What a difference a week makes - from last week’s heavy snow (one friend reported seven inches of snow that had fallen at her house last Tuesday/Wednesday!) to Saturday’s sunny warm temperatures that reached 83 balmy degrees.

On Sunday evening the Beaverkill at Cooks Falls was recorded as flowing at just 523 cubic feet, which is less than half the average median flow on this date of 1140 cfs over 111 years of record-keeping. This does not bode well for our rivers and streams during what is typically the month of “April showers” to bring the May flowers and keep our streams full.

 In fact, the DEC has issued a Burn Ban until May 15, and the Weather Channel has been issuing a Special Weather Statement for days, warning of wildfires that may occur due to high winds and unseasonably dry weather.

Saturday’s warm weather did raise water temperatures a bit, at least on the Beaverkill, up to and slightly above that ‘magic’ number of 50 degrees Fahrenheit, but those who ventured out on the stream found that the fish were finicky and refused most of ther offerings.

Tom Mason took a ride over to check out the Neversink on Easter weekend but saw only one fisherman, no flies hatching. He encountered a friend there who said he thinks everything is “behind” - both the fly hatches and the fish.

Early on Saturday morning just after sunrise the Willowemoc looked promising, with what even appeared to be a sporadic rise - which then began to move downstream - when I realized it was not a trout rising but rather a muskrat that was surfacing from time to time, as it swam along on its way downriver.

Seth Cavaretta, of Dette Flies, said he has gotten out only a couple of times this year so far, stating that the water has been low and clear but very cold until the past few days - he went out last week with Mike Koneckni, also of Dette Flies, and reported that the thermometer read just 39°! 

And there was not much action in the way of hatches, mostly little Black Caddis flies and early Brown Stone flies. He mentioned that some of the rivers had reports of Blue Quills, some Blue-Winged Olives and a Hendrickson or Quill Gordon or two, but not enough to get the fish looking up seriously.

He tried an Iron Blue Dun (a pattern from J. Edson Leonard’s angling classic titled “Flies,”) but had no takers. Then he switched to a Hendrickson wet fly and had two fish following it, one actually took the fly, but it shook its head twice and got off. He tried a few other wet fly patterns, then eventually switched to a streamer: “I first tied on a Lew Oatman Baby Brook Brout (streamer fly) and immediately had a follow. I was fishing in a run against a sheer rock bank. It had a slight bend to it with some logs hanging over and in the water too, so I kept chucking the streamer and eventually had a fish slam it! But after a short run it came off.” Sethfinished fishing that run but had no further chases. He tied on a Slaymaker Little Brown Trout Bucktail, figuring it was similar in coloration though had a little different profile that might entice a fish, and returned to the beginning of the run to start again. After three casts he had another “follow” but missed the fish. Then on the very next cast a 13” brown trout took the fly, and Seth netted his first fish of the season.

Don’t forget that today, Tuesday April 22, is Earth Day! This year celebrating its 55th year, the theme is “Our Power, Our Planet” with a call for everyone to unite around renewable energy. First celebrated on April 22, 1970, Earth Day has become an annual event to demonstrate support for environmental protection. It is now coordinated globally through earthday.org and includes 1 billion people in more than 193 countries with a wide range of activities and events.

Over on the Esopus, the Catskill Mountain Chapter of Trout Unlimited (TU) is hosting its annual stream cleanup event on the Esopus and its tributaries on Saturday, April 26 between 10:00 am - 12:00 pm. All are welcome to come and help out; there is still a lot of trash along the streams due to the winter flooding. They ask volunteers to meet out in front of Catskill Outfitters along Route 28 in Phoenicia to get trash bags and a map. Everyone will then head out to clean up a section of stream.

When you are finished, bring your trash back to Catskill Outfitters so that it can be taken to a transfer station. If you have a truck and would be willing to help out with the trash delivery, please email catskillmountaintu@gmail.com. CMTU will have gloves, trash bags, and water available for volunteers.

Many communities are organizing litter pick-ups, tree plantings and the like. Whether you get involved with a group or not, try to spend some time perhaps working in your yard or garden, planting some seeds, starting a compost pile or just enjoying time out of doors. And maybe we’ll see you streamside!

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.