After several cold, gloomy and dreary days, this past Easter weekend brought glorious sunshine and lifted spirits. Our rivers and streams are in very fishable shape for the beginning of the trout season, and are actually at a lower than average flow. Up until last Wednesday flows were well above average, but dropped down by Thursday afternoon. Sunday evening showed that the Beaverkill at Cooks Falls was flowing at 681 cubic feet per second - a very fishable flow - although lower than the Median average flow on this date of 956 cfs over 110 years of record-keeping. The lowest recorded flow on March 31 was 226 cfs in 2006, while the highest flow was 13,300 - above flood stage - back in 1951. With the weather forecast for April showers all week, and even some snow on Wednesday and Thursday, no doubt river levels will rise to at least the average flow again.
Beaverkill Stream Conditions Report March 24, 2024
We are less than a week away from Opening Day of the regular trout fishing season in New York State! It’s been a relatively easy winter, with only a few snowfalls that required plowing. And despite a couple of weeks here and there of frigid cold temperatures in the single digits, it was a rare day when the mercury dropped below zero.
Despite the disappointment in not being able to do much snowshoeing or cross-country skiing, the mild winter should bode well for the trout - as there has been no major flooding or ‘ice out’ with the resulting anchor ice that can seriously disrupt the stream bed, harming trout eggs and fry in the redds. In addition, there should be an abundance of aquatic insects such as mayflies, caddis flies and stoneflies that should not have been disturbed.
Fishing in the early season brings the promise of good-sized trout, as most of our rivers and streams will not yet have been stocked by April 1. This means that any fish caught will be either wild or “holdovers” - those hatchery fish that were stocked last year and grew, thrived and wintered over.
After the beginning of April, the Department of Environmental Conservation will be stocking our Sullivan County rivers and streams- with the Mongaup and its branches slated for the first week of April; the Neversink and Callicoon and sections of its branches during the second week of April; sections of the Willowemoc and Beaverkill during the third week of April.
Beaverkill Stream Report - Aug 20, 2023
August has brought a taste of autumn weather with its welcoming coolness to the evenings and mornings, and some beautiful sunny days in-between rain showers and storms, filling our rivers and reservoirs. On Sunday afternoon, August 20, 2023, the Beaverkill at Cooks Falls was flowing at 1030 cubic feet per second. This is well above the Median average flow for August 20 of 117 cfs over 110 years of record-keeping. The Beaverkill crested at just below 4000 cubic feet per second last Friday. Interestingly, the lowest recorded flow on this date was back in 1962 when just 34 cubic feet of water trickled past the gauging station! Water temperatures over the past week have remained favorable, ranging from 59 to just over 67 degrees Fahrenheit.
As mentioned in last week’s report, the trout have been experiencing a “good water year” and as a result, have been growing well. The cooler water temperatures and increased volume have enabled trout to focus on feeding activity rather than seeking out cooler places in which to reside and limit their movement as they do in hot weather with low water conditions. Being cold-blooded creatures, the temperature of the water has a direct effect on trout growth, reproduction and survival.
With what has turned out to be a relatively cool and rainy summer, maximum trout growth is occurring, and the survival of wild trout is increasing. Anglers have been catching numbers of small wild brook and brown trout, which is a sign of a healthy river with favorable water conditions. Adult fish are growing larger as well, and these conditions may also increase the chances of holdover fish for next year. “Holdovers” are stocked trout that are able survive the winter into the next season – and all of this adds up to better conditions for the fish as well as better fishing.