Trout Fishing Time

In Pearl River the Pascack Brook is the best place to catch a rainbow or brown trout in springtime. The original native stock of brook trout had been fished out by hungry folks who had to endure subsistence living during hard times. It is surmised that the depression of 1893 and 1907 put the last brook trout into the pages of history. With the birth of the sport fishing hobby  being written about in outdoor magazines many local sportsmen organized to get the brook trout back into local streams. With the help of the New York State Hatcheries on Long Island, Pearl River men would drive down in an early model Ford pick up trucks and take home 8 milk cans of trout fingerlings around 5 to 6 inches packed in ice to keep the water below 60 degrees. These cans were dumped into local brooks and the following year the trout were ready to be caught. Eventually, these fish established a sustainable population where up to the 1960s a fisherman could catch his limit in 45 minutes to an hour. This all ended when an upstream car wash in Spring Valley decided to dump its soap waste water into the Pascack Brook, killing off the fishery again. The local chapter of the Izaak Walton League has been stocking the Pascack Brook for about 25 years in spring with rainbow and brown trout. I caught some 20 years back and would visit every so often when i was free to pursue my favorite sport close to home. It is unfortunate that the county has placed my fun on hold as they are rerouting Washington Avenue this spring. How will the fishing be next year? Who knows?