Sunlit Temps Over 40 Stimulate Winter Trout

Any of us sometimes depart for an outing not expecting much more than the quality of the day. It will almost be enough. Last I got out before today, the temperature was 38 degrees and rain fell hard, mixed with some snow. I fished as hard, wading on downstream, knowing that if I happened to put my jig in front of a trout, I might get hit. So I worked at that, and yes, eventually I did get hit. Hard. But I missed it. That happened in a stretch where I caught a 15-inch wild brown in November 2022, so it might have been another one or even the same fish I released. 

Today the air was almost dead calm. The sky cloudless, The temperature about 43. Last night was cold enough that I noticed thick skim ice on one of the ponds in my neighborhood. I wanted to hit the river while the sun was high and the temperature nearly peaking out. I'm not especially experienced at catching the winter stockers, but I hear that they hit especially before the sun begins to get low, when its rays warm the water a little. Temperatures above 40 accompanying that light on the water and on the rocks underneath are especially desirable. Trout get caught on frigid days, but supposedly they prefer such days as today.

Even so, I wasn't especially ready for the fish, even though I caught them at the spot I visited today in January and February of last year. My first cast resulted in a fish on for a few seconds. Shortly thereafter, I hooked up and played a nice rainbow almost to the net before it got off. That's when I felt I'd had all the action I'd get, but I not only netted three rainbows within a half hour, I missed a hit after I caught those fish. Among the three I caught, two were a little over 16 inches, the other 15 inches.

All the fish I caught and lost felt especially eager to strike, as if the sunlight and the relatively mild temperatures had stimulated them. It's possible the two I lost were the first trout I caught. The one I nearly netted looked like the first one I did get in the net. If so, that was an eager trout for being so plump. (The other two I caught were skinny.) The hit I missed shortly before I decided to leave gave me the clue to not all the trout being very willing, however. It was a subtle, noncommittal, pull. Repeatedly, I cast back to the spot, but nothing more happened. 

Cold Rain