Only three days until fishing time

Kentville fly tyer Gord Magee has hundreds of trout and other game fish flies tied up and ready to go. He's been tying all winter, he said in a recent email, and, like countless anglers around the countryside, is delighted the season opens Monday.

The waters around Kings County will undoubtedly get a lot of attention Monday from enthusiastic anglers like Magee. Unless we get a lot of rain between now (March 22) and April 1, streams for the most part should be fishable on opening day. I didn't find a lot of flooding today when I looked at the streams that flow into the Cornwallis River. Most were well within their banks and, for the most part, were just a bit hazy and discolored.

I believe this is unusual, by the way. While streams usually look good in February, by the end of March, flood conditions generally prevail. Thaw conditions, a great melt off of snow, and lots of rain is the usual weather scenario through March and, by opening day, the waters are a mess. However, this has been a winter of little snow and, if the rains hold off, water conditions should be good.

We often get a doozer of a snowstorm and a cold snap April 1, by the way. I state this with confidence after looking at my fishing notes, which have opening day records going back to 1960. If you have a friend that likes to bet, give him five to one odds and bet the first day of the fishing season will be bitterly cold, cloudy and either snowy or rainy. No guarantees, but you should win.

That early season hotspot, the Cornwallis River, doesn't look all that bad at this time - March 22. I checked a couple of sections of the Cornwallis in Coldbrook and Cambridge and found little flooding. The most flooded area of the Cornwallis was the stretch immediately above Kenville. This is an area that gets lots of attention from anglers early in the season. Another section that's popular - and productive - looked pretty good as well when I checked it: the stretch immediately above and below the Lovett Road bridge.

Usually, the Cornwallis River gives up some hefty brown trout in April, so this is where you should concentrate your fishing if you want a trophy trout. Every spring, brown trout in the four- to six-pound range are taken by anglers using big flies, bait, bucktail jigs and large lures along the line of the Rapala.