I know it’s been a hell of a winter back East, and while it may seem like it’ll never end, my angling pals in the Eastern Time Zone are getting ready to enjoy the best trout fishing between now and next fall. See, while it may seem like winter, it’s damn near spring. By March, those of you in sli
ghtly southern climes, like Virginia, the Carolinas and northern Georgia, will be enjoying blue-bird days, and the redbuds and the dogwoods will be blooming along trout streams throughout Appalachia. By April, those living a bit farther north will enjoy pretty steady fly-fishing weather, too.
In other words, it’s just around the corner. It’s on.
Meanwhile, here in Idaho, where we’ve had a pretty mild winter by all counts, we still won’t see leaves on the trees until May, and runoff likely won’t allow fishable water until mid-June at the earliest (and that’s with less than average snowpack in the mountains). So this time of year, I envy my eastern angling kin—you get started a month, sometimes two months, earlier than we do. And the little film above is just for you, to remind you that while those of us in the West can claim some great fly fishing rivers like the Madison and the Henry’s Fork and the like, we won’t be able to get up into our favorite little trout haunts for months yet.
Enjoy your head starts, my friends. I’m super jealous.
— Chris Hunt