Fishing this past week had been disappointing. With water levels beginning to recede by mid-week, a trip to the Beaverkill on Tuesday evening above Roscoe resulted in a very quiet evening. The river was still high, with the 7:00 p.m. water temperature at just 70 degrees, and very few flies on the water save for a couple of Light Cahills. No rises were noted.
At this writing on Sunday evening, the flow on the Beaverkill at Cooks Falls was gently receding to about 397 cubic feet per second, a healthy amount of water which is still above the average flow of 212 cfs over 111 years of record-keeping. The water temperature reached 72 degrees Fahrenheit before heading back down into the evening.
Anglers should note that beginning Tuesday, July 1, fishing on the stretch of the lower Beaverkill from the Iron Bridge at Horton downstream to the first Route 17 overpass is prohibited from July 1 through August 31, to protect thermally stressed trout. (Trout fishers would be wise to carry a water thermometer with them during these summer months; once water temperatures reach the 70s it’s time to look for cooler waters to fish - such as further upstream, perhaps a cooler tributary or in a smaller stream, or on one of the Tailwater fisheries below the NYC reservoirs.)