Water temperatures are crucial for trout

Published 12:47 pm Thursday, May 26, 2011

Paying attention to water temperatures can help you catch more and bigger fish, says Tim Irish, a long-time Yakima River guide who is writing a book.

Irish said he isn’t guiding anymore, but he is trying to educate guides on being more effective in finding fish and boosting their clients’ res

ults.

He was the speaker Tuesday night at the Evergreen Fly Fishing Club in Everett.

Water temperature and how it affects a fishes metabolism is very important, Irish said. He was talking mostly about western rivers, but he said it’s also true of lakes.

He said that below 40 deg

rees, a fishes metabolism slows considerably. As you might expect, that means they aren’t looking for a lot to heat. The opposite is true over 50 degrees.

In between, from 40 to 50, a slight rise in temperature can get fish feeding more.

Why should you care?

Irish noted that at 40 and below, most trout “pod up” together, finding a stretch of the river where the current is slower to conserve energy. They usually are near the bottom to catch food that drifts by more easily.

He noted that smaller fish only have to eat small amounts to sustain life; bigger fish have to eat a lot more. That’s one reason why big fish tend to push smaller fish out of the good lies in a river where the food is more plentiful.

That also happens in lakes. I noticed last weekend on Big Twin Lake that the larger fish were patrolling areas were the lake bottom was cleared of vegetation looking for hatching bugs. The would chase out the smaller fish trying to feed on their turf and they would do it every time a smaller fish showed up.

That means you have a better shot for more big fish in winter if you look for slower current areas and fish near the bottom.

In the middle zone, where temperature can change a few degrees during the day, the bigger fish may move to an area where the water is a little faster and some bugs are hatching. When the water chills again, they may move back to the pod.

In spring as waters warm, the metabolism is high and fish start feeding more aggressively.

That means anglers need to spot those feeding areas by seeking the key hatches.

On the Yakima, early hatches include the Squala stonefly in March early April and March Brown mayflies and then caddis. He noted that caddis like areas with layers of basalt rock, including the Ellensburg canyon.

Temperature is also important in lakes, he said, adding that fish don’t pod up there because there isn’t a strong current.

But the same metabolic rules apply.

Early in the fishing season, you might find fish in the shallower water because those areas warm up more quickly.

He suggested looking for shallow areas near drop offs so the fish can come in from the deeper water to feed, then go back quickly if needed.

“Sometimes, just right at the dropoff is where you want to be,” he said. “You can catch more fish just knowing that.”

For more trout information, Click here

The Guide Chronicles is an online magazine put out by the staff of the Worley Bugger Fly Co.

In addition to an article of fish metabolism, there are pieces of fishing for carp, callibaetis mayflies, summer run steelhead on the Klickitat River and other topics.