LAKE PLACID, NY — Don Jones makes a claim that few other fly shop owners can. Jones has turned down opportunities to help with outdoor magazine stories about the Ausable River and the other fishing around Lake Placid.

Why would any outfitter fail to set the hook on free publicity for his business?

"I like to say the Ausable is one of the best rivers in the state, maybe not the best, but one of the best," Jones said. "However, it's definitely the prettiest."

Jones wants to make certain it stays that way. Like a log roller at ESPN's Great Outdoor Games, Jones wants to maintain his balance in a perilous place. In his case, it's the balance between natural beauty and development.

"I've been dealing with some of my customers for 20 years," Jones said. "What am I going to do, ruin it for them?"

	“	I've been dealing with some of my customers for 20 years. What am I going to do, ruin it for them? ”
		— Area fly shop owner Don Jones

Don and his wife, Georgia, have owned it the last 20 years, but the Orvis affiliated fly shop in Lake Placid has been located on Main St. since 1958. It's the oldest Orvis shop outside the company's original store in Vermont. If you want to get a glimpse of Lake Placid and the fishing that surrounds it, Jones Outfitters Ltd. is a good place to stop.

It's a place where you can get a tip on the best fly patterns for the Ausable River, where the Great Outdoor Games fly fishing competition will be held. And it's an even better place to get a sense of what makes Lake Placid and the Adirondack region special. Equaling Lake Placid's storied history in the Winter Olympics is the Ausable River's place in the history of fly fishing.

Birth of a pattern

Legendary fly fisher Lee Wulff in his book "Lee Wulff on Flies," wrote of this experience on the river: "I wanted a buggier-looking, heavier-bodied fly, and I needed more flotation in order to keep it up. I had in mind the big gray drakes that came out on the Ausable, which were heavier in the body than any of the dry-fly imitations of the day. Looking for a material that would float such a body, I came up with bucktail.

"...Out of this thinking came the Gray Wulff, White Wulff and Royal Wulff. My use of bucktail was the first use of animal hair on dry flies."

Wulff mentions that he intended to name that first bucktail pattern the Ausable Gray, but another legendary fly fisher, Dan Bailey, insisted he call it the Gray Wulff.

That 1930s incident alone would give the Ausable River a prominent place in angling history. Georgia Jones can take you back even further in the love New Yorkers have for this area, where any type of summer home, whether fishing shack or mansion, is known as a "camp." In 1894 Georgia's great great grandfather bought nearly two acres on a Lake Placid island for $300. She has spent every summer of her life here, despite living as a child in Syracuse, Chicago and Pittsburgh.

"Why would you want to go anywhere else?," she says with a smile. "We've got family who have lived all over the world and they agree there's no place like it. My grandmother, in particular, was well-traveled. She always said this area was like Switzerland or the lake country in Scotland, only more so."

Georgia Jones worked for the U.S. Olympic Committee in 1980 as the coordinator of volunteer workers at the Lake Placid Games. It gave her a new perspective on the natural beauty of Lake Placid.

"Europeans comment on how much wilder the woods are here. Austrians from the mountain country talk about how their woods are so clean because all of the dead and downed timber is picked up and used for firewood."

When six-million-acre Adirondack Park was created in 1892, the goal was to guarantee public lands would remain wild forever. While almost half the acreage has always been privately held, all of it is managed with that goal in mind. Dead and downed timber must be left on the ground in most cases on public land.

"It's like no other place in this country," said Jones, noting that only 130,000 people live in the six million acre area encompassed by the park boundaries.

Wherever you find wild trout, there must be an abundance of clean water. The kitchen tap in the Jones family camp on Buck Island is the ultimate symbol of that. Just as it was in 1896, the drinking water comes straight from Lake Placid, with no filtration in between.

"I wouldn't advise this for everybody, but I can drink the water right out of the lake," Jones said. "We have it tested all the time. My water in town isn't nearly as tasty as the water on the island."

Yes, why not. A toast to the clean water of the Ausable River and Lake Placid. It has already enjoyed a much longer life than expected. May it continue to grow trout and attract anglers for generations to come. Just not too many anglers.