopped the dam and probably headed towards the ocean!
Now the truer "landlock" strains are used so that the fish don't have a genetic disposition to head toward the sea. Also, as a little bit of NY trivia: Aden Brook (a Neversink trib) was the first place in the COUNTRY to get a stocking of imported brown trout back in the 1800s. Came from Germany and they set 'em loose.
The rest, as they say, is history. Aden Brook still exisits (thus, Aden Brook Road), but is a fraction of it's former self. The reservoir buried all the gorges and deep runs under about 130ft of water now. But I heard that whole valley was amazing pre-impoundment. Ed Hewitt's books haave tons of great info and are an awesome read for any avid Catskill angler. I recommend "A Trout and Salmon Fisherman for 75 Years" as a great place to start if you want to learn more about the whole Beamoc System, and especially the Neversink. Part of his land is now part of the Frost Valley property that I managed for two and half years. Really cool history in that sucker.
I was all fired up about Landlockers when I lived down the road from the res, but the only shot at them in the inlet (on the fly) was after the close of the season in October. The local guys would hike down in there sometimes and whack a few post-season, but I would imagine the NYC land right up to the Big Bend Club property probably has all the salmon from the reservoir in it right now. If you've never hiked into the inlet of the Neversink Res, you should... It can be like an AQUARIUM down there. The water is amazing.
The salmon spawn the earliest of any others- and by the middle of November they are apparently all finished up. The browns start around now, of course, but can prolong the spawn as long as they wish until conditions are to their liking.
The Rondout and Ashokan seem to get the extended season to allow anglers some shots at those ridiculous browns in the Fall. I heard the season got extended after that state record Brown was yanked out of the Chimney Hole way back when. That one fish brought THOUSANDS of people to the Espous. And Art Flick was really ****ed about it, judging from his writings. That's why he moved closer to the Schoharie, so he could once again have a trout stream basically to himself to continue his studies.
Hewitt and Flick were smart as hell... They sure took their fishing seriously!!!
post edited by Neversink Jimmy - 2009/10/18 18:19:48