Weather / Stream Report for Beaverkill in 2018
Contributed by Judy Van Put
The fishing season of 2018 has come and gone with a sizzle rather than a bang, as here on October 15, the last day of the regular trout fishing season in New York, we remembered having a most unusual year.
It’s surprising to see the conditions of nature at this writing: we still have not had a frost. The Harvest Moon at the end of September came on a cloudy night, and therefore didn’t produce any frost as a typical cold, clear night would have during that full moon. I can’t ever remember not having frost by October 15 – and we’re still enjoying begonias and a huge bed of nasturtiums in the garden blooming merrily. In addition, we’ve found that fly-fishing activity this time of year has also been affected; fishing at Hazel Bridge on the Willowemoc, which is usually topnotch in late September and October, has been flat. Generally the frosts of late September bring a hatch that encourages the trout to rise, and fishing is productive in that long pool below the bridge; we’ve often fished it up till Veteran’s Day with good luck.