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TROUT Tip – beyond trout… and fly fishing
As mentioned throughout this hot summer and extreme drought, focusing on other fish is often the best bet for the health of our beloved trout. It’s also a good bet to get new anglers hooked (pun intended), as bluegill and crappie make more willing participants. In addition, when teaching a new angler, don’t get hung up on just using fly fishing gear. That can be…
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Ahhh… the cat days of summer
When sultry summer weather starts pushing some of our favorite trout waters beyond temperatures at which it’s ethical to fish for our beloved salmonids, many of us move on to other targets. Chasing smallmouth bass with streamers is fun and great practice for trout fishing. Or cast surface poppers for fun topwater hits from bass…
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Drought and native trout: Colorado and Rio Grande Rivers
Finding resilience in a summer of reckoning across the Rockies and Southwest We’ve all seen the headlines: fast growing wildfires, record low snowpack, drying reservoirs, heat waves, hoot owl restrictions, mandatory fishing closures and other worrisome conditions for our favorite coldwater critters. But for humans, too, these challenges remain stubborn after 25+ years of drought in a lot of the West. Across the Colorado…
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Summer fun: Bass and sunfish on poppers
Overhanging branches and a swirling wind made this a tough cast. It came together, the moderate action 3-weight Sage fly rod loading nicely, as always, and the meaty fly landing with a splat deep in the shady pocket. Next came the slurp, then the fight, then the fish to hand — another stout bluegill that just couldn’t resist the…
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Spend summer chasing smallmouth with streamers
Summer has gotten under way with historically low water and high air temperatures, both of which can put a lot of stress on our trout fisheries. What else can we do if we’re not fishing for trout? House projects are caught up, garden chores are done and the yard’s mowed. Now what? Target smallmouth bass on the fly Bronzebacks, small jaws, smallies or whatever you want to call them can be an absolute…
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Is it too hot?
Did you know that trout are cold blooded? What does that mean, exactly? Well, it means that their body temperature depends on the temperature of the water in which they swim. Why is this important to consider? If the water is too warm, trout struggle to thrive. Warm water carries less dissolved oxygen, which means it is…
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Two things anglers can do in times of drought
I had a choice this weekend. I could head down to Shenandoah National Park and fish for native brookies or ply the Potomac for blue catfish and perhaps an occasional schoolie striper. I chose the Potomac. While I love fishing the Potomac, after multiple days of high temperatures, I didn’t feel great about tugging on bespeckled jewels, even in cold small mountain streams. Your actions…
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