424 
FOREST AND STREAM 
the meetin’ house when I recall the Old Home¬ 
stead, and Joe Cooper’s general store and post- 
office, his deft way of tieing flies and the de¬ 
liberate authority with which he recounts the 
great catches that have been submitted for his 
approval by that group of skillful anglers from 
Monroe, whose catches are fast making DeBruce 
famous. 
But it is not DeBruce that you will go to see. 
That tenacious and combative little fellow, the 
brown trout, lying in wait for you in the deep 
pools of the Willowemoc, is the real lure of the 
sportsmen who visit that exhilarating region 
where the laurel, pine and rhododendron jungle 
up the hills. And when you have been there once, 
you go again and yet again, just as the Monroe 
and other knowing Waltonians whip its streams 
regularly many times each year. 
It depends, of course, upon conditions of 
weather and water, but May, June and July are 
big months with the trout around DeBruce, on 
the Willowemoc, and Claryville, on the Never' 
sink. You may find the pink-faced and smiling 
Vicar at either of these points, though his pas¬ 
sion with the rod generally centers at DeBruce. 
He or Joe Cooper will tell you all about the 
habits and habitat of salvelinus fontinalis in 
these streams. They will tell you what particu¬ 
lar flies the game fancies when you are there, 
and how capriciously that fancy alters from day 
to day. So that, like most of the good things 
of the robust out-door life, there is nothing 
mathematically certain at the end of a cast, 
however skillful. 
Speculate liberally with the contents of your 
flybook. I have tried twenty-seven different flies 
in one day and finally found the one for which 
they were greedy. When you do cast the fly 
they want you will have rare sport of a kind that 
lingers long in the memory. 
The trout on these streams are a lively quarry, 
firm of flesh and full of fight. They are not the 
liver-fed, indolent variety of the flats around 
Manhattan. Theirs is cold mountain water. 
Wear abundant wool within your waders. The 
air in these hills is rarified and bracing, for the 
altitude is somewhat high. The water is fast, 
but, except in the event of flood, always nego¬ 
tiable by the experienced and careful flycaster. 
Equip with both warm and cool clothing from 
peak to pedal, for the mornings and nights are 
often cold; the midday generally warm. Amber 
goggles are a comfort. Late in June and July 
gloves prevent skeeter bites and profanity, albeit 
there are few pests to molest. 
Garage accommodation and gas can be had at 
DeBruce. Flies, baskets, boots, nets and other 
equipment, can be bought of Joe Cooper—in case 
you lose yours on the way. In short: no wor¬ 
ries await you in that hospitable land. 
If you wish to remain upon the stream all day, 
Miss Cooper starts you off in the morning with 
a lunch which fits your pocket, then your out¬ 
door appetite. 
A blazing open hearth fire greets your return, 
whether you have the big fellow in your creel or 
not. You will find good company sitting around 
the fire, dreaming of or recounting golden days 
adown some likely stream. If your clothes are 
wet and you have been irresponsible enough to 
come without a change for dinner, you can hang 
yourself on a drying hook and—desiccate. But 
only idiots and amateurs of a certain noodle type 
go fly fishing a week in one pair of pants. As 
our friend, Gen. Frank A. Bond, of North Caro¬ 
lina, vehemently declared: “From the bottom tew 
the top of a spoatsman’s kit, there mus' be no 
lack of pants. It am mighty embarrassin’ tew a 
true gentleman to be without ’em, no mattah who 
ain’t lookin’.” 
My Lady Makes a Record of the Catch. 
There is an exceptional charm about the 
Willowemoc near DeBruce. It is an ideal water 
for the woman who has risen to the gentle art 
of angling. A fair auto road parallels the stream 
at an average distance of an eighth of a mile. 
The angler may leave his car anywhere beside 
this road, assured that the natives of the region 
will not tap the lunch basket or appropriate the 
tools. Our friends of DeBruce and Claryville 
are not only honest themselves, but they insist 
upon that and other virtues in visitors. They 
don’t invite the dipsomaniac, the ruffian, and the 
game-hog to invade their country. * Unless you 
find the conduct of gentility natural to you, and 
unless you can enjoy the stream in amicable re¬ 
lationship with your chance neighbor, don’t in¬ 
fest the Willowemoc and the Neversink. They 
are not quite the right places for sprees, vulgar¬ 
ities and greed. Modern sportsmanship abhors 
these attributes. 
Gilbert Palen, Clarence Knight, Fred. Jacq- 
mein, Stacy Gaunt, Harvey Anderson and other 
gentlemen from Monroe, N. Y., took out a fine 
lot on May 18th, ranging from eleven to sixteen 
inches. Of their several catches the brown trout 
predominated. With the advent of warmer 
weather the season on these streams and on the 
Esopus River promises to be very gratifying. 
If your luck isn’t just what you think it ought 
to be, sidle up to the amiable Vicar, make honest 
confession, and he will impart the secret of suc¬ 
cess on the swiftwater around DeBruce. If your 
waders spring a leak and you are thereby com¬ 
pelled to trudge home heartsick, cold and wet, 
chirp cheerfully and Miss Cooper and a hot toddy 
will rescue you in a truly maternal manner. 
I have gone far afield many years and learned 
to recognize the cold, glass-eyed and calculating 
host on the one hand, and the warm hearted gen¬ 
erous kind whose interest in the angler is not 
wholly measured by the check he leaves, on the 
other. Miss Cooper at DeBruce and Mrs. Brush 
at Claryville are both the right sort of members 
of the brotherhood of sportsmen. At Claryville 
the house is small and arrangements must be 
made in advance. 
Finally, the Willowemoc and the Neversink are 
glorious streams for him who still thrills at a 
fine hard strike where the spurling foam laughs 
at its shadow and the cool, dark pool hides the 
wary big one which every cast seeks to catch. 
On May 28th, Elwood C. Smith, an attorney, 
Dr. Wm. Sutherland, William Fowler and W. S. 
Jessup of Monroe, returned from DeBruce with 
a fine catch, despite the inclement weather. They 
reported the water of good depth, but the nights 
rather cold. An inch of ice covered still water 
on May 26th. 
Since then, however, another party, composed 
of Dr. Rulison, Al. Anderson, John Martin and 
A. Jacqmein of Monroe, have found conditions 
ideal for this season’s sport. 
And Later Someone Returns the Compliment. 
