Trout & Water Temprature
Temperature of the water, I believe, has much to do with the trout’s activity as it concerns the fisherman. Too cold or too warm reacts on fish just as on animals and man. The main four trout species vary, too, in their comfort requirements. The brook trout’s comfort range is when the water is between 50 and 65 degrees; the rainbow and cutthroat feel better at temperatures between 55 and 70 degrees; the brown or loch likes water between 60 and 75 degrees. When the water is colder than 40 degrees trout appear sluggish and somewhat inactive. Fishing the shallows and riffles then, where the sun has had a chance to warm it a bit, is generally more resultful for the angler.
The temperature of the water as it relates to fishing types of flies, too, has a bearing on the fisherman’s success or failure. In water temperatures between 33 and 45 degrees bait is the accepted and logical lure. Between 40 and 55 degrees the regular wet flies, streamers and nymphs work more successfully. The dry fly temperatures arc best between 50 and 70 degrees. If it is your desire, in fishing, do not be reluctant to fish any type fly you choose regardless of water temperature. I have caught trout and have seen others take trout on dry flies when water temperatures were around 35 to 40 degrees, but these instances are really rare.
Trout are extremely sensitive to temperature changes in the water. A drop, for example, for any reason, as during or after a fall of rain, and usually all kinds of lures will be taken in a certain and deliberate manner. It was at such times, I am certain, that many fly patterns, born in the mind of the tyro fisherman and fly tier, were used with marked success and new “Specials” arrive to clutter up the scenery. But fortunately, or unfortunately, whichever way you see it, trout at these times will actually hit a hook with just a piece of yarn knotted to it—even a bare hook has been known to work. Small twigs, a cigarette butt, a piece of orange peel—everything in the trout’s feeding range is tried and tasted before being expelled. (Many times, during these flush feeding periods, the novice fisherman himself grasps at the conclusion that he’s quite a genius as a fly angler. What an awakening is in store for him come the next day.)
