Brookie Stream Fishing in Sept/Oct/Nov

[Prospector]

Beyond steelhead fishing I’ve never fished in the fall. I tend to hunt at my camp on Saturday so I was considering hitting some streams on the way home on Sunday. I’m curious what advice the membership had about fall fishing on small mountain streams.

I imagine adequate rainfall would play a major role in this. It seems I’ve heard certain times should be avoided. Maybe when leaves are falling or a few weeks after the leaves have been in the creek. It’s probably harder to sneak up on a hole with less leaves and vegetation at waters edge.. There might be some larger trout in the creek as breeders make their way up the tribs. Do the natives feed more readily to gain weight for the winter?

Just wondering what you all think about those subjects and anything else that you feel is relevant.

 

[afishinado]

Prospector wrote:
Beyond steelhead fishing I’ve never fished in the fall. I tend to hunt at my camp on Saturday so I was considering hitting some streams on the way home on Sunday. I’m curious what advice the membership had about fall fishing on small mountain streams.

I imagine adequate rainfall would play a major role in this. It seems I’ve heard certain times should be avoided. Maybe when leaves are falling or a few weeks after the leaves have been in the creek. It’s probably harder to sneak up on a hole with less leaves and vegetation at waters edge.. There might be some larger trout in the creek as breeders make their way up the tribs. Do the natives feed more readily to gain weight for the winter?

Just wondering what you all think about those subjects and anything else that you feel is relevant.

Here is a great article to read with objective info on fishing in the fall during the brook trout spawn > https://eastcoastflyguy.wordpress.com/2014/10/26/the-brook-trout-spawn-controversy-does-fishing-have-a-negative-effect/

 

[Fly-Swatter]

That is a great blog on the topic. Thanks for posting!

NOTE: if too long for some to read, check out the conclusion that summarizes the expert opinions.

 

[RLeep2]

Autumn fishing can be some of the best of the season. In answer to one of your questions, yes: the fish do tend to put on the feed bag in preparation for the coming Winter. The peak of the Autumn leaf fall in most of the PA mountains is roughly the last half of October. It can be a pita to fish sunken flies when this is going on, but it can be done. In the Fall, you'll often have water temp spreads that are quite a bit like the commensurate period in the Spring. This means in later Fall, you may have to wait a bit of sunny days for the water to warm to the point that trout become active. The flip side of this is that the seasonal imperative they feel to chow down before Winter sometimes bends/breaks the rules for things like how warm the water needs to be before they will speculatively rise. I've often seen late fall trout in medium freestones rising regularly when the water was only in the low 40's. You won't often see this in Spring.

Once spawning gets underway for both brooks and browns (usually late October through November for browns with Brook trout being more variable and could be any time from late September through New Years.), you'll want to take care to disturb this fish as little as possible. Sometimes, this means going to another creek altogether. Other time, it means watching the tails of the pools for spawners and redds and avoiding these areas.

Finally, you might consider taking some time to fish a few stocked streams that have the capacity to hold trout trough the Summer. They all come out in the Fall and you may find that there are a lot more of them there than you thought there were. This, in my experience is most true of stocked browns and least true of stocked brookies. But don't hold me to this... I fish very few streams that are acidic enough to get only or almost only stocked brookies (think The Branch, Salmon Creek, Blue Jay, etc.) and don't really know if my theory has all that much value.

Give it a try. it's my favorite time of the year to fish..

 

[Wild_Trouter]

Generally I avoid spawning wild trout in the Fall. I'd rather leave them alone to do their thing in peace without being disturbed. Trout expend a ton of energy during spawning. Why fatigue the trout even more on the end of your hook or through mishandling? This is just my personal preference. As long as conditions are favorable in the Fall, you can find me chasing smallies on the Susky, and special reg areas that receive a Fall stocking of pelletheads i.e. First Fork Sinnemahoning, Kettle, Pine, etc.

 

[jifigz]

Autumn is the best time to fish for nearly every fish. Period. Smallmouths, walleye, trout, muskie, and small panfish, autumn is the best.

Seriously, I'd you don't know how to catch them go and find them. You WILL he rewarded.

 

[dryflyguy]

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year to fish.
The weather - and weather temps - start cooling down again.
And the - usually - low water levels, are conducive to good dry fly fishing to the rather sparse hatches.
I also love the solitude that can be found on the water then. Lots of outdoors people turn their attention to hunting by then

However, I quit fishing brookie streams by october. Don't want to bother spawning fish.
The browns usually hold off on that until November

As someone else already mentioned, the leaves can be a problem once they start dropping - which is usually around mid oct.
So, I try to hit the streams as much as I can in sept and early oct.

 

[Acristickid]

Nice when it’s cooler and drier and this year in particular should have good flows to make the fishing enjoyable.

Rainey days in October and November have provided memorable outings with hatches of Isonychia and olives- recall one of the first days of very cold weather with rain in November and olives were steadily coming off for a few hours and used a pink parachute olive about a size 18-20 with great success. It was a satisfying day and turned out to be my last day of trout fishing for the year.

If your into swinging leadwings or similar fall is a great time to be out with the colors and the solitude. Yeah , leaf drop last week of October. Avoid that for a couple weeks.

 

[bikerfish]

Fall is my favorite time to fish, I rarely fish brookie streams in the summer, I hate the heat, humidity, biting insects, etc. Fall brings all that to an end, cool temps, few bugs, less people. AND, the fish are usually hungry! Nothing better than hiking a brookie stream during a nice fall day, leaves changing, fish biting, chill in the air, a nice meal at the end of the day, and a few good beers around an inviting fire! paradise!!
PS, just don't tell everyone how good it is!!

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Prospector you should join us for this event