The weather here for the past 2 weeks has been down right cold. With a 285cfs release this has lead to quite a bit of the river locked up in ice. Today, however, the temperatures hit 41 degrees and we are looking at possible 50s by Friday. This should open up the river to more normal dimensions and add to this the rain in the forecast for Thursday and Friday and we should see the release increased as well as run-off. The water temperature is 34-35 degrees right now and with some snow melt it will probably inch closer to 32-33 degrees, so if you're fishing this week end and the bite seems a little off, that's probably the reason.
I have notice the beginnings of some spawning activity but nothing to get excited about. We still have 2 to 3 weeks till they get going seriously at procreating their species. At present the fishing has been sporadic, typical of this time of year, however, when the bite is on it is good. Fly fishing smallish nymphs (#14-18) under indies, black stones, flash backs, Copper Johns and other bead heads have been working well. Also, from now till the steelies drop out of the river, fishing small alvine patterns work very well. If you are swinging flies the alvine type patterns are working to some degree now. As the water warms and the stealhead become more active swinging these type of patterns really gets good.
Next month is the State of Lake Ontario meeting, Tuesday March 18, 2014 in the Salmon River area. It will be held at the DEC Training Academy (the old Portly Angler) on County Route 2A, just outside of Pulaski. If you are fishing in the area this should be an interesting meeting. If you want to attend it starts at 7pm, I'll see you there.
Things are about to heat up, both tempeture wise and fishing wise. See you on the river.
Tight lines
