The statewide opening day of trout season arrives a week from this Sunday, and considering the weather we've "enjoyed" since early February, anglers will need major cooperation from Mother Nature if they expect to catch many fish. Even with a couple days of thawing a week or so ago, the fresh snowfall since then offset much of the reduction and settling of the snow pack. Even if this current string of warmer temperatures continues, there's a lot of snow to melt.

Unlike many past years – when periodic thawing had shrunk the snow pack for a month or so prior opening day – the outlook for this year is iffy at best. February was very cold with little or no thawing occurring, and much of March hasn't been a whole lot better. So we still have a substantial amount of snow to get rid of, which will mean stream levels are probably going to be abnormally high, and extremely cold. If, indeed, that turns out to be the case, it doesn't bode well for early season trouters.