This weather rollercoaster has been the story this winter. We went from a pretty cold and frozen over winter… to a very quick warm up to 70 F- then back to winter last few days end of March. Those with April and May dates should do well for steelhead since the Great Lakes and our Hardy and Croton reservoirs had a ton of ice for the first time in years. This will keep down the temperatures of the river for a good long time.
Early Black Stonefly hatches have been sporadic like the weather as are the browns rising to them. The winds have been crazy so far this spring- that keeps the ova-positing females in the woods. The very icy cold waters from the reservoir keep river temps low. This is holding down the hatch, along with the frigid temps in the low 20F at night. We already had our snow melt-off and high waters so lets hope we get a rainy spring for summer river flows. We expect a good long and drawn out Early Black Stonefly hatch well into late April like on cold winter years. Caddis hatches were very strong last year along with heavy sulpher hatches. It will also be interesting to see what gray drake hatches we will see this year
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