Legendary Esopus Creek pools:  Below are landscapes of three legendary Esopus Creek pools: the Trestle, Jennings Pool, and Mother’s Pool, plus stories of big trout.

The historic railroad trestle over the Esopus, downstream of Boiceville, dates back to the very early 1900s--- the Ulster and Delaware Railroad Company, a rail line known as “The Only All-Rail Route to the Catskill Mountains.”  At its pinnacle the U&D ran from Kingston on the Hudson through four Catskill counties before terminating in Oneonta.

FYI: http://www.catskillarchive.com/gazetteer/Ulster_And_Delaware/index.htm

In 1932 U&D became the Catskill Mountain Branch of New York Central, which later merged with Pennsylvania Railroad in 1968 to form Penn Central only to eventually go bankrupt in 1970.  In 1976 Conrail--- Consolidated Rail Corporation--- was created by the U.S. government and assumed ownership of the rail line.  However, the last Conrail freight train departed Kingston on September 28^th, 1976 headed to Stamford before returning to Kingston on October 2^nd. 

In 1979 Ulster County purchased the 38.6 mile section of rail from Kingston to the county line at Highmount.  Then in 1982 the rail line was leased to the Catskill Mountain Railroad--- CMRR.  At that time the Trestle officially became CMRR Bridge C30, the last name change from its original U&D C30 designation.

Before the Trestle was destroyed by Hurricane Irene in 2011, it served as a wooden footpath for many anglers travelling to and from the Chimney Hole at the mouth of the Ashokan Reservoir downstream.  However, trout fishermen weren’t the only users of this lost deck plate girder bridge.  On several late June afternoons local Onteora High School students could be seen jumping from the structure into the deep sections of the cool Esopus Creek below.

Perhaps the fondest personal memory of the Trestle occurred on April 13^th, 2010 when in the shadows of the dilapidated railroad bridge, one lucky flyfisher caught a silvery twenty-two inch Ashokan Reservoir run brown trout, the first trout he ever landed on his Black Beauty Heddon cane rod.

Trestle, U&D C30, 11x14 (DtC):

Jennings Pool in Mount Tremper bears the name of noted fly tyer and fisher Preston J. Jennings.  Jennings was a sales engineer who lived in Brooklyn, NY, but often fished the Catskill while doing research for his book, first published by Derrydale Press in 1935, A Book of Trout Flies.

The late Ernest Schwiebert, also a noted trout fisher, wrote the following about Jennings and this book, “The work of Jennings set the standard of excellence that has measured all subsequent work on fly-fishing entomology.”

Among other trout streams, Jennings extensively studied aquatic insect life on the Esopus Creek for his manuscript.  He often stayed in Woodstock while fishing the Esopus, but also visited and tied flies for guests staying at Kahil’s Rainbow Lodge on UC 212 in Mount Tremper.  There he befriended Arnold Gingrich who would later write glowingly about the author.  Among the regulars at Rainbow Lodge, Jennings Isonychia Nymph came to be known as the “Esopus Nymph”.

Preston Jennings tying a fly:

Jennings often fished the pool couched between the NY 28 bridge and the old red steel bridge at Mount Pleasant Road.  Years ago this was another structure that young local hooligans could be seen jumping from into the Esopus Creek below.

Jennings Pool, 11x14:

Once again, personal fond memories of Jennings Pool involve mammoth brown trout hooked and lost here; the latest occurrence the morning after the NY Mets lost the 2015 World Series, just piling up miseries of what could have been.

Mother’s Pool is located off Plank Road--- Old Route 28, just downstream of the hamlet of Phoenicia, tubing capital of the Catskills.  Local angling lore tells how this pool was named after the mother of Esopus Creek guide and Dean of the stream, Ray Smith.  Ray’s mother--- Agnes Moon Smith--- trout fished also, and according to local legend when she was nowhere to be found around the house, the answer to the question of “Where is she?” was “Mother’s Pool.”

This pool was also the former home of Old Bess, a 9½ pound brown caught here by Larry Decker on April 29^th, 1955.  Decker seduced the massive brown trout, measuring 30¾ inches long, while fishing minnows on his Payne fly rod!

Larry Decker and Old Bess coming off Mother’s Pool:

Mother’s Pool, soft light 11x14 (Sold):