I was in Wilmington a 3 weeks ago skiing and there was absolutely NO snow..Only snow was on Whiteface. Once this melts, river is going to come up, however it wont be major. The Ausable only starts to get stocked begining the first week in May. Been going up that weeks for YEARS now. If they do stock, its ALOT of fish, however they are not huge by any means. We make a 2 day trip to the St. Regis as well that week and its NYMPH fishermans paradise! The river is INCREDIBLE! This too is stocked when the Ausable is. The ST Regis seems to hold alot more fish over the winter. May6th last year the St Regis was stocked, we were there the 5/6th and go hold overs..NICE FISH. If I can offer one piece of advice, it would be wait till end of may. I head up again the week after Memorial Day and the fish are INCREDIBLE! The fish are average 15+'' and they have since stocked for the "2 fly contest", TONS of fish 18+''...Head to the St Regis then, and youll be in HEAVEN when you see your indicator dart under behind the big boudlers, with a nice 17'' brownie on the other end!
The Saranac River is AMAZING throughout may...Early on, they stock hundreds of fish at each bridge along the Saranac, however once end of may reaches, 16''+ fish are stocked and its UNREAL! Swing your Matukae down stream and hold on!!! YEEE HAWWW!
Bottom line, wait till midmay earliest. But if you can hold out, go end of May! I head up early may to chaperone a trip...Like I said, early may is hit or miss, but fortunately we have been lucky for the most part. small to medium fish, but there are a TON!
Apparently there are holdovers thoughout the whole Westbranch/East Branch of the Ausable, however its hard to believe. Being up there snowmobiling a few weekends each wtiner, the river is FROZEN SOLID...Only open water is the mini gorge below TCO...And if you know where im talkin about, youknow thats RAGING during the season! Once winter hits, its only 3 feet wide, and a mere trickle...If i were to go up early early, I would head to the forks and fish the confluence...During the season we take our BIGGEST fish there...
We stay at the Wilderness both times! Paulie is awesome! and is the staff!