hot summer days

[Troy]

I'm headed to Slate Run on Friday camping/hiking/fishing. Well, I get 1 day of fishing and the rest of the time hiking with my GF. Not the best forecast for this obviously.

I never ever had to worry about water temps in any of my other trips to fish the area. We are going a little later than usual this year.

My only question is about how Slate Run will be doing with this heat. It did get a nice rain event this week, but I'm worried about the outside temps heating up Slate Run. Has anyone ever heard of Slate Run getting above 68? I'll definitely check it out with a thermometer, but just would like an idea of what to expect before I leave. Thanks!

 

[rustbeltwilds]

This am at 8:39. Water temp in my local freestoner. 60 degrees. Did good... even with this hot streak this part stays pretty cool

 

[Jay_H]

Was out on a tailwater this morning as well from about 8:00 til 10:30. Had a good morning as well. Fish were active and on the feed.

 

[Tull66]

i've read hot days are fatal for trout.
They’re not, otherwise they’d be extinct.

generally, do people give up trout fishing on hot days?
Some do but I don’t. If the trout are feeding they’re ok. I’ve released trout taking dry flies in warm water and they immediately swim back into position to continue slurping insects.

My opinion is not based on internet protocol but field experiences.

 

[lycoflyfisher]

I'm headed to Slate Run on Friday camping/hiking/fishing. Well, I get 1 day of fishing and the rest of the time hiking with my GF. Not the best forecast for this obviously.

I never ever had to worry about water temps in any of my other trips to fish the area. We are going a little later than usual this year.

My only question is about how Slate Run will be doing with this heat. It did get a nice rain event this week, but I'm worried about the outside temps heating up Slate Run. Has anyone ever heard of Slate Run getting above 68? I'll definitely check it out with a thermometer, but just would like an idea of what to expect before I leave. Thanks!

With this heat theres chance of of more thunderstorm activity, just depends on if your area of interest gets hit. Slate and cedar will likely still be fine temp wise, but can be very tough in low, clear conditions.

 

[Troy]

With this heat theres chance of of more thunderstorm activity, just depends on if your area of interest gets hit. Slate and cedar will likely still be fine temp wise, but can be very tough in low, clear conditions.

I thought they would be good still, but wasnt sure. Thanks! Yeah, conditions aren't going to be good no matter what. I'll take a good skunking any time as long as I can fish. Been going up there for 20 years and never had to worry about temps. This is a first for me.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

Was out on a tailwater this morning as well from about 8:00 til 10:30. Had a good morning as well. Fish were active and on the feed.

Same experience this morning in NEPA tailwater. Many bugs and hungry fish.

 

[krayfish2]

Go ahead and fish but keep them. If you don't know how to clean a trout or don't like eating them, don't trout fish currently.... freestones at least. Most stocked trout have adapted and started a natural diet so their flesh tastes better this time of year IMO.

If you're in NEPA, take the turnpike to lehighton and fish the Po below Beltzville. Very cold water. Watch out for the old naked guy bathing at the USGS gauge.

He's safe, I have to work today

 

[jeffroey]

I fiished in Carbon County today. Local outside air temp was ~87F. Air temp in the canopy I was fishing never got above 74F. Water temp never got above 59F. It was a good day.

 

[Bamboozle]

I always like to reread this post from Mike K. when it gets hot:

Fish do not respond to thermal averages; they respond to thermal maxima and minima. They also respond to what are, in effect degree-days or other time-based thermal units. Warm temperature caused mortality can be chronic or acute and the chronic occurs at temperatures that are frequently viewed as being sub-lethal by laymen.

With respect to lethal water temperatures it is important to not focus on just one form of lethality, that being thermal maxima. There is a whole other form of lethal temperatures:​

​

Chronically warm temperatures:​

​

Ignoring Brook Trout, that problem begins around 68° F; 68.1 F° for hatchery Rainbow Trout (RT) and I expect probably a very similar number for Brown Trout. At that point, the percentage of the RT that die throughout a late spring and summer due to temperature stress alone is directly related to the number of 15-minute periods per month that the water temperature exceeds 68° F.​

​

It does not matter if the temperature drops below 68° each night because the tally continues the next day once the temperature rises above 68 again. The 15 min periods above 68° accumulate daily through the end of the month.

In addition, when fish are in thermally stressful conditions or in thermal refuge, they are more vulnerable to predation such as by great blue herons, which are effective predators in daylight and at night.​

​

ST are more temp sensitive than BT and RT not because of any similarities in the max temps that they can withstand, but because stress is initiated in ST at 64 degrees while for BT and RT it’s at a temp of 68 deg.​

​

Frequent temperature excursions, measured as the number of 15 min periods per month above these temperature stress thresholds, are major factors in trout mortality. A stream or stream section doesn’t have to ever reach the max tolerable temp for nearly all or all trout in a population to succumb.​

 

[riverwhy]

I found a new rainfall map that I thought I would share. I know we struggled coming up with some in the past especially since that rainfall every ___ hours was not working the way it used to.
We had a downpour in Hershey that was .23 according to this site.

24 Hour Rainfall Totals | Pennsylvania Map

View how much it rained in the past 24 hours in Pennsylvania. Tap on the map to get the rainfall totals for your exact location with RainDrop.

www.raindrop.farm

 

[Wrestlecoach3]

Cool map

 

[Troy]

Well, I was up in the Slate Run area this past weekend and didn't get to fish really. Temps did get above 70 on Slate Run itself. It got to about 72 by evening and that was upstream 4 or 5 miles.

What was especially sad to see were the people fishing the mouth of Slate Run on Saturday. I saw one dude have a fish on. That was a spin fisherman.

I did see two fly fishermen dressed up in all the best gear walking around Hotel Manor. Not sure where they fished, but Slate Run and Pine were definitely over 70 degrees. Maybe they were just taking their cool clothing out for a walk?

 

[Broodstock]

I found a new rainfall map that I thought I would share. I know we struggled coming up with some in the past especially since that rainfall every ___ hours was not working the way it used to.
We had a downpour in Hershey that was .23 according to this site.

24 Hour Rainfall Totals | Pennsylvania Map

View how much it rained in the past 24 hours in Pennsylvania. Tap on the map to get the rainfall totals for your exact location with RainDrop.

www.raindrop.farm

you can also use this national water dashboard to see the gauges, rainfall rates, and many other layers. It takes a few minutes to play with the settings to see the layers you want - but it is my go-to for all water data these days. You can click on any gauge and it will open the data for that gauge.

USGS | National Water Dashboard

Access river level and other water information and weather conditions in your neighborhood! A map viewer showing real-time river level and water data collected at U.S. Geological Survey observation stations in context with weather-related data from other public sources.

dashboard.waterdata.usgs.gov

 

[jifigz]

I did see two fly fishermen dressed up in all the best gear walking around Hotel Manor. Not sure where they fished, but Slate Run and Pine were definitely over 70 degrees. Maybe they were just taking their cool clothing out for a walk?

Maybe they were bass fishing on Pine. Maybe they were on lesser known cold water nearby. Maybe they are just ignorant of the temps on Slate and Pine and how it affects the trout.

 

[Troy]

Maybe they were bass fishing on Pine. Maybe they were on lesser known cold water nearby. Maybe they are just ignorant of the temps on Slate and Pine and how it affects the trout.

It is still ignorant fishing for bass in "the stretch" which is catch and release trout water. Do the trout know not to eat a wooley bugger because it was meant for a smallmouth?

To me, if you spent that much time and effort to look dapper to go fishing than maybe they should do a little reading about what warm water does to trout. They didn't go somewhere miles away to fish and drive back with their gear on to walk around Hotel Manor when it was around 92 degrees out. Nope. Not buying it.

 

[lycoflyfisher]

When pine is warm and the stocked trout are stacked up at cold water sources, bass are likely actively feeding in the rest of the creek. Its quite easy to target bass in warm weather and not disturb stocked trout seeking thermal refugia.

 

[Troy]

When pine is warm and the stocked trout are stacked up at cold water sources, bass are likely actively feeding in the rest of the creek. Its quite easy to target bass in warm weather and not disturb stocked trout seeking thermal refugia.

In my opinion there are better areas to target smallmouth in Pine other than the catch and release trout stretch. The smallmouth are also downstream.

 

[6xAdams(Jones)]

Big Pine was >88 Degrees at Waterville last Saturday. How does that translate to temperature upstream at Slate Run? The gauge at Cedar Run doesn't have a thermometer.

 

[Fredrick]

The Case for Super Bass (AKA Snakeheads) - In-Fisherman

Over the years, the numbers of snakeheads have leveled off and most of the best snakehead fisheries also have big bass.

www.in-fisherman.com