Chapter 11- The River
Randall To Fonda - Fultonville
Discovery: The Roosevelt Run
May 23, 2002, Sunny, 70 degrees predicted
Dale's
watercraft of choice is a johnboat, so he wasn't too happy when we paddled
the canoe into the boiling cauldron just downstream from the lock dam.
High water pouring over the dam created cross currents and churning water
that literally pushed-pulled the canoe up, down and sideways. It looked
like our day on the river might end before it started.
This discovery trip started at Lock 13,
opposite Randall. This hamlet, like so many others on the south side of
the river, grew up along the Old Erie Canal. When two-horse power meant
two horses pulling a wagon, growing and selling hay was big business. In
1878 more than 3,000 tons of hay were shipped from this port. Back then
it was called Yatesville and a nearby stream still carries that name. Apparently
there was more than one Yatesville in New York State because the post office
was called Randall and eventually the hamlet was called the same. Today
Randall is a cluster of houses and a church on Route 5S.
When the Barge Canal was completed in 1915, there
was a road running from Randall to the new lock, however, when the New
York State Thruway was built in the 1950s access to the Lock was provided
from the old road through a pedestrian tunnel. Visitors can park near the
tunnel entrance, walk under the Thruway, picnic, fish, watch boats go through
the lock, and see trains pass by on the opposite side of the canal.
(The only vehicle access to the lock is from the
westbound lane of the Thruway. This is not an official Thruway exit and
it can be dangerous to enter and exit.)
I had planned to end this 5-mile trip at the
NYS Canal Maintenance Facility in Fonda, but was advised that "without
exception" the gate closes at 3:30 p.m. and there is no way to get a vehicle
or canoe out of the compound. Too bad, it was an ideal launch/takeout.
Apparently the folks at this facility haven't adjusted to the fact that
the Canal has changed from commercial to recreational. No matter, there
is a boat launch across the river at Fultonville. It's located almost opposite
the Thruway exit at the east end of a motel complex. At one time this was
the Poplar Restaurant and Motel Resort. Today only the motel is in operation.
We got permission at the office to leave Dale's van near the launch.
We
unloaded the canoe at Lock 13 at 9:45 a.m. and carried it down to the river
below the lock. Just before we launched, the NYS tugboat, Governor Roosevelt
passed through the lock heading east. When the tugboat wake subsided, we
launched the canoe and paddled upstream toward the dam. The highly oxygenated
waters below canal dams are often excellent places to fish, but after almost
a month of rain, the turbulence below the Lock 13 Dam was beyond anything
I've experienced in a canoe. It felt like a giant hand was holding the
canoe and toying with us. Hearts pounding, we paddled out of the cauldron
and headed downstream and towards the opposite shore where my topo map
indicated Briggs Run enters the river.
white plug at the mouth of Van Wie Creek.
One thing I've learned about fishing the river and canal is that stream outlets are good places to catch fish anytime of year. Sometimes the fish are right in the outlet, but more often they're located just downstream near the dropoff into the canal. While the river in this area is not considered trout water, some of the tributaries hold trout and on occasion some good fish are caught near the mouths of these streams.
Trout
season was open, as were walleye and pike. Bass season doesn't open until
the third Saturday in June, but bass don't know that and sometimes take
lures and bait offered to other fish. Bass are especially aggressive during
their spawning season which starts in late May or early June when the water
temperature is in the 60s. And of course the Mohawk, for much of its length,
is well-known carp water. Carp are usually taken on bait, but sometime
take jigs and flies. We came prepared to fish with a variety of lures,
including spoons, spinners, plugs and jigs.
We didn't connect with fish near the mouth
of Briggs Run, so we paddled through a stone arch culvert under the railroad
and waded upstream, fishing pools and runs. Nice looking water, but no
fish. Dale checked the temperature in the stream. It was 52 degrees. We
returned to the river and discovered the surface temp was 56 degrees.
At
10:30 three yachts came up the river single file about a hundred yards
apart. Their wakes pounded the shoreline, turning the near shore water
to muddy brown. When they saw us they slowed down. We responded with thank-you
waves. When the boats passed a flock of seagulls landed in the middle of
the canal and swallows swooped low over the water.
The water at the mouth of Van Wie Creek on the south
side of the river was quite clear. When Dale's red and white Mirro Lure
plug dove towards the dropoff just downstream from the mouth of the creek,
it stopped and then moved into the river . . . attached to a walleye that
measured 22 inches.
We returned to the north shore, passed
an old brown barn and fished the mouth of another tributary. Although we
didn't catch fish, we did flush a pair of mallards. It was noon, so we
stopped to eat lunch and watched the traffic on the Thruway on the other
side of the river. Our hip boots were covered with mud, so when it was
time to leave, I rinsed the mud from one boot before putting it in the
canoe, then sat in the canoe, rinsed the other boot and lifted it into
the canoe. Dale got halfway through this procedure when, like a big tree,
he s-l-o-w-l-y toppled into the creek. Fortunately, the water was shallow
so he only filled one boot and got half wet. Good thing it was in the 70s.
For
the next hour and a half we crisscrossed the river, casting to the mouths
of tributaries, bays and any structure we could find. Along the way we
saw another pair of mallards, a muskrat and a red-tailed hawk, and passed
by a Thruway parking area before paddling into the mouth of Cayadutta Creek
at 1:45.
Settlement here goes back hundreds of years. A Mohawk Village, located
near here in the late 1600s, was called Caughnawaga, and the first Dutch
settlement in this area was called by that name. When the Utica & Schenectady
Railroad came up the north side of the river in 1835 the village started
to grow. When it was incorporated in 1851 the name was changed to Fonda
in recognition of the family that contributed so much to the area.
The water flowing down the Cayadutta was
crystal clear, so we could see to the bottom. Dozens of big carp were cruising
the creek and we saw a northern pike lying on the bottom. We paddled upstream
to a railroad bridge where we beached the canoe and waded under railroad
bridges and the Route 5 Bridge right in the village. There were deep pools
and runs in this section of the creek, but we couldn't entice a fish. In
the past this stream was a major source of fish and mussels for the Mohawks
that lived in this area. (See also
Cayadutta)
A sailboat under power passes the Canal Maintenance Facility
at Fonda where the gate closes at 3:30 p.m. - no exceptions.
On the way back to the river we tried to entice those big carp with jigs, but they would have none of them. A large sailboat --- under power---was coming up the river, so we paddled to the south side where I could take a photo of the boat and the Canal Maintenance Facility mentioned earlier.
We met the Governor Roosevelt coming and going.
At the mouth of a small tributary that flows through
Fultonville and enters the river just upstream from the Fonda-Fultonville
Bridge, Dale caught a 14-inch smallmouth bass on a white Road Runner. That
seemed like a good note to end our trip, so we paddled under the bridge,
past the Montgomery County Fairgrounds and on to the motel boat ramp. Just
before takeout we met the Governor Roosevelt coming back up the river towing
a smaller tugboat. The captain slowed the tugs and we exchanged greetings.
When the wake subsided, we beached the canoe. It was 3 o'clock.
Follow the path of this discovery trip by clicking on Mohawk Valley Maps: by Maptech.
Type Randall select New York, press GO!
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