Hello all…this is Al Kraus; as you many of you will recall, I was the Conservation Chairman for the Canandaigua Lake Chapter for about 20 years before I moved to Washington State in late 2022. Both our sons moved to Washington to pursue their careers, and we decided to follow them out there so we would be close to them in our “golden” years.

While working as your Conservation Chairman, over the years I observed many unfavorable changes in the Cohocton River and other rivers I fly fished. This led me to do quite a lot of research regarding how various cold-water fisheries within the United Staes were doing and I found out that many other rivers were having similar, very serious problems. Consequently, I decided to write an article about my observations and submit it to American Fly Fishing Magazine for publication.

The main purpose of my article is to raise the “red flag” regarding the rapidly growing threats to our cold-water fisheries caused by global climate changes. In many cases large stretches of our trout streams are becoming too warm and water levels are becoming too low and undependable to adequately sustain trout.

In light of the huge impacts global climate changes have already had on our rivers and how these problems are going to continue to worsen in the years ahead, it is my opinion that we need to “step back and reconsider all aspects” of how we are trying to preserve and protect our cold-water fisheries. Global climate changes are now the “elephant in the room” and we are making a grave mistake if we do not give serious consideration to these ever-expanding problems every time we develop strategies to preserve and protect our beloved cold-water fisheries. As I said in my article, the old norms are gone forever.

Because the Cohocton River is your “home” waters, I thought you might be interested in looking at my article. You can find Part 1 of my article in the Jan/Feb issue of American Fly Fishing (starting on page 8). And Part 2, by going to the American Fly Fishing Magazine website and looking at the “highlights” for the Jan/Feb 2026 issue or you could use the following link: https://americanflyfishing.com/lessons-from-new-yorks-cohocton-river-rethinking-cold-water-habitat-protection-part-2-kraus/

Thank you for all you do for our cold-water fisheries and for promoting the great art of fly fishing.

The Newsletter of the Canandaigua Lake Chapter,
Trout Unlimited

Publish Date: April 5, 2026

Donations to help with all of our conservation and education effort are always welcome. Thank you!