The flood that swamped the western Catskills last January seemed insatiable, plucking trees out by their roots, plunging bridges into streams, wrecking homes and stores and leaving eight people dead.

Hobart Market, a butcher and smoker in the western Catskills, makes meaty pork, beef and combination pork and beef hot dogs in natural casings, $9.99 for two pounds.

That land is in eight counties in the southern and western Catskills, including Sullivan, Delaware, Ulster and Orange.

This year, I had decided to upgrade my opening day by spending it at the undisputed womb of American fly-fishing, in the western Catskills, where the trout season begins with casting ceremonies and banquets and guest speakers and dignitaries.

At the first stop, Mountain Sweet Farms in Cooks Falls in the western Catskills, Mr. Robuchon was delighted with the potatoes, among them the ratte, a small golden fingerling variety that he prefers to use.

A Threat to the Trout In the western Catskills, conservation groups worry that repair efforts after January's floods have disturbed trout habitats.

The rivers provided passage deep into all parts of eastern and western Pennsylvania, as well as east and northeast into the Delaware Water Gap and the western Catskills.

A similar phenomenon is now occurring in New York's western Catskills, where a massive flood last January plucked trees from their roots, leveled homes and stores, destroyed bridges and claimed eight lives.

For the last two decades, they have done just that, creating rural enclaves across the United States and Canada, including the group's headquarters in Hancock, N.Y., in the western Catskills.

In addition, New York's reservoirs in the western Catskills tap the east and west branches of the Delaware River, which, farther south, is also tapped by towns in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania.