She turned our driveways into luge runs and our lawns into snow sculptures. She left behind a landscape of askew mailboxes and yawning potholes.

And now, as the end of March approaches, it turns out that Mother Nature isn't finished messing up our plans. When trout fishing season opened this morning, anglers might have found their favorite honey hole was be clad in ice.Trout season's official opening day is April 12, but in the state's 18 southeast counties, including Schuylkill, Lehigh and Northampton, it opens two weeks earlier.Two streams in Carbon County Lizard Creek and Mahoning Creek are also included in the early opening."The streams are flowing, but on some of the ponds and lakes, there is still a cover of ice," said Waterways Conservation Officer Doug Daniels, who covers eastern Schuylkill County for the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission. Daniels and Conservation Officer Mark Pisko, who covers western Schuylkill County, teamed up to shepherd a team of volunteers who stocked local waters Tuesday morning. "And the ice is very inconsistent it can range from three to 10 inches thick."Anglers may need to reel in their eagerness and take a couple extra steps before they venture onto ice-covered waters. Legally, anglers can fish for trout using the same techniques employed by ice anglers such as drilling holes and fishing through the holes."Drill holes to check the thickness of the ice before you go out," Daniels advised. "Drill often, and keep checking as you move around."Daniels added a few more safety gear suggestions, such as a life jacket, "spike" grippers for boots, and ice awls, which are handgrips with spikes, to be used to get a grip on the ice should an angler fall through.On Tuesday, driver Mike Day brought a stocking truck from Fisherman's Paradise, the hatchery in Bellefonte, to Schuylkill County. Day said that the truck held about 3,000 fish, most of them 18 months old. The truck also contained some trophy-sized trout, which are about 3 years old, he said.Volunteers met the truck at the intersection of Routes 81 and 54 between Mahanoy City and Barnesville. Fish were stocked at several points along Pine Creek, Neifert's Dam, Mahoning Creek, Rabbit Run Reservoir and Lizard Creek in Schuylkill and Carbon counties.Volunteers hailed from Franklin, Luzerne, Wyoming, Columbia, Berks and Schuylkill counties. A caravan of about a dozen volunteer vehicles followed the stocking truck, with Pisko helping direct traffic safely in and out of parking areas.The anglers from out of the area said that volunteering on the stocking truck helps them learn various fishing waters throughout the state. But just because you know where the fish were stocked doesn't mean you'll hook a big one, said Jim Breslosky, Weatherly."I've been helping with the stocking for years, and I really enjoy it," Breslosky said. "Even if I don't catch a lot of fish, it's all part of a tradition to go out with friends on opening day."