That’s what Helen Keller said after landing two fair sized trout in Dry Brook in late July, 1935.
The Catskill Mountain News reported July 5 that she had rented “King’s Lodge,” the former Kelly farm, one of the Gould properties, for the summer. With a sizeable staff to attend her, and “thousands of feet of rope stretched around the promises to help her get about unaided,” the woman famous for overcoming blindness, deafness and lack of speech was “enjoying the delightful air of the Dry Brook Valley.”
On August 2, the paper said Niles Fairbairn, legendary local outdoorsman and angler, was invited for a visit and to show her the stream. With the help of a nurse who “conversed with Miss Keller by the deaf and dumb alphabet with fingers touched to the palm of Miss Keller’s hand,” she was taught to swing the fishing rod in a space free from trees and vegetation.
Her first cast hooked an undersized trout which Niles returned to the stream. She next hooked “a large sized native” and “landed the beauty after a ten minute fight.” After a third catch of a good sized trout, she declared she’d had excitement enough for one day, adding “I had the thrill of my life.”