The Rundown on Runoff

Well, it happens every year. The snow melts, it rains, and our rivers come up. Of course, when it happens, to what degree it happens, and for how long it impacts the fishing varies from year to year.

After a mild winter and little snow, the end of March and beginning of April got cool and it snowed. More than it has all winter. What had all the earmarks of an early season were suddenly put on pause. And then it warmed up and rained again and runoff was well and truly on.

The peak of runoff hit this past weekend, with high flows seen on the 13th. The river hit a high flow of 4630 CFS. This is above the normal range of flows for the date (1090 - 2110 cfs with a median flow of 1630). The record for the date is 5970 (1947) so the river peaked out well below that. Even so, 4630 is a lot of water. In Sunderland the river spilled over it's banks and into the floodplain. Down in Arlington and beyond, secondary river channels that are often dry by the end of June were full. Other than accessing these "pressure relief" channels the river stayed within its banks.

Well downriver I poked around a bit and there were fair numbers of blue winged olives hatching but in the fast, coffee brown water not a head was seen. A few mergansers ambitiously patrolled the river but I suspect they went hungry.

The Vermont Battenkill opened after a long winter but not even a worm dunker could be seen. That will change with the dropping of flows (that is happening as I write this).

My early season fears of a very early Hendrickson hatch have proven wrong, for which I am not disappointed. Give it a week to 10 days and we will be entering that glorious period known as "Hendrickson time." I'll be on the water tomorrow just to see how things are progressing and will be ready with a box of freshly tied flies. Just in case!

The River above Richville Rd on April 13. The Battenkill has a functional flood plain and this minimizes the impact that flooding has on the river.

Baetis hatching in the high flows. Note that one of the duns is tipped over. Trout sometimes look for this when they go on the feed.

A male and female baetis, respectively. They are a size 18; sometimes a 16. Not a springtime favorite of the trout, they are nonethess a harbinger of things to come.