The Beaver Kill and Willowemoc are a couple of the more fabled streams in the lore of trout fishing. They flow eastward out of the Catskills into the East Branch Delaware River at East Branch through Sullivan County and Delaware County. State Route 17 follows these two creeks from Livingston Manor west to East Branch. There are fishing easements along most of this section.

Some of the finest trout fishing in the state, including some of the best trophy trout fishing, is at waters controlled by the New York City Water Supply.

Anglers need a permit to fish New York City water supply reservoirs. Permits are available online at www.nyc.gov/html/dep/watershed/, or call the DEP's Land Management-Access Permit office at (800) 575-LAND (5263).

Applications for use of city water supply lands are also available at watershed town halls, watershed tackle-sports shops, DEP Land Management offices in the watershed, and DEP offices in Queens and Manhattan. Completed permit applications should be mailed to NYC DEP Land Management-Access Permits office, 71 Smith Avenue, Kingston, NY 12401. Once a completed application is received and accepted by the DEP, an access permit will be issued and mailed to the permit holder. This typically takes from one to four weeks, so do not wait too long if you want to fish any of these fine trout waters.

Boating for the purposes of fishing is allowed on New York City reservoirs to anglers holding the appropriate DEP permits. Anglers must store their fishing boats at designated storage areas. All boats must be approved and registered with the DEP.

Applications are available through the Web site noted above.

One notable regulations change in Region 4 provides that all fishing is prohibited from July 1 to Aug. 31 on the Beaver Kill in Delaware County from the iron bridge at Horton downstream to the first Route 17 overpass.

SOUTHEAST REGION
There is some surprisingly good trout fishing on New York's Long Island. Four ponds in Nassau County, a reservoir and a creek, are stocked. In Suffolk County, six ponds, nine lakes, six rivers and a creek are stocked with more than 20,000 trout each year. Stocking is spread out from spring through fall.

Some of the heaviest stocking is at Upper Lake west of Yaphank along Middle Island Road, and at Lower Lake near Yaphank along Yaphank Avenue and Long Island Avenue.

For a more unusual setting and some quality fishing, check out the Connetquot or Caleb Smith State Park preserves. Both are managed by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation as fly-fishing parks. In addition to stocked trout, there are also sea-run brook, brown, rainbow and tiger trout. Trout weighing more than 8 pounds are sometimes caught here. Fishing is by reservation only. For details, contact park offices in Connetquot at (631) 581-1005 or Caleb Smith at (631) 265-1054.