The first snow storm of the year dropped three to four inches in the Hereford/Monkton area yesterday morning through late last night. Anglers braved the snow storm yesterday, and a number of reports included rising trout and empty parking lots at river accesses. Today the bright sun is melting the snow on the roads and trees, so river flows may increase over the next few days. A number of cars were parked along the Masemore stretch this morning, yet no anglers in sight at the bridge above. This week a good olive hatch had trout feeding on the surface on the tiny mayflies, and many anglers reported extremely active, but selective fish. On Friday while guiding during a short olive hatch we picked off rising trout, moving less than a hundred feet in two hours before the hatch ended. One of the trout caught later in the day was a small brook trout, the second one I’ve seen this week. I caught the brookie below on Thursday while nymphing a BWO emerger I tied. A variety of nymph, emerger and olive dun patterns in the shop have proven effective for anglers this week. The dry fly activity can be short or sporadic, but only a few bugs on the water will bring the trout to the surface. Winter weather has arrived, but the fishing opportunities will continue through the season.