We were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of long time Buck-Horn Lodge customer and friend, Mel Sherman. This past November marked Mel’s 50th hunting season at the lodge and this photo was taken with my mother-in-law, Carolyn, marking this anniversary. He was an avid hunter who harvested numerous big game throughout the years on the property. Family and friends came with him over the years and he made friends with others that frequented the lodge, too. Mel enjoyed Iris’s homemade soups, applesauce, entrees, and pies. He was just reminiscing about them with Carolyn and Alicia this past season. Back in the day, Alicia took pride in making special requested peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for him, which were enclosed in brown bags that she decorated specially for him. Mel is now posting up by a tree in God’s country.​ On behalf of Ron & Carolyn Lewis, Scott, Meghan, & Will Lewis, and Alicia and me, we send our deepest sympathy to his family. He will be greatly missed.

What a day to be on the bass boat! White Lake was full of action as the bucket mouths, pickerel, bluegills, and perch all came out to play. Mike and Rob kept the laughter flowing as these long time buddies sure know how to razz each other. These guys were a blast to guide and we look forward to their return!   ️ #FishingFriday #GreatStartToAWeekend #WeCatchThemAll #GreatWesternCatskills #BuckHornLodge #FifieldOutfitters

We were going to venture to the West Branch, but after hearing it was a zoo, we decided to roll on down and float the Main Stem. Jimmy and Jake had some feisty rainbows come out to play. We had action from start to finish. On one stretch of the river, Jimmy wanted to be the guide, so I let him helm the ship. Jake photographed two majestic, mature, bald eagles, that were scouting for fish in a tree at the river’s bank as we passed by. We had a great float and I can’t wait for these guys to get back in our boat. #RainbowTrout #FlyFishing #CatchPhotoRelease #ScenicWildDelawareRiver #FifieldOutfitters

Ed joined us for a float trip on the Main Stem of the Upper Delaware River on Saturday, June 2nd. We hooked into two browns, one we had almost to the boat, when it rolled and threw the hook. My stomach turned when this big hook jaw came off. The other one he had on, we never got a good look at it. All and all, it was a great time, with great conversation, with a great person. We look forward to Ed’s next adventure with us!   #ScenicWildDelawareRiver #CatskillsTroutTales #DriftBoatFishingTrip #NYSLicensedGuide #FifieldOutfitters

​Evan joined us for a Blast & Cast trip. Saturday morning we had three birds gobbling, but for some reason they hung up at about 150 yards away. The hens were around us for hours. We had a hoot in the afternoon floating down the river. I brought my mouth turkey call and put that into action, as we greeted fellow anglers with hen yelps and soft purrs.  The rain didn’t stop the fish from biting, as we landed three nice browns, lost one rainbow, and a couple of other fish. A bunch of trout chased us back to the boat, too. Notice the bald eagle checking out Evan’s catch in the third photo.    Evan is a very established sportsman, who has traveled the world on hunting adventures. He’s targeted almost every big and small game animal on the planet and has been extremely successful on these hunts. However, he told me that there’s something about turkey hunting that gets him all fired up. He’ll be back with us to get his NY bird. We’re looking forward to his return!    #BlastAndCast #CatchPhotoRelease #BuckHornLodge #FifieldOutfitters

We had the pleasure of having Bruce from Virginia and Keith from Pennsylvania, join us for four nights at the Buck-Horn Lodge & Cabins. On Saturday, they drifted the East Branch with us. Each one caught and released a beautiful and healthy looking trout! Bruce landed his on a fly rod and Keith wrangled his in on a spinning rod. These guys have traveled the United States in search of the best trout waters that our nation has to offer. They said that the location of the Buck-Horn Lodge is the ultimate trout angler’s dream, because we’re located on and are within short traveling distances from the top trout fisheries.   

Father and son, Gilles and Hubert, traveled all the way from Canada to the western Catskills for an outdoors excursion with Fifield Outfitters. This adventurous pair took on our Blast & Cast Package today and will do it again tomorrow. They’re turkey hunting in the mornings and drift boat spin cast fishing in the afternoons. What a beautiful day it was in Delaware County, NY for them! Gilles topped it off by landing a nice brown trout on the mighty East Branch!   

Thank you to NYS licensed guide, Mr. Ben Rinker, of East Branch Outfitters, for asking us to help with the NYS DEC 3 year fish tagging study on the Upper Delaware River watershed. We will be using a PIT (passive integrated transponder) tag handheld scanner. When trout are landed on our drift boat, they will be scanned to see if they carry a tag and what number tag it is. With our cell phone, we’ll record the tag numbers and locations using an app. On www.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_marine_pdf/dfip.pdf, it states that this information “assess trout movements, habitat usage, and connectivity between main stem and tributary habitats.”  #TroutStudy #ActionResearch #PITTag #PITTagScanner #BrownTrout #RainbowTrout #UpperDelawareRiver

Guy got a hold of us to book a trip to learn how to streamer fish. It’s safe to say, he’s a quick learner, as we helped him land the biggest brown he’s caught on a fly rod AND his first using a streamer! What a gorgeous day out, we even saw a golden eagle that looked like a 747 flying down the East Branch.