Back when I was fishing the Beaverkill regularly 65 years ago, there were five dairy farms operating in the roughly two mile stretch between Junction Pool and the 206 bridge upstream in Rockland. Turn a rock over in the river back then and you'd find many, many caddis cases. Today, you might have to turn over 5-6 rocks to find a single caddis case. Hmmm....Maybe those farm fields fertilized by raw cow manure had a fertilizing effect on the river which resulted in great insect growth. (Note: Back then, commercial fertilizers and pesticides were not commonly used.)
The effect of these dairy farms along with the effluent from the primary sewage treatment plant adjacent to Junction Pool produced those big fish of Ferdon's and Barnharts and other downstream fishing hotspots.
Just saying.....
Lloyd Barnhart
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