I haven’t posted in a while, almost 3 weeks I think. Unfortunately there was a perfect storm of excessive work/travel for work, too many pressing personal obligations, coupled with terrible heat and drought that have come together to shut off my fishing outings lately. I hope to get over the hump here soon and get back to fishing and posting more often. With that being said, I have been traveling for work all over the state recently and can say that without a doubt the heat and drought are wreaking havoc. This is especially true for our trout fisheries, which rely on cold water. Trout, and other cold water fish, are often forced into smaller headwater-type streams to seek thermal refuge. It is these small streams that also tend to be hardest hit by the drought in many cases. Without access to cold water tributaries trout will congregate near any source of cold groundwater input, if available, or most likely perish. These conditions are extremely stressful for trout so it is wise to limit your fishing exclusively to tailwaters until conditions improve. This isn’t just in MA either. I just read the other day that Montana is completely closing the Jefferson and Big Hole Rivers to fishing because of drought and heat.
Has anybody had any luck on some of our local or regional tailwaters? I’d like to hear about how other people feel about targeting trout during these conditions and how everyone gets there fishing fix when it’s so hot and dry.
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Other than tailwaters… forgetaboutit till September. Hit the lakes or fish for warm water species.
I agree with Anonymous. I see some nice trout hanging around in a couple of bridge pools on a stream near where I live, but I will leave them be to try and make it through this miserable summer. One hard fight once hooked might do them in.
Sam
Tough times. Even at a tailwater, IMO, fishing is best at dawn. So, it is a lot of sleep deprivation and much driving for many of us to fish a short window of opportunity. But, already the mornings are feeling cooler and the daylight period is shrinking. Personally, I think Sept is one of the toughest months. Few bugs. October is so much better. Brookies spawn and the eggs in the drift make for very active trout.
Climate change, folks. Worse on the trout every year.
Maybe a trip to a tailwater if I need to beat a trout fix, but I'll mainly just do saltwater, carp (now's a time), and bass for now.
Scott
I have been having good success on a very cold stream that has 3 springs dumping into a very big pool, the water on that pool is shaded on some parts during all day, and when you wet wade it feels has cold has the swift, temperature there, was 61F last weekend, plenty of brookies around there.
But other than weekends when I can drive up there, I have been catching big smallies and pike every dawn at the concord river on downtown Lowell.
Rui Machado
Good call to head up-mountain. Below Murphy Dam in Pittsburg, NH, the water is 55 °F.
Funny thing is that is a brook in MA, not to far from Boston