When I think of trout fishing in May, I picture a clanging dinner bell and a no-nonsense cook barking out a now or never summons.

"Come and get it!"

May brings longer days, more sunshine and trout-friendly water temperatures, prompting browns, brookies and rainbows to line up in choice feeding lanes. The month's menu of hatching mayflies and other aquatic insects will taper off as spring turns into summer, and trout instinctively fill up while they can.

May is prime time on most Empire State trout waters, but these rivers, creeks and brooks will fish better than others this month. Here are some that New York Game & Fish readers should make every effort to sample over the next several weeks:

BEAVER KILL
On New York's most famous trout stream, May begins with regiments of Hendrickson duns sailing down prismatic currents in midafternoon and ends with Coffin Fly spinners descending on glassy flats just before dark. In between those heralded events a dozen other mayfly hatches lure big trout to feed at the surface of the Beaver Kill. Anglers from all over the United States schedule their vacations accordingly.

Most Beaver Kill trout are hatchery-born, but they become exceedingly wary after one or two encounters with catch-and-release-minded anglers. Imitative fly patterns and drag-free drifts are the key to catching these fish.

Tackle shops along the river, such as Catskill Flies and the Beaver Kill Angler in Roscoe, have maps that pinpoint the location of Barnharts, Cairns and other popular fishing holes. Many of the choice spots are part of the river's two catch-and-release areas, but other gems, such as the upper and lower Mountain pools, are in "open" sections where live bait is allowed and statewide regulations apply. Anglers are permitted to creel up to five trout daily and.

The Beaver Kill flows within sight of U.S. Route 86/Route 17 through western Sullivan and eastern Delaware counties. Exit 94 leads into downtown Roscoe.

For a list of motels and other lodging possibilities, anglers may contact the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce at (800) 642-4443.

WEST BRANCH DELAWARE RIVER
Although still beloved by many, the Beaver Kill doesn't get pounded as hard as it did 20 or even 10 years ago, because many of its regulars have shifted their allegiance to the nearby West Branch Delaware River.

Thanks to influxes of cold water from the base of the Cannonsville Reservoir, the West Branch from the village of Deposit downstream to its confluence with the East Branch at Hancock holds temperatures suitable for trout all summer, even as heat waves or dry spells reduce the Beaver Kill to a fraction of its normal 100-foot width.

In addition, the West Branch is populated almost entirely by wild trout and is not stocked below Cannonsville's spillway. Browns in the 18- to 22-inch range feed on floating insects throughout the season.

The river has its problems, however. The New York Department of Environmental Conservation, New York City officials and the Delaware River Basin Commission have struggled to compromise between the biological requirements of trout and the needs of Big Apple residents for drinking water. Just as progress was being made on that front in 2008, fisheries biologists worried about a foreign invader, namely, the Didymo or "rock snot" algae that showed up in the Delaware system after somehow immigrating from New Zealand a couple of years before.