Photo by Ron Sinfelt.

Elements of both winter and spring often combine to influence Black Hills trout fishing at this time of year.

On the one hand, the ice is melting, and some brave birds are singing the promise of spring as insect hatches come off the cold streams' waters on sunny afternoons; on the other, a mountain storm may still very well come sweeping out of the north to cover the purple delicacy of the Black Hills pasqueflower's blooms under a foot of wet snow. Such is the month of April, when spring doesn't really ever arrive, but rather merely teases the lover of warmth with something that's not really to be for another month or so.

Fortunately for the trout fisherman here, that's not of much consequence as far as the fishing's concerned. It may be more agreeable for the fisherman to cast away when bright sun lights up the stream bottom, but for the brown, brook and rainbow trout living in these parts, the laggard winter weather, all but inevitable in any case, is arguably pretty pleasant.

The trout are feeding very well at this time of year, and anglers craving the new season are out after them. About the only thing that slows the action down a bit is the run-off from the snows as the temperatures warm.

For the most part, some fishing is to be found somewhere during this entire spring season. The Black Hills area remains a good one for trout, and one not fished very hard compared to some of the places whose human population is much larger, such as the Front Range of Colorado. And because the fish aren't as big as those in the famous blue-ribbon streams farther west in Wyoming and Montana, we don't have an onslaught of out-of-state anglers going after trout here. The result? A fishery relatively unknown to the outside world. And for locals in a sparsely populated area such as South Dakota, it's a fairly regional fishery offering the opportunity for the angler to go out even on a spring weekend afternoon and fish streams and lakes with no one else nearby.

To the Dakota trout fisherman, some of the trout fishing photos from other states must appear humorous: Anglers lined up along a bank -- dozens at any one time -- casting away. For the trout in those waters, the beginning of the traditional trout fishing season must be a terrifying thing. Here in some of the less-traveled places in the Black Hills in April, you're about as likely to see an eagle or osprey or maybe a mink competing for a piece of the action as you are another angler.

For the most avid of trout anglers here, it all begins with the streams that course through the Black Hills. They are of the most interest to avid flyfishermen.

True, trout are not native to the Black Hills, but that's due only an accident of geology. The Black Hills are geologically and biologically part of the Rocky Mountains. Some Midwestern plant and bird species are present here because the Rocky Mountain West and the prairie and woods of the Midwest meet here, but for the most part this is a Western ecosystem. Ponderosa pines predominate, and stands of Black Hills spruce, aspen and birch are intermingled throughout. The streams course through these mountains, and they are mountains, not hills -- the name comes from Native American designations for the place.