It's still early spring, with air temperatures most mornings in the 30s. There have been the typical snowdrops, crocuses and early spring flowers blooming and just yesterday I noticed red buds on the maple tree, yellow buds on the forsythia and good-sized buds on the lilacs in the backyard. The summer birds are back with their sweet songs that cheer our mornings and evenings during sunrise and sunset.

We stopped along the Beaverkill and Willowemoc on Saturday afternoon and saw only about a half dozen or so anglers out on the river; interestingly, only three cars had New York plates, three were from New Jersey, two from Pennsylvania, and one from Connecticut - twice as many trout fishers from out of state. More anglers were out on the river on Sunday.

The air temperature was in the mid-50s and on a few stops there were a number of small size #18 dark caddis flies in the air and in the creek willows lining the stream, but there were no rises -- the river was still a bit chilly.

Water levels on the Beaverkill at Cooks Falls have been dropping all week; on Monday morning, April 6, the USGS website showed that the Beaverkill was flowing at 594 cubic feet per second. This is below the average flow for this date of 1210 cfs based on 105 years of record-keeping. The maximum flow recorded on this date was 6720 cfs in 1923, and the minimum flow recorded was 235 cubic feet per second way back in 1915. Water temperatures remained in the low 40s all week but rose to 49 degrees Fahrenheit late Sunday afternoon.

The stocking schedule for our Catskill rivers and streams show that most of our streams are usually stocked in April towards the end of the month, with repeat stocking in some waters in May and June; however to date we haven't seen any hatchery trucks out yet. This means that most of the fish you'll catch in the next week or two will either be wild or ‘holdover' trout - those that had been previously stocked and were able to winter over.

A favorite destination for trout fishers in early spring is the Beaverkill Covered Bridge. The DEC has operated a campsite along the river for many years; early-season campers are most likely trout fishers. This was the case with my family, and I remember camping and fishing at Beaverkill for most of my growing-up years in Sundown and Grahamsville (in fact, my first birthday was celebrated in a tent at the Beaverkill campgrounds). The historic bridge was constructed in 1865 and was in operation for about 150 years and was replaced just a few years ago. Large trout are known to reside in the deep pool under the bridge; in fact, Theodore Gordon (often referred to as the Father of American Dry Fly-Fishing) fished that portion of the stream with good success.

The DEC website lists the campsite as opening on May 15; however, New York State has suspended all new camping, cabin and cottage reservations for the 2020 season until further notice, but they are assessing campground status on a daily basis. For more information please visit the DEC website or try this link https://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/7820.html

Judy Van Put is a long-time member of the NYS Outdoor Writers Association, and is the recipient of the New York State Council of Trout Unlimited's Professional Communications Award.