Water To Trout Fish Now

[goose54cdd]

Any Suggestions? I've been fishing for smallmouths and I enjoy it, but is there any water suitable for trout fishing right now? I guess that means cool, well-oxygenated water where it's safe to hook a fish. Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Jay_H]

If you have a spring creek or maybe a tail water near you, those would be about the only real fishable places. Most water will be too warm if you’re looking for catch and release.

 

[wildtrout2]

If you have a spring creek or maybe a tail water near you, those would be about the only real fishable places. Most water will be too warm if you’re looking for catch and release.

There are plenty of mountain freestone streams that are cold enough, stay cold enough, to safely fish for trout now.

 

[goose54cdd]

There are plenty of mountain freestone streams that are cold enough, stay cold enough, to safely fish for trout now.

True

 

[tomgamber]

Location would narrow the possibilities

 

[Swattie87]

There are plenty of mountain freestone streams that are cold enough, stay cold enough, to safely fish for trout now.

Agree. OP, just note that these streams typically don’t fish very well in low, clear mid-Summer conditions like we have right now. The water will be plenty cold, but the fish will be ultra spooky.

I fished two small streams yesterday and sweated my huevos off. I caught a few Brookies, but it was slow going. Wish I had spent the day wet wading for bass instead. Warmwater is honestly the most productive fishing you’re gonna find in PA right now with this hot/dry weather pattern.

Hoping maybe that tropical system in the Gulf will bring a soaker our way.

 

[wgmiller]

As mentioned by Swattie, you may find some cold water this time of the year, but you're gonna sweat your a*s off fishing it. July and August (along with early September) often means switching over to warmwater species and kayaking for me. If you absolutely need to trout fish, seek out a spring creek (Letort, Big Spring, etc.) and fish it after first light. This summer is shaping up to be a hot and dry one, so giving the trout a break isn't a bad thing.

 

[salmo]

Smaller, steep gradient streams with lots of tree cover early in the morning.

 

[ryansheehan]

Any Suggestions? I've been fishing for smallmouths and I enjoy it, but is there any water suitable for trout fishing right now? I guess that means cool, well-oxygenated water where it's safe to hook a fish. Thanks for your thoughts.

Where are you coming from and how far are you willing to travel?

 

[jeffroey]

I was out today on two mountain freestoners in Schuylkill county. Water temps were 66F and 61F respectively. Even with that, flows were low, fish were spooky, bugged out to trails relatively quickly (only fished the first one for ~3/4 mi before calling it quits) and the walk back downstream on the trails absolutely sucked. Like really sucked. I should've waived off today but the point is there's places you can still go. Like others said, you just need to temper your expectations this time of year.

 

[Jay_H]

South central PA (at least in my neck of the woods) needs rain desperately. We’ve had a couple storms but it seems like the rain either is north of us or is just a downpour and then gone.

Only plus is I haven’t had to mow for close to a month.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

A lot of good suggestions above.

Think of it this way, too. The dogs days don't last as long as they seem. The longest day is the summer solstice, so days get shorter and nights longer from here on out. Especially if we get some rains to help the cause, August mornings can be far cooler and offer better fishing than July mornings many years.

It not just hot right now, it's draught-y in parts of the state too. I am in the Philly burbs, and I just cut my lawn for the first time in 3 weeks yesterday.