Fishbrook Pond – Trip Report

I had a great weekend sitting on the shore of a little pond nestled between Sleeping Beauty and Black Mountain. I hiked into Fishbrook Pond on Saturday evening and stayed until just before noon on Sunday. Had I known that the weather was going to be perfect and the fish were going to be biting, I would have hiked in Friday and made a weekend out of it. Regardless, I had a great time.

Hiking In

My friend Josh and I got to the trail head at about 4:30pm, a little later than I had planned. I thought that I would be able to drive up to Dacy Clearing, however, the stop barrier was closed. So we had to park at the Hogtown Trail parking lot and walk the additional mile and a half to Dacy Clearing. This wasn’t too much of a hindrance, but a 2 mile hike is quite a bit easier than a 4 mile hike with full packs on. That makes two things that didn’t go as planned so far, and we weren’t even on the trail yet.

From Dacy Clearing we hiked a little ways, maybe 1/2 mile and came to a fork in the trail. There was one DEC sign that showed the trail to Sleeping Beauty, and underneath it was a little plastic trail marker that someone had written “Fishbrook Pond, 1.9 m” with an arrow pointing away from the Sleeping Beauty trail in magic marker. I had looked at a map prior to hitting the woods, so I expected a left turn at this fork. An upgrade in the signage at this point on the trail would be helpful. When later reviewing the journals at the two lean-tos at Fishbrook Pond, we saw that several people had made a wrong turn and ended up here accidentally.

After taking a left at the fork, the trail becomes moderately steep, and follows a somewhat dry (depending on the weather) creek bed, switching back up the hill.

This portion of the trail was almost more difficult to hike down on the way out than it was to hike up on the way in. We walked for a mile or so and came up to Bumps Pond on the right hand side of the trail. At first glance, we thought we might want to stay here for the night, but camping is restricted to certain areas that are several hundred feet away from the trail and the water, so we pressed onward.

After another mile or so of wet, winding trail, we arrived at Fishbrook Pond. We walked up to the lean-to on the south end of the large pond to find a neatly stacked pile of firewood, complete with enough kindling and logs to last the entire night. Wow, quite nice of whoever stayed last time to gather and stack firewood for the next visitors! We looked around for a bit before noticing another lean-to almost directly across the pond from here. The whole point of this trip was for us to do a bit of fly fishing, and there really wasn’t anywhere here where we could make full casts without standing in the water, or snagging a tree on every back cast. So we decided to pass on the full night worth of firewood and head to the second lean-to.

We made the right choice. The lean-to on the north side of Fishbrook Pond sits on a point, with a large, exposed rock shelf between the campsite and the water.

This location was good for fishing as we could both cast into the pond without worrying about snagging anything. We arrived at our destination at about 6:30pm.

Immediately upon arrival I pitched my tent between the lean-to and the water and spread out my sleeping pad and sleeping bag so I wouldn’t have to do it later.

While I was doing this, Josh was rigging up his fly rod and started to fish. I started getting my fishing equipment together as Josh made his first cast. I didn’t even have my reel seated on my rod before Josh had landed a 10 inch Brook Trout. Awesome! I got my stuff together quickly, and tied on the same streamer fly that Josh had just had success with and walked over to the other side of the low, rock ledge. After 30 – 45 minutes of fishing, we had both landed a Brook Trout, and were ready to start dinner.

Dinner Time

I had packed a piece of aluminum foil to use in the event that we caught fish, however when we got to the lean-to we realized it was furnished with a few pots and pans, and a grate for cooking on an open fire. I lit my stove, a little MSR Pocket Rocket and started to boil water for the cheddar broccoli soup mix we brought. I also brought some seasonings, so after the fish were cleaned, I sprinkled some lemon pepper seasoning inside the cavity and put them on the grate over the fire.

The fish cooked quickly, and perfectly. One thing I love about trout is the simplicity. Cleaning them is a breeze, and cooking them is even easier. When the meat is cooked through, the skin peels off perfectly and the meat just falls away from the bones. The occasional bone that I miss doesn’t bother me too much either. Fresh caught lemon pepper trout, and hot cheddar broccoli soup around the campfire was the best dinner I have had in a long time.

The moon was two days away from being full, and the clear, cool night was very bright. We sat around the campfire for a while before turning in for the night. Josh slept in the lean-to while I had my two-person tent to myself. This tent is pretty tight with two people, but when alone, there is more than enough room!

A.M. Fishing & Hike Out

I woke up at about 7am the next morning, and tried my hand at fishing again. I could see fish rising and eating off the surface all over the pond, so I tried my luck with dry flies. I didn’t get any bites, and the wind started to pick up around 8am which made it quite difficult for me to cast my 4 wt. fly line. I think one of the issues I was having with dry flies is the length of my leader. I probably had 6 feet of leader and 2 feet of tippet at the end of my line. Next time I will go with something a little longer, putting more distance between my line and my fly.

It looked like it might start to rain so I took my tent down and moved all of my belongings into the lean-to before breakfast. We had hot tea and oatmeal for breakfast while we sat by the fire trying to guess what the weather would bring. After fishing a little more (with no luck) and getting our gear together, we headed out of the campsite at about 10:30am. The walk out was pleasant, and the sun came out and started shining through the trees when we were about a mile away from the car. We took our time on the way out, stopping for breaks and making note of the places that we would like to fish next time. We reached the car at about 12:30pm, and headed home tired, sweaty, and satisfied.

I see that there is another trail head off of Pike Brook Road that may lead to this location. Has anyone hiked in this way? How long of a hike is it? This area is literally littered with little ponds and streams, and I have to assume that if there are trout in one, there are trout in the others. Lean-to or not, do any of these other ponds offer good fishing and camping? I will definitely be returning to this spot, probably before winter.