Think about giving the trout a break...

[afishinado]

..since the weather has turned hot and most streams are low.

Use your best judgement, common sense, and your thermometer if you choose fish for trout.

There are a few tailwaters and spring creeks that may be okay to fish, but many of the wild trout streams in PA are running low and warm.

Yes, the trout are still in there, but many are in survival mode clinging to spring seeps and/or slightly cooler tribs to survive.

Most of us on here practice C&R to preserve trout and allow us to enjoy the sport year round. So why not think about giving the trout a break for a month or two when conditions are poor, so we all can enjoy fishing the other ten months of the year.

No need to stay home, though....dust off your heavier rod and tackle and try your luck with smallies or other warmwater fish.

Smallies are not all colored up like trout, but hey, bronze is a color too!

 

[jifigz]

What is your cut-off temp for angling for trout? I've heard 70° as the common number that most seem to think should be the cut-off as to avoid too much stress on the fish. Even though the weather has been hot, I was on lower Kish near the end of the Class A water and the water was 66. I feel that fishing there with water at 66° poses no threat to the fish as long as I handle them briefly and treat them right. Am I safe in my conclusion. (I only caught one wild brown about 6 inches big, anyways.)

 

[phiendWMD]

What are your cut off temps for brookies? I've always heard you shouldn't fish after 70 degrees. But I've heard brookies need a lower temp and something closer to 65 degrees is a better cut off for them.

If different species have different cut off points, streams will vary and using the lowest temp tolerate species in that stream should be standard. Saving the browns but killing the brookies doesn't make any sense to me.

 

[724flyfishing]

I've been saying this for a few weeks, at least for my area. The trout in creeks in SWPA that can hold over fish on a good summer are probably going to die off soon. I fished a Class A Laurel Highlands brookie stream two weekends ago for a few hours and it was cold, but very low. Too low for my liking. Why even take the chance, even if the water is 60-65 degrees in certain places? It's just been too hot and dry. What rain we have got has just been quick blow out thunderstorms that probably do more harm than good.

On the bright side, we're in prime time for pond and river fishing. The Yough was pumping out at 53 degrees yesterday and is loaded with trout. Still plenty of fishing to be had that doesn't involve stressing/killing your catch.

 

[krayfish2]

I believe there are numerous studies that indicate trout begin to exhibit stress if exposed for a short period to temps of 68 degrees. If you are fishing for wild trout, please error on the safe side and pack it in prior to 70 degree temps.

If the water temps get to 68 and stay there for more than an hour or two, I shut it down. Give trout a break? I have since before Memorial Day (with exception of Yough Jam).

 

[Mike]

Alternatively, if you are fishing warming stocked trout streams, including DH areas, just keep up to the legal limit of legal trout that you catch. They taste much better now than when freshly stocked, as my wife and I can attest after a few days if fishing this past week.

 

[krayfish2]

I don't eat anything that swims. I just do it for fun.

 

[Beefheart]

Guess the quality of the meat improving depends on where you fish. I used to frequent the Pine Creek (Allegheny County) DH area and always felt that the longer they swam in that water the more polluted they became. I'd eat a few out of open water not long after stocking, but rarely did late. Unnecessarily cautious?

 

[SteveG]

The warm-water fish need a better director of marketing. I haven't given trout a second thought in weeks. I had my first musky follow last weekend, and its all I can think about.

 

[afishinado]

SteveG wrote:
The warm-water fish need a better director of marketing. I haven't given trout a second thought in weeks. I had my first musky follow last weekend, and its all I can think about.

Captain Dave is in charge of the squad. Contact him:

 

[wildtrout2]

Of the six wild mountain freestone streams I've fished so far this season, as recently as yesterday, not one has been over 60F. You can still chase trout if you're fishing the right water, levels are just low.

 

[GonnaFlyNow]

I switched over to bass a month or two ago. In sw pa, it's nice to fish a species that doesn't have stocking day drama, is nice to fish year round, and naturally reproduces. Also, most streams that hold nice smallies don't have much fishing pressure or stressed fish. I am glad most people don't see this logic so I can have all that stream to myself!
Cheers.

 

[fly_flinger]

SteveG wrote:
The warm-water fish need a better director of marketing. I haven't given trout a second thought in weeks. I had my first musky follow last weekend, and its all I can think about.

You have been ruined. Good luck thinking about trout again for awhile.

 

[PocketWater]

Beefheart wrote:
Guess the quality of the meat improving depends on where you fish. I used to frequent the Pine Creek (Allegheny County) DH area and always felt that the longer they swam in that water the more polluted they became. I'd eat a few out of open water not long after stocking, but rarely did late. Unnecessarily cautious?

I used to fish there and some of those fish you would catch in the summer looked horrendous like they had chunks out of them and big sores on their bodies. I wouldn't eat anything out of there.

 

[mikesl]

Can anyone offer tips for dummies on converting tactics from chasing trout to smallmouth, for example in the Lehigh?

 

[afishinado]

mikesl wrote:
Can anyone offer tips for dummies on converting tactics from chasing trout to smallmouth, for example in the Lehigh?

The colored fish often put up their noses and swim the other way because of drag or splatting down your fly too hard on the surface. Smallies will often chase flies that drag, and the harder the splat!...the harder the hit! Hold on to your rod!!...Great fun...give it a try!

My 2 on how-to:

First, pick a river or stream with a decent smallie population. Most WW streams have SMB, but some are better than others. You can't go wrong fishing the D or J rivers, and of course the Susky. The Lehigh is also loaded with SMBs.

Look for areas with a lot of rock and boulder areas and some current to find smallies. Fish the riffs as well as the slower pool areas and focus on seams and areas with cover like rocks or wood.

I usually start on the surface with a popper or slider. Not necessarily because the the most productive all the time, but it is the most fun and I can cover a lot of water and find fish.

No fish hitting on top in different areas and water types?...I'll usually switch to some type of streamer. My favorite is a wooly bugger in various colors. The fly shows lots of movement and the smallies usually love it. The thing I like about a bugger is it can represent a minnow as well as a large nymph like a hellgrammite or even a crayfish depending on the technique used to fish it and the color choice. A Clouser minnow and other streamers are good minnow imitations.

I will often quarter upstream and fish it tight-line to get a dead-drift > let it swing in the current (sometimes imparting some action) > let it straighten out in the current > hang there for a few seconds > and strip back before recasting. Try all kind of retrieves (or no retrieve at all) to find what the fish are responding to at the time.

Again, you are searching...keep moving and fishing all water types. Short cast > longer cast > long cast > move downstream a step or two and repeat. But don't just cast for distance...be sure to cast to cover like rocks and boulders, as well as wood, current breaks and depth changes of the bottom.

When/if you get a strike or catch a smallie, thoroughly fish that area and take note the water type as well as the technique that worked. After you fished it well, move on. Many times you will find success in certain water types like riffs, pools, etc. Focus on that type of water if the fish tell you that's where they prefer to hang that day.

Still nothing? It may be time to slowly fish the bottom. Big stonefly nymphs with rubber legs work well. I also tie a hellgrimmite fly that works well for me. I start by tight-lining my nymph quartering upstream bumping the bottom. You can also try an using indy, but I often choose a good sized popper or slider and tie a dropper from either the eye or hook bend and use as a indy. The popper-dropper let's you fish the surface as well as subsurface. The dropper can be 18" up to and even beyond 36" depending on the depth of the water and/or your casting ability.

-Search all water types

-Focus on cover, current seams and changes, and depth changes

-Try the aggressive approaches with surface flies or streamers to cover water.

-If the fish aren't "on" try the low and slow approach bumping the bottom.



Here's a recent thread from the WW forum with some good tips for SMB fishing:

SMB fishing tips

 

[Hook_Jaw]

We shouldn't have to tell anyone when and when not to fish should know already.

 

[mikesl]

Thanks for the extensive tutorial Afish.

Also found this:

Rosenbauer on Smallmouth Fly tactics


I am thinking that covering water in the kayak may be a good plan while learning, until I can read smallie lies better from shore.

 

[afishinado]

mikesl wrote:
Thanks for the extensive tutorial Afish.

Also found this:

Rosenbauer on Smallmouth Fly tactics


I am thinking that covering water in the kayak may be a good plan while learning, until I can read smallie lies better from shore.

^ Good plan. Keep trying different areas, water types and different techniques until you find them and start to hammer them. Sometimes it feels like they have the hammer when things are right!

Good luck.

 

[Jessed]

Yeah! Waters warming up! Can't wait for it to cool.