23'd April 2008

09:00 hr. water is up approx. 4" overnight and continues to rise from snow pack melt, extremely muddy with lots of debris (grass, sticks, etc.) This does not make for good fishing although there are boats on the river.

21st April 2008

Beautiful day, very little ice run in the river, safe to put in the boats. Water remains a constant, the snow melt doesn't seem to be making much of a difference at this point, probably melting into the ground, what ice there was in the river was mostly snow pack.

Wendy & I tried our luck for a couple of hours, water is still very dirty and hard to fish, Wendy picked off a salmon and grilse right where I showed her to catch them :(

There is black hatch on the water and last night salmon were taking the hatch, maybe we should start dry fly fishing in the spring!

20th April 2008 Water level remains about the same and has yet to reach normal spring run off levels. Steady stream broken ice floes, a nuisance for boats.

10:00 hr this date checked Hayesville (Tugtown), a clear channel is now through that ice jam, must have run during the night. There is a lot of ice in the back channels which will either melt in place or run if we get a significant rise in water level.

River open to Doaktown Bridge and below. Catching a few fish Doaktown area, too much continious ice in upper stretch for boats.

19th April 2008

A major portion of the ice has run, however there are still miles to come from upriver including at least one major ice jam from the Tugtown area, so with the warmer weather there continues to be frequent periods throughout the day of ice pack working down river and that does interfere with any fishing.

As for fishing in this area, a single boat on the river yesterday, dodging ice floes all day, touched no fish but having a great time in the sun.

Water remains low for spring although rising slightly each day.

17th April 2008

The main ice has run from Boiestown to below Porter Cove Bridge with sections continuing to break off and work through from above Boiestown. A check this date, finds deteriorating ice and open sections Porter Cove to Holtville Bridge. Heavy Ice jam since December in the Tugtown area above Holtville Bridge, so up river ice will behind it and may take a few days before that jam releases.

In short there are local areas one can fish if they continue to watch up river for heavy ice runs and position themselves so they can leave the river quickly if using a boat.

Water level is not high but slowly rising.

In this area little shore ice but 2-3 feet snow on the ground and in the fields making river access difficult. One easy access area is from the driveway of our cottage (Moonshadow), down the steps and into the river with little to no shore ice at this time. DO NOT LEAVE BOATS ALONG SHORE LINE OVERNIGHT, much ice yet to come.

And don't forget, Spring Fishing 2008, barbless hooks.

10th April 2008

Can we put a boat in yet? The answer is "no."

Although numerous glades in the sunny areas and it looks like there is little holding ice in, the river is still solid Norrads Bridge upstream with only segments open along the shores toward Doaktown. The water has come up a few inches but not enough to start any type of ice movement.

If the weather holds, we should evaluate again toward 19th-20th April.

Deer can still be seen picking their way back and forth across the river daily, although much more carefully.

6th April 2008

Spring is arriving: Lots of migrating birds showing up, Canada geese, robins, red wing black birds, ducks etc.

Snow is melting away still fair amount in fields but roads for the most part are clear. River has lots of glades along the shore and in this area not much holding the ice, it doesn't appear too thick in this pool but may have some depth in the deeper pools and there was an earlier ice jam up river which will have to work it's way through.

At this point in time if the weather holds we may see the river open well before the end of April depending on what the melt situation is down river.

The deer are still picking their way back and forth across the river around the glades.

30th March 2008

It's been a long winter but signs of spring starting to show in the past few days with the warmer weather. Water level low but will rise with an exceptional amount of melting snow. Glades along the river edges from Boiestown to Doaktown. If it continues at this rate there is still a chance of open river by season's beginning.

Partridge, fox, river otter, bob cats and lots of deer out and about. On the down side the road conditions along Rte 8 and side roads are poor to bad, lots of frost heaves, broken pavement and ice with some flooding on secondary roads.

Our cottage is up and running, all new appliances, currently rented, which is a good sign, now for some green grass and salmon and we will be all set.