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Way back in February, I posted about a contest put on by the World Fishing Network in which they were asking people to vote online for what they considered the “Ultimate Fishing Town” in the United States. You guys posted a few of your own votes in the comment section of that blog, offering Walker, MN, Soldotna, AK, and Hayward, WI, as a sampling of cities you thought fit the bill. I’d agree that all of them had the potential to win. Well, the results are in and apparently the ultimate fishing town is Roscoe, New York.

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First, a bit about Roscoe. This little town sits at the southern end of the Catskill Mountains, and Beaverkill and Willowemoc Creeks flow right through it. The branches of the Delaware River aren’t far away, either. I’ve been to Roscoe and fished these rivers. It is a beautiful little town and the flyfishing can be very good. However, I don’t think I’d call Roscoe the “Ultimate Fishing Town.”

One reason is that a large percentage of the area trout are put-and-take truck trout. It’s slightly unsettling to me that a town that relies so heavily on hatcheries won this contest when there are countless cities in the west where the trout are natural, bigger overall and can be caught pretty much year-round. Though they’ve asked to remain nameless, I even talked to a few Roscoe-area guide buddies that agree with me. So how did Roscoe win? Remember, this contest was based purely on votes. If I got enough people to vote for a town in the middle of the desert, it would have won.

In New York state alone, Montauk (Surfcasting Capital of the World) and Pulaski (arguably the steelhead capital of the East) are more deserving of the title, and they have just as much fishing history as Roscoe. But I guess not enough locals logged on to vote. Click here for more of the story, including a video about Roscoe’s win.