YOU DO not usually think of New York City as a major source for freshwater fishing, but it does control more than 57,000 acres of ♓water in Westchester and the Catskills.
The City’s Department of Environmental Protection has 24,876 acres of water supply lands with numerous streams open for fishing. Fishing is also available on 19 reservoirs and two controlled lakes with a water surface of over 33,500 acres accessible from shoreline or by boat.
Access to most water supply lands for recreation requires a free Access Permit. Permits are issued for five years and are sent to applicants through the mail. Applications are on the web at and at DEP offices in♛ the City and throughout the watershed.
A recent survey of boating anglers showed that half the fish caught from boatsꦡ in city res✃ervoirs were bass, with brown trout (15 percent), lake trout (six percent) and walleye (two percent) also being reported.
Aluminum and metal-alloy rowboꩵats between ♛11-feet, 6-inches and 16 feet in length and at least 42 inches wide are allowed on the reservoirs. Boats must be steam-cleaned by DEP before being placed on a reservoir because of concerns about the spread of zebra mussels. Boats must also remain at the reservoir where they are located, and have a current DEP Boat Tag.
The DEP will post photos of fish caught on water supply lands in a new section of its web site called Fish Tales. Access Permit holders can email photos of themselves holding their best catch to FishTales@dep.nyc.gov. Photos and information will be posted at . Fish Tales can also be mailed to: Fish Tales, NYC-DEP Public Affairs, 59-17 Junction Boulevard 19t ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ♏ᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚFloor, Flushing, NY 11373.
For more information about fishing, hunting and other recreational use of City lands, go to or call DEP at (800) 575-LAND you can also e-mail questions to permits@dep.nyc.gov.
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Here is a way to help some of our returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan and get in some fishing as well. New York Vets will be raising funds and awareness for the goo𝔍d works done by the Wounded Warrior Project, which assists men and women of the armed forces who have been severely injured (to learn more about WWP, visit their website at ).
To that end, NY Vets iဣs sponsoring the first Nyack Striped Bass Tournament to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project. The tournament will take place from May 5-7 on the Hudson River, north of the G.W. Bridge. Top prize is $3,000, awarded for the largest striped bass caught. Registration fee for each participant is $35 and can be mailed to 🍃New York Vets at P.O. Box 1001, Nyack, New York 10960 along with a tournament registration form. To get a copy of the form go to .
ken.moran@btc365-futebol.com