Catskills: Snowpack- 3/4/15

TR · Mar 4, 2015

Good morning.

The Catskills as of this morning, Wednesday, March 4 2015, have more than 24 inches of snowpack.

Some higher elevations in shade have in excess of 30 inches.

Ice is now over 24 inches on pools in rivers.

Notice on map of 3/5/15 that Central Jersey (2 hours to south of us) has less than 6 inches in places.

It might change after today - Philly / D.C. is expecting 6 to 10 inches.

Below freezing nighttime readings are forecast for most of March 2015.

Be safe.

See you at the show.

Intellicast - Snow Cover in United States

flyI4 · Mar 4, 2015

Any thoughts on how reservoir levels will be based on snow melt alone? They are pretty low- hoping this snow and related runoff can help get them them where they need to be. I think we will need a few good rains to get into the upper 90s though percentage wise.

TR · Mar 4, 2015

flyI4 said:
Any thoughts on how reservoir levels will be based on snow melt alone? They are pretty low- hoping this snow and related runoff can help get them them where they need to be. I think we will need a few good rains to get into the upper 90s though percentage wise.

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I believe I posted the latest NYC DEP snowpack results from Cannonsville, Pepacton, Neversink, etc. a few weeks ago on this board. It is an .xls file that I receive from NYC every two to three weeks from DEP.

If you can't find it then just email me directly off my site.

If all the ice and snowpack had melted when the survey was last compiled Cannonsville would now be over 80% [current 58.5%] and Pepacton [current 67.3%] over 90%.

There is that much water.

NYC has can equate what the current snowpack is to how many BG of water there is.

Trust me, reservoirs will be spilling this spring and the Hendricksons won't arrive until May 7th to May 15th when the forsythias are in bloom.

Tight lines,
TR

MACFLY · Mar 4, 2015

Does this roll back all the hatches or just the first few assuming the bugs made it through the ok

if my ISO hatch and march Browns don't come off I will be very upset

flyI4 · Mar 4, 2015

In my experience the hatches catch up if the weather normalizes during the spring months. If the spring stays cool though u can expect hatches to be delayed similar to the early spring bugs.

golden beetle · Mar 4, 2015

flyI4 said:
In my experience the hatches catch up if the weather normalizes during the spring months. If the spring stays cool though u can expect hatches to be delayed similar to the early spring bugs.

JC, why would the spring weather be such an important factor on a tailwater?

In your experience, what do you think triggers the hatches???

Is it sunlight? Or is it water temperature?

Because in the tailwaters your water temps are pretty stable throughout the season, no?

Air temps and water temps are pretty loosely correlated....

And I wonder as you travel down the Main Stem, toward Jersey... Are the hatches on a different schedule there, as water temps fluctuate more based on air temperature?

MACFLY · Mar 4, 2015

flyI4 said:
In my experience the hatches catch up if the weather normalizes during the spring months. If the spring stays cool though u can expect hatches to be delayed similar to the early spring bugs.

I guess we will find out when the temps get to 50 degrees and above

flyI4 · Mar 4, 2015

golden beetle said:
JC, why would the spring weather be such an important factor on a tailwater?

In your experience, what do you think triggers the hatches???

Is it sunlight? Or is it water temperature?

Because in the tailwaters your water temps are pretty stable throughout the season, no?

Air temps and water temps are pretty loosely correlated....

And I wonder as you travel down the Main Stem, toward Jersey... Are the hatches on a different schedule there, as water temps fluctuate more based on air temperature?

I'm not a bug expert and only have experience to go off of. Different sections of the delaware have different hatch schedules, and the lower river has hatches come off first almost every season and those hatches work their way up river. Temps are usually warmer down there as the water travels downstream so water temps definitely have a major impact on the bugs and timing of the hatches.Also- when the hatch begins to fade u typically want to look at the upper stretches to find the leftovers that are hanging on when downriver the hatch is done. For instance- u will find hendricksons hatching in stilesville in mid to late may some seasons. Same goes for sulphers- the hatch is stronger up top later in the summer when the hatch has largely faded downstream during the day.

Weather can have an impact early season when the flows are low on the tailwaters. The lower the flow out of the dam- the more "freestone" the river behaves because temps are more effected by air temps. Therefore- if you have a warm spring and low releases- you will often see the tailwaters have a ton of bugs in april and may, and then the summer months aren't as good because the majority of bugs hatch out earlier than normal- just like a freestone usually does. Most major hatches are done on a freestone by July 1. So- its a combination of a lot of factors, but air temps definitely matter, even for a tailwater, and more so when the tailwaters are at low flows limiting the cold water impact of the release.

golden beetle · Mar 4, 2015

flyI4 said:
I'm not a bug expert and only have experience to go off of. Different sections of the delaware have different hatch schedules, and the lower river has hatches come off first almost every season and those hatches work their way up river. Temps are usually warmer down there as the water travels downstream so water temps definitely have a major impact on the bugs and timing of the hatches.Also- when the hatch begins to fade u typically want to look at the upper stretches to find the leftovers that are hanging on when downriver the hatch is done. For instance- u will find hendricksons hatching in stilesville in mid to late may some seasons. Same goes for sulphers- the hatch is stronger up top later in the summer when the hatch has largely faded downstream during the day.

Weather can have an impact early season when the flows are low on the tailwaters. The lower the flow out of the dam- the more "freestone" the river behaves because temps are more effected by air temps. Therefore- if you have a warm spring and low releases- you will often see the tailwaters have a ton of bugs in april and may, and then the summer months aren't as good because the majority of bugs hatch out earlier than normal- just like a freestone usually does. Most major hatches are done on a freestone by July 1. So- its a combination of a lot of factors, but air temps definitely matter, even for a tailwater, and more so when the tailwaters are at low flows limiting the cold water impact of the release.

This pretty much matches the articles I've been reading for the past hour.

Water temps are the most important factor. Most species' eggs go dormant as water temps approach freezing. Stone flies are the exception, and will develop during the winter months while other eggs are in a suspended state...

Most eggs will develop once water temps are over 40 degrees or so, with increases in water temps accelerating the development somewhat depending on the species.

BWOs are affected dramatically by water temps. High temps can condense the hatch of an entire species of olives down to 3 days, and low temps can spread the hatch of the same species over 100 days or more...

Most other species are affected less dramatically.

Probably the single most important question is when water temps will rise above 40 degrees.

Trout Nazi · Mar 4, 2015

MACFLY said:
Does this roll back all the hatches or just the first few assuming the bugs made it through the ok if my ISO hatch and march Browns don't come off I will be very upset

These are my 2 favorite hatches also, and hopefully the March Browns won't be as shitty as last year. I think the Iso's will be ok. Given that it's a sporadic hatch that happens when the water gets around 60, the big river definitely will be hitting 60 when it usually does, so we'll be good to go. Added bonus is that it may be lower down river this year, so you'll see even less people when you fish, since everyone will be crowding the West Branch, as usual.

flyI4 · Mar 4, 2015

Isos will be there as usual- and the worse the other hatches are the better the Iso fishing is. Fish key on them and become more opportunistic when there aren't prolific hatches to get choosy on. The iso is a big meal floating over their head and they will take advantage. Case in point was the really warm winter 3 years ago- all the hatches were done by july pretty much but Iso's were amazing and worked pretty much all summer bc they became the trout's number one food source.

Trout Nazi · Mar 4, 2015

flyI4 said:
Isos will be there as usual- and the worse the other hatches are the better the Iso fishing is. Fish key on them and become more opportunistic when there aren't prolific hatches to get choosy on. The iso is a big meal floating over their head and they will take advantage. Case in point was the really warm winter 3 years ago- all the hatches were done by july pretty much but Iso's were amazing and worked pretty much all summer bc they became the trout's number one food source.

They were huge that year also, big-ass spinners at dark.

Trouser Trout · Mar 5, 2015

How do you think a weedless daredevil will work this spring?

MACFLY · Mar 5, 2015

Trout Nazi said:
They were huge that year also, big-ass spinners at dark.

I remember that cause it was the first year I had the boat. It was pretty awesome

Trout Nazi · Mar 5, 2015

MACFLY said:
I remember that cause it was the first year I had the boat. It was pretty awesome

I remember fishing for smallies and watching the bows destroy these things in late June, but the water was a little too warm where I was to go for them. Smallie fishing was awesome though.

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Catskills: Snowpack- 3/4/15

TR

"You can observe a lot just by watching." Y. Berra

flyI4

Fishizzle, I use worms but I'm looking to upgrade!

TR

"You can observe a lot just by watching." Y. Berra

MACFLY

Too many streams too little time

flyI4

Fishizzle, I use worms but I'm looking to upgrade!

golden beetle

Active member

MACFLY

Too many streams too little time

flyI4

Fishizzle, I use worms but I'm looking to upgrade!

golden beetle

Active member

Trout Nazi

And...Boom goes the dynamite.

flyI4

Fishizzle, I use worms but I'm looking to upgrade!

Trout Nazi

And...Boom goes the dynamite.

Trouser Trout

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

MACFLY

Too many streams too little time

Trout Nazi

And...Boom goes the dynamite.

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