Late summer trout tactics?

[kevin07]

I have been fishing a warm water creek lately with lots of suckers schooled up. There are several rainbows that hang out with them ive caught 2 on nymphs in mid summer but the are has got hit hard and now they spook easily. Any ideas what they would take. Im thinking mabe a small ant would work. They hardly ever surface that i see.

 

[Fishidiot]

Kevin,
You mention that this is a "warm water" creek. Maybe this is your problem. Trout are cold water fish and feed very little once water temps get up into the 70s (which has been very common this summer). Do you have a stream thermometer? If you can get a water temp, and find those temps over 70 degrees F, I would recommend that you leave those trout alone until water temps drop back down into the 60s. If the water is below 70, I'd try ants or other terrestrials. Try to stay back and present your fly with a long cast so the fish don't see you.

 

[3wt7X]

I agree with everything that Fishidiot said, but I would add that night fishing during the summer can be a very effective technique. Even the streams that do not warm to dangerous levels tend to fish pretty well at night during the summer. I can be a bit of an adventure and I would not recomend doing it on a stream that you are not familiar with, but it might surprise you with some nice fish. Good luck...if you do some research, there are a few threads on night fishing in the various forums that would be helpful.

 

[flipnfly]

i would say midge larvae and hide......