Matthew Dickerson, Addison Independent, May 3, 2001 (reprinted by permission)
I've always heard it said: "If you don't like the weather in Vermont, wait a couple hours." Nonetheless, it's hard to be prepared for the roller coaster ride we've had the past few weeks. From the record setting March snowfall to the driest April in Memory to a May Day that seemed more like the start of July, it's been a strange spring. What the affect of all this will be on the trout fishing, I'm not sure. But I do have a few guesses.
It's already hard to remember that less than two weeks ago the local rivers were at flood stage. Twice during the last full week of April, on the way home from Rochester my wife had to drive through two feet of water where the White River flooded route 100. (A few smaller cars and a motorcycle were not able to make it across.) In the Middlebury River, a kayaker was lost in water so high that rescue workers were unable to continue the search for the body. Even in the middle of April, the snow was still deep on the ground in the woods and mountains. I postponed my annual May fishing trip to Northern Maine by two weeks, fearing that the ice might not even be out up there in early May: the normal time for my trip. A friend who is a state fisheries biologist in charge of stocking programs in the western part of Maine said I might have been better postponing my trip by three weeks! As for the New Haven river, my favorite local water, I wondered if it would be fishable before Memorial day.
Not surprisingly, the stocking efforts by the state hatcheries is at least two weeks behind schedule according to Barb Johnston at the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department. With the goal of being ninety percent done with their stocking by the first week of June, they have usually stocked several local streams and rivers by the first of May, with Lewis Creek often getting its annual infusion of brookies and rainbows as early as April 22. This year, river stocking in April was out of the question, and even the stocking of lakes was hampered by the snow which blocked many of the access areas. The state is just now finishing up with the salmon, steelhead, and lake trout stocking of Lake Champlain and its tributaries as well as with most of the state's other ponds and lakes. Only now can they turn some attention to rivers and streams. Translation: any trout you've catching so far, and any caught over the next few days, are almost certainly wild; be proud of your accomplishment.
Looking out my window now, however, the middle of April seem like a decade ago (or maybe a millennium ago). I haven't yet seen any statistics, but the lack of precipitation this April must be close to a record. (So much for May flowers!) As for some of the air temperatures around New England, they have set records for this time of year. This "drought", coupled with the unseasonable warmth, has brought a rather rapid change. Though Otter Creek still runs high as it slowly drains its flood plain, the smaller rivers are already running low and clear with water levels looking more like the middle of June than early May. I don't think I've ever seen spring runoff dissipate so quickly. And though the water is still icy, all except the last traces of snow have now disappeared from the woods. So with a week in which the air temperatures approach eighty, the water temperatures should very soon be into ideal range for trout. Translation: even if you haven't yet gotten out, now is the time; the way this year has gone, who knows what May will bring.