Chapter 11- The River
West Leyden Pond
Discovery: West Leyden Pond Made Delta Lake Famous.
October 17, 2000,
45 degreees, Cloudy
Cold, grey and threatening rain. A lousy day. No matter, at 9:30 a.m.
we launched the canoe from the West Leyden Community Recreation Field and
paddled into the pond that made Delta Lake famous.
We moved slowly up the pond, casting to points,
logs and bays without success. Except for a number of muskrat houses, the
pond seemed as devoid of wildlife as it was fish.
When the West Leyden dam went
out it made Delta Lake famous.
out it made Delta Lake famous.
As we approached what appeared to be the upper end of open water, a pair of mallards jumped off the pond and circled overhead. Where the water was still rippling from the ducks taking off, we discovered a narrow channel through grass and alders. The water was too deep and the vegetation too thick to get out of the canoe, so we pulled and pushed our way through. Repeating this process a half-dozen times, we discovered a number of dead-end channels before breaking through to open water.
This was not the West Leyden Pond that Denny Gillen remembered as a youngster. Back then it was surrounded by meadows and pasture, and provided plenty of open water for area youngsters to enjoy fishing for bullheads and panfish. And to make it even more fun, local anglers brought back northern pike from the Saint Lawrence River and put them in the pond so the "kids" could catch some "real" fish.
There were so many twists, turns, and dead-ends we had no idea where the river entered the pond. A line of spruce trees on our left indicated a channel, so we headed in that direction and came to the mouth of a fast-flowing stream. It was 10:20. A quick check of a topo map revealed this was not the Mohawk River. We fished around large rocks in the stream and along the bank. If there were any fish in the area, they weren't interested in our spoons, spinners, plugs and jigs.
Earlier we had passed the gaping mouth of a large culvert. The stream that flowed through that culvert had to be the main "river" channel. We paddled back to the culvert, and carried the canoe up and over a farm road to the other end of the culvert. From there it was a short paddle to a beaver dam. This was no ordinary beaver dam. In addition to being quite high and narrow, there was a beaver house attached to the dam. Usually the beaver house is located well upstream from the dam. With this unusual structure as a marker for future exploration, we headed back. It was 11 o'clock.
As we paddled down the pond, I asked Denny if he lived in the area in the 1950s. I explained that while researching a magazine article on Delta Lake in the 1970s, I learned that Delta Lake was "stocked" with northern pike when the West Leyden dam washed out in the mid 50s. In the late 60s and early 70s pike up to 45-inches were being caught in the Lake. Pike specialists from all over the state came to fish Delta.
Denny and his family lived just outside the village at the time. He recalled a couple of incidents regarding West Leyden pike. A fellow, parked near the pond along Fish Creek Road, had three pike in the trunk of his car. They measured 40, 42 and 44 inches.
When the dam went out, Denny's younger brothers discovered several northern pike stranded in a pool at the upper end of the pond not far from their home. They jumped in the water, grabbed the pike and threw them up on shore. They were all over three feet long.
At the lower end of the pond we saw V-shaped ripples crossing a bay near a large muskrat house. Expecting to see muskrats, we headed in that direction and discovered two very busy beavers. Leaving the beavers to there industry we paddled down to the dam "to make sure we explored the entire length of the pond" and returned to the launch site.
We ended this discovery trip listening to the noon fire whistle and church bell music, and watching a large flock of Canada geese fly overhead. Not bad for a lousy day in October.
Follow the path of this discovery trip by clicking on Mohawk Valley Maps: by Maptech.
Type West Lyden, select New York, press GO!
Click on margin arrows to follow the path of the Mohawk River.
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