A Brief Review of the 2022 Angling Season

The 2022 season on the Battenkill can be described as one of varied conditions. The snowpack over the winter was light and all signs pointed to an early season. Then April came. And didn't want to leave. It was chilly and somewhat wet throughout much of the month; keeping the river chilly. Flows were on the high side, though nothing too outrageous.

The Hendrickson hatch got started on about April 20th. Old timers will note that this is a little early but in recent years we have seen the bugs on the water even earlier. Initial hatches (accompanied by blue quills on many days) were ignored by trout that were not interested in coming up to the surface with water temps in the 40's.

With May we saw warmer weather and fish finally picking flies off the surface. The annual procession of Hendricksons was over by the 15th and it was on to March Browns, various caddis and by hte beginning of June, the sulfur duns of summer. Unfortunately this period was accompanied by many warm and dry days and by the end of June river flows were beginning to fall.

The July heat came on just as our summer drought began to settle in. Angling opportunities became limited to mornings and evenings as mid day water temps began to exceed 68 degrees on more than a few days. The warm / dry conditions translated into early, heavy trico spinner falls that drew numerous brook trout to the surface.

By August we were in a full blown drought situation with river flows beginning to dip exceedingly low. By the end of the month the CFS was well below norm and dipping below 100. This is very low water. The one saving grace was that night time temperatures and water temps remained safe to fish.

Trout fed actively to caddis skated on the surface. Nymph anglers that rapidly stripped zug bugs through riffles with depth were rewarded with hard strikes by chunky brown trout as well as the occasional brookie. This fishing carried us through much of September though flows remained on the low side right through the month.

With October came spectacular foliage, gradually rising flows thanks to timely rains and the fact that trees were no longer taking water out of the ground. By mid month the much anticipated blue winged olives of fall began to show on a consistent basis; offering up some excellent dry fly angling for those not afraid to go down to size # 22 nd # 24 flies. Streamer anglers were rewarded with the occasional large brown as these prized fish began to find their way to spawning grounds throughout the watershed.

Early November was a continuation of October, with excellent emergences of olives for anglers fishing New York. But this enjoyable fishing was not to last as cold weather moved in relatively quickly. Those anglers able to take advantage of a mild day or two moved fish right into early December by stripping streamers. That is all about to come to a close as the first Arctic blast of the winter season is primed to enter New England two days before Christmas.

Jacob Fetterman lands a brown trout below the Rexleigh Covered Bridge on a fine fall afternoon. Photo by Doug Lyons