NAPLES — Friday was April 1, which means there was a joke or two being played somewhere.
The consistent April Fool’s Day trick with the iconic Naples Creek Rainbow Trout Derby is the weather.
The day before the contest, balmy south winds ushered in 70 degree temperatures to the region. The next morning, it was 38 degrees, with a cold northwest win blowing, in the village of Naples.
It’s opening day for inland trout, and the fish could care less about air temperatures. Water temperatures dictate their behavior.
The wet, spitting snow didn’t affect young Sawyer Carson. It was the lack of bites. The 10-year-old was fishing with his dad near Grimes and Naples Creek above “The Digger.”
“We were here at 6:30,” Sawyer said. “We started early, and we are now quitting.”
Jeff Carson and his son are from Canandaigua; Dad has fished the Rotary-sponsored derby for 30 years. He casted in Naples Creek with his father and is keeping the tradition alive.
Over by “The Digger,” John Skinner and Pam Lea were just fishing the morning adventure before heading north to fish Maxwell Creek in Wayne County.
Skinner, 77 years young, and Lea, 68, are fishing buddies. He is a retired engineer from the old Rochester Telephone Co. She is a retired veterinarian from the Cooperstown region.
Skinner makes his own rods using 10-foot blanks.
“I place more eyelets on this rod, which gives it a smoother cast,” he said. “I also place enough cork on the handle so it reaches the tip of my elbow.”
As we were chatting away, a fly angler hooked a beauty. It bent the pole in half as he tried to entice it out of the strong current.
It didn’t work. The trout decided to remain in the creek.
The group surrounding the pool all moved back to give the angler space; however, when the fish took its leave, they all resumed casting the pool.
When asked how long the fishing buddies have been plying the streams, Lea quipped, “I have been fishing for three years. John has been fishing forever.”
Back at the local fire hall, where Micah Moore was keeping tabs on the scoreboard, he said the total number of registrations for the 61st annual Derby was 316.
“This is close to the numbers we had before the pandemic,” he said.
As of noon, 46 fish had been weighed, the largest fish being a 7.45-pound female rainbow trout.
What a delight it was to see Naples Creek crowded with anglers fishing the Rainbow Trout Derby. Not only were they casting for trout, but they were also eating lunch at local businesses, buying gas in town, and, like me, taking a grape pie home for dinner.
A special thanks to the Naples Rotary for this annual event and to Jon Betrus’s students from his Naples High School Introduction to Fish and Wildlife and Outdoor Adventures class. The students weighed and took scale samples of the trout that were caught.
Chris Kenyon covers the outdoors for the Times. His “Outdoors” column appears every other Sunday, with the next one slated for April 9.
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