New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in Region 5 recently coordinated with the Town of Willsboro (with assistance from Trout Unlimited and Boquet River Association) to rebuild an angler access site on the river near a popular salmon fishing pool.
The Boquet River in Essex County is the steepest river in New York State, and is more prone to erosion and storm damage, in part due to the channelizing of the river.
In 2023 a storm caused intense damage at the existing log crib used by anglers, tearing away entire logs and numerous rocks from the structure. Instead of returning the bank to a natural state, DEC installed new logs this past September with the help of several volunteers. The Town of Willsboro then purchased gravel for DEC to fill the new log crib.
The Boquet was formerly known for its large numbers of salmon, but intensive fishing, pollution and dams and other ecologically degrading structures helped wipe them out. Atlantic salmon disappeared from the Boquet and all the rivers draining to Lake Champlain by the mid-1800s.
A stocking program using fish from Maine’s Sebago Lake in the 1970s was largely a failure, despite dumping millions of fish into the lake and its tributaries. More recent fish ladders have not helped native fish overcome the remaining dams and other human-made obstacles and interventions.
Also in recent years the Boquet River Association (BRASS) and other river advocates have worked to restore natural habitat along the Boquet River, most notably planting more than 270,000 trees to stabilize its banks.
Fishing the Boquet River for salmon still relies on hatchery breeding and stocking.
Photos: Boquet River fishing access after, and before, 2024 repair (DEC).
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