Well if I wanted a teaser of what hot weather feels like in South Carolina all I had to do was step out of the hospital yesterday. It's 2026 so of course it's over 90 in mid-April. I don't care what you think about Global Warming but something is up with the weather extremes we've been having for the last 25 years.
While the hot may be good for my waistline, as I drop my winter weight after hibernation while slaving around the house, it's not good for a lot of things. The grass is growing buck wild, and so are the weeds, but if the heat continues it will burn dry in these drought conditions we're having. It's also not good for whatever water we have around, and the fish that call those waters home.
The Delaware River near me is hitting 65 degrees, way to warm this early in the season. The put and take trout streams, well they're low and warm already, but those fish are meant to be harvested. But the wild streams and those wild trout will take a beating if you fish for them and stress them during the hook, fight, and release. Up river, at the Lordville, which is the Main Stem, it's already over 60, and Beaverkill has hit that as well. We still have a few more days of hot so those temps will surely rise. Not good, not this early.
And back to the Delaware near me. The river is running at 9,300 cfs which are late summer flows. That will surely affect any type of spawn the striped bass were about to enter into. It will also affect, possibly, the herring run, which is one I count on and usually have good success when the bait meet the bass. Flowing water, even big water, actually helps with fish that are swimming upstream. Low flows also keep the fish out in the mid-river currents, which eliminates fishing from the shores of the river.
So the heat wave will continue before a break on Sunday. It looks like some rain will be coming and if the weather patterns are consistent we'll get hit with a deluge that will blow out the rivers and carry all the debris down the river. The water will be chocolate colored and the turbidity high, before it drops like a stone. What we need are days of a nice steady rain where the ground can absorb, filter, and store the waters, filling the aquifers, to keep water levels consistent. That would also be good for those, like us, who depend on wells for our drinking water. The last thing I need is that underground water source to dry up before we sell.