golden beetle
Active member
Yesterday I made it out for a few hours of fishing. Conditions weren’t ideal: the trickle of water I fished was a steaming 82 degrees where I first measured, but I wasn’t about to let water temps stop me from fishing on my day off. I’d find a spot to fish, and do so ethically.
On hot, low water days, the rule basically is NOT to fish any stretch of water over 80 degrees. So I hiked to downstream, and recorded the following data:
84 degrees.
87 degrees.
83 degrees.
92 degrees.
So I kept hiking until I found a stretch of wild trout water at a relatively cool 80 degrees. And I found my favorite deep water pool. To my delight (and surprise), it was packed with fish!
To measure the temperature accurately, you need to sink your thermometer down to the bottom of the pool, where the fish are holding. You just tie a rock or something to the thermometer, drop it in, and for whatever reason, the fish don’t spook so easily.
At the bottom of the pool, the water was 79. One degree below the 80 degree line: fishable!
As I took the water temperature, a few wild trout darted from the deep cool water, but thought better of it and went right back where they came from - as if to reward the hard work of the ethical late summer, low water fisherman.
Ill post pics later today, but I peeled hundreds of fish out of that hole yesterday. It was as if they stacked up in the only pool cooler than 80 degrees in the entire stream...
Best.
On hot, low water days, the rule basically is NOT to fish any stretch of water over 80 degrees. So I hiked to downstream, and recorded the following data:
84 degrees.
87 degrees.
83 degrees.
92 degrees.
So I kept hiking until I found a stretch of wild trout water at a relatively cool 80 degrees. And I found my favorite deep water pool. To my delight (and surprise), it was packed with fish!
To measure the temperature accurately, you need to sink your thermometer down to the bottom of the pool, where the fish are holding. You just tie a rock or something to the thermometer, drop it in, and for whatever reason, the fish don’t spook so easily.
At the bottom of the pool, the water was 79. One degree below the 80 degree line: fishable!
As I took the water temperature, a few wild trout darted from the deep cool water, but thought better of it and went right back where they came from - as if to reward the hard work of the ethical late summer, low water fisherman.
Ill post pics later today, but I peeled hundreds of fish out of that hole yesterday. It was as if they stacked up in the only pool cooler than 80 degrees in the entire stream...
Best.
