Are you among trout anglers who plan to line the banks of legendary Catharine Creek on opening day, April 1, looking to hook a trophy rainbow?
If so, pray for some cooler weather over the next few weeks.
Region 8 staffers from the state Department of Environmental Conservation gathered along the shores of the creek Tuesday, March 10, starting near Montour Falls, to assess the status of the annual run of rainbow trout from Seneca Lake up the meandering tributary.
Catharine Creek starts in the marshes north of Horseheads and winds its way to Seneca Lake at Watkins Glen. Each spring, rainbow trout grown big and fat in the rich lake environment swim up the creek to spawn before heading back to the big water.
Every year, the potential to land a monster rainbow attracts hundreds of anglers from across New York and beyond, and every March, DEC samples the often frigid waters of the creek to find out how the spawning run is progressing.
DEC staff Tuesday quickly discovered a lot of rainbow trout in the creek, including some hefty ones, and most of the females were “hard,” meaning they hadn’t yet laid their eggs.
That’s a promising sign for opening day, said Region 8 fisheries biologist Pete Austerman.
“It depends on the weather between now and then but it looks like we’re going to cool down significantly,” Austerman said. “The fact that we had some females that weren’t spawning yet is probably a good sign for April 1, along with the cooldown that we’re expecting. If it warms up significantly, I might be a little bit worried about that, but I think we’re in good shape.”
The overall condition of the spawning trout was good, although many bore the ugly circular scars inflicted by the bite of sea lampreys.
That’s a concern, Austerman said, but there seemed to be fewer trout with lamprey scars than were noted during the 2025 sampling.
DEC is planning another lampricide treatment in 2027 in an attempt to keep the population of the parasitic invaders down, he said.
To learn more about trout fishing on Catharine Creek and elsewhere in New York, go to dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/freshwater-fishing.
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This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Will Finger Lakes waters be packed with trout April 1? DEC offers clues
Reporting by Jeff Murray, Elmira Star-Gazette / Elmira Star-Gazette
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