Anglers come for ultimate fishing experience

Photos by Tom Rivers

WATERPORT – Late on Friday afternoon and the parking lot was nearly full at the Waterport Dam, one of the county’s most popular fishing spots.

I saw more license plates from Pennsylvania than New York. There were vehicles from Ohio, Rhode Island and Virginia as well as New York in the lot.

Fishing is Orleans County’s top tourism draw, and it tends to be a year-round business. Point Breeze was named “The Ultimate Fishing Town” in 2013 by the World Fishing Network.

The fall salmon fishing runs, when the big fish move from the lake to the tributaries, draws a crowd of anglers. Many wade into the waters and they say the fish will bump into their legs.

The spell of warm weather this past week has fewer fish than usual in the Oak Orchard at this time of the year. That’s what some of the anglers told me today. One guy from Pennsylvania said he would come back in a week.

But there were lots of big fish being caught. I saw many strung up in the water, and others stacked in a wagon.

I was back at the dam to go hiking for remnants of the old Waterport Trestle and two bridges that are long gone from the Oak Orchard. I should have a story later on the discoveries. The bottom two photos show the stone pillars and supports that were used at the bottom of the trestle.