When It’s Too Hot To Fish
One of the things I like to do, when on a fishing trip, and it’s too hot to fish, is to explore the town or the general area. On June 3rd, I went traveling with Janice Moran (TIC Chairman), newbie Jane Keating, and Scott Ritchie (Treasurer) in and around the town of Wilmington, NY. I’ve got a horrible memory but I do remember what to do when it’s too hot to fish, you get out of the water and either tie the flies you’ve lost so far on your trip, or you go traveling. Some of the best reasons to go to Wilmington besides the great accommodations at the Hungry Trout Resort are the nearby tourist attractions, Whiteface Mountain, and Lake Placid.
There we were, at the edge of the downtown section of Wilmington (you know it’s the downtown section because beyond the filling station/general store are miles of open road). If you double back from there, you’ll find yourself at a small park with a monument to Fran Betters. The Monument is right there on the main road, at the entrance to the park.
This monument sits at the entrance to Wilmington’s Bridge Park.
Fran Betters’ Ausable Wulff
Mr. Betters was born in Wilmington in 1931. His mother died in childbirth and he was adopted by Margaret and Victor Betters, a prominent North Country hunter and fisherman.
The “Bomber” by Fran Betters
His father gave him not only a first-rate education in fishing and observing the natural world but also the opportunity to meet and learn from famous anglers like Ray Bergman, one of the major American fishermen of the 20th century. I
He died September 6th, 2009 at his home in Jay, N.Y. He was 78.
The fly sculptors, schoolteachers Nancy and Nick Groudas, used steel found during river cleanups in the Adirondacks.
After the monument is a very small parking lot that if parked like sardines in a can, can fit perhaps four vehicles. Walking away from the road is another monument, where my traveling companions posed.
Jan Moran, Jane Keating, and Scott Ritchie
I had to sneak one more photo of Fran, this time at Monument Falls.
If you walk further back, there’s a steep hill with a chain-link fence on your right, and a trail down to the water, at the end of the impoundment. Next to the wall of the impoundment(waterfall), many spin fishermen were gathered in the rocks, and for about a mile downstream, wherever the river was wadeable, we found fly anglers, later in the evening, after our trip up the mountain.
The Trip Up To Whiteface Mountain
I don’t recall the exact temperature on Saturday the 3rd of June, but I do recall it was somewhat humid. Scott decided we should seek moving air, so to do so, we elected to visit the top of Whiteface Mountain – not the side where they ski. First, you drive up this road for about two miles, drive around a small lake, and then you come to a gate, that collects a vehicle fee for driving the rest of the way up. Scott got out to check out the lake. Have you ever noticed that some people appear to scratch their ears before saying something so profound, that you have to look back at them to make sure it came out of them, and nobody was hiding behind them? In any case, this is not what Scott was doing, he was waving off a fly or fifteen. We saw many black flies in Wilmington this year.
Going up that hill, with switchback after switchback, you’re very grateful that you’re going up in a moving vehicle and not by your own power. Once we got to the top, the guy the guy that got out of his truck wearing a net over his head, steel mesh gloves, and his pants tucked into his boots, should have warned us off – but being the tourists that we were, we continued above him to the parking lot. After parking, you still need to walk uphill for a ways to get up to the castle, and going through the castle you can still go up the mountain to the observation point.
First, the entrance to the little hill you need to climb to get to the observation point
So, the entrance of the bottom step is 4610 ft above sea level. If you aren’t in really good shape, you should stop here, and go back to the castle.
Here’s the observation deck – I shot this photo from below so I don’t spoil the climb for you:
and here, are some other views from the castle: