Rain! Beautiful to behold, but drought persists

FISHING — I’ve written a ton recently about drought conditions, record-low stream flows, considerations for fishing in warm-water conditions and more.

Today’s rain is wonderful; just what we needed.

Streams are cooler. Columbia River sockeye are seeing a thermal doorway opening for upstream passage into the Okanogan River. Trout are breathing easier in the region’s streams. Firefighters are getting a break.

But today’s rain is a temporary reprieve.  The rains didn’t fall everywhere.  The mountains area still bare of snow. Streams continue to be at record-lows and they’ll warm up again, soon.

So smile today but keep your drought conservation cap on.

Follow the advice in the recent hot fishing blog pos t.

And sportsmen should be leaders in practicing water conservationist at home.

Our aquifer feeds the cool water into the Spokane River that trout need to survive hot weather and low flows.

The aquifer is not limitless.  If we drain it down, as others are doing elsewhere, the future is bleak for local trout, as well as for us.