More Snow?!!...Seasonal Prognosis*

Yeah, it started again last evening on our return from Ralph & Lisa Cutter's new presentation entitled "Lies". It was at the Cal-Neva resort & sponsored by the Tahoe Truckee Fly Fishers. Visibility was dicey, especially driving over Brockway Summit. You lucky skiers & gliders will be in Nirvana into late May. SquawlyWood received nearly 59 FEET of snow this winter, breaking the old record by 29 inches. This has been a wonderful year for snow as it relates to invigorating & enhancing habitat for ALL of our local flora & fauna. As of April 1st the Truckee River Basin's 17 measurement sites has this year's snow-pack at 181% of average. More important to us fly anglers is the water-content for April 1; it was 161% of normal. As far as "wettness", this year trails only '83 and '95; 227% and 182%, respectively. So what do these numbers mean as it relates to melt/run-off into our waters? Multiply 181 x 1.61; hence flows will essentially be 291% of normal. Yikes! da PROGNOSIS: It will be a very 'late' year for the BT and it will negatively impact the fishery (read:crowds) on the LT. The up-side is that the BT big boys & girls will not be stung for a long while because we'll not effectively tempt them down-deep...if we can even reach them. I'm predicting a spectacular Fall season. Another plus is that the smaller streams will be fly fishable for an extended amount of time. There will be plenty of healthy, stream-bred trout available for those who will know the whats, wheres, whens and hows. HINT: take-out your seldom used 3 weight rods so that you can put a proper bend in them when encountering the smallish brookies, browns & rainbows; a 12 " trout is "big". A couple of last thoughts. Expect the aquatic HATCHES to be compressed and intense...but later than usual. Do not forget about terresterials; it can be a banner year as it relates to beetles & hoppers. *I do know about paragraphs...my Google editing seems to be disabled, so above are 5-6 paragraphs without seperation!!