Hmmm... early spring again this year it seems...
BTW, I might be wrong, but water temperature is not at its coldest yet. It will be when the water is gray, full of silt from the 'just melted' stuff and with floating chunks of ice to dodge. Then the surface water temperature will be very close to zero Celsius. Right now we are still getting lake bottom water, around 4 degrees C.
Rouge at 53 m^3/s is a nice beginner-friendly level, I'd be up for it (in a big boat still), but why not hit Sewer Wave, or Champlain Saturday/Sunday indeed? The Rouge is always there, not so for city playspots...
--C.