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Cut-off temp for summer trout?

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2020 11:59 am
by MickyFinn
New to this forum--and an enthusiast of limited experience--so I want to ask: What water temperature is considered the high cut-off point for trout fishing?

Re: Cut-off temp for summer trout?

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2020 12:28 pm
by BiggerThomas
Most anglers use the upper 60s F as a cutoff, though some say 70 F.
Here's a good article on how different trout respond to different temperatures.
Welcome to the forum.

https://www.hatchmag.com/articles/trout ... hot/771553

Re: Cut-off temp for summer trout?

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2020 2:14 pm
by Twism86
Welcome to the forum. 68F is the most accepted temperature to stop fishing at because once the temps starting climbing and hit 68, 70 isnt far behind.

The weather for the next 10 days is not looking good for trout.

Re: Cut-off temp for summer trout?

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2020 2:38 pm
by coaltrout
Twism86 wrote:
Tue Jul 07, 2020 2:14 pm
Welcome to the forum. 68F is the most accepted temperature to stop fishing at because once the temps starting climbing and hit 68, 70 isnt far behind.

The weather for the next 10 days is not looking good for trout.
nope. i wonder if these downpours and scattered storms are helping too. I imagine the more water, the better?

Re: Cut-off temp for summer trout?

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2020 3:39 pm
by lightenup
MickyFinn wrote:
Tue Jul 07, 2020 11:59 am
New to this forum--and an enthusiast of limited experience--so I want to ask: What water temperature is considered the high cut-off point for trout fishing?
I agree with 68...but, If you take the temp in the morning, and it's hot out, check every half hour or so as the temperature of the water can rise very quickly on hot sunny days..I was surprised when I found out how fast. One day I went in the morn and it was 63 degrees by noon it had risen to 70 degrees. Carry your thermometer and check often. Also different parts of the stream may give you different temps. If you check where a spring is it may read 50 degrees but be 70, 30 yards downstream. Or a feeder creek may lower the main-stem temps and so on.

Re: Cut-off temp for summer trout?

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2020 6:19 pm
by Drossi
coaltrout wrote:
Tue Jul 07, 2020 2:38 pm
Twism86 wrote:
Tue Jul 07, 2020 2:14 pm
Welcome to the forum. 68F is the most accepted temperature to stop fishing at because once the temps starting climbing and hit 68, 70 isnt far behind.

The weather for the next 10 days is not looking good for trout.
nope. i wonder if these downpours and scattered storms are helping too. I imagine the more water, the better?
Downpours hurt in a lot of cases, superheated runoff from hot impervious surfaces. A good example would be runoff from Rt 57 hitting the Musky and raising the water temp further.

Re: Cut-off temp for summer trout?

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2020 7:18 pm
by Troutman
My personally cutoff water temps is 66*. I have been fishing for other species in the summer.

Re: Cut-off temp for summer trout?

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2020 8:44 pm
by coaltrout
Drossi wrote:
Tue Jul 07, 2020 6:19 pm
coaltrout wrote:
Tue Jul 07, 2020 2:38 pm
Twism86 wrote:
Tue Jul 07, 2020 2:14 pm
Welcome to the forum. 68F is the most accepted temperature to stop fishing at because once the temps starting climbing and hit 68, 70 isnt far behind.

The weather for the next 10 days is not looking good for trout.
nope. i wonder if these downpours and scattered storms are helping too. I imagine the more water, the better?
Downpours hurt in a lot of cases, superheated runoff from hot impervious surfaces. A good example would be runoff from Rt 57 hitting the Musky and raising the water temp further.
I see, i always figured this was just parking lots for some reason never thought of roads.

Re: Cut-off temp for summer trout?

Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2020 7:35 am
by MickyFinn
I appreciate the input from all on this.

Apparently, the SBR is "about there" on temperature.

I miss the trout--but am trying to transition to fishing flies for smallmouth for the time being.

I find smallies from time to time in the SBR below Clinton, but have yet to really connect with them to a satisfying degree--and have caught nothing much over a foot long.

Tried late day-into-sunset wader- :? fishing the Delaware just last night, but again failed to connect with anything but some cooperative rock bass.

Re: Cut-off temp for summer trout?

Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2020 2:26 pm
by BiggerThomas
ps, to make things easier for admin Tom Twism, can we perhaps combine this thread with the "Boiled Trout" thread? :lol:

Re: Cut-off temp for summer trout?

Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2020 8:19 am
by MickyFinn
I don't mind combining the two posts.

Re: Cut-off temp for summer trout?

Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2020 9:58 am
by Pete
Traditionally, since stream-side thermometers weren't very precise, they suggested nice round easy to read, and easy to remember, numbers depending on which scale your thermometer used.

70 F
or
20 C

The 68 F figure happens to be what retentive types get if they convert 20 C to Fahrenheit. Since "the lower the better" applies, they seldom get an argument. :geek:

Re: Cut-off temp for summer trout?

Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2020 10:42 am
by Rusty Spinner
lightenup wrote:
Tue Jul 07, 2020 3:39 pm
MickyFinn wrote:
Tue Jul 07, 2020 11:59 am
New to this forum--and an enthusiast of limited experience--so I want to ask: What water temperature is considered the high cut-off point for trout fishing?
I agree with 68...but, If you take the temp in the morning, and it's hot out, check every half hour or so as the temperature of the water can rise very quickly on hot sunny days..I was surprised when I found out how fast. One day I went in the morn and it was 63 degrees by noon it had risen to 70 degrees. Carry your thermometer and check often. Also different parts of the stream may give you different temps. If you check where a spring is it may read 50 degrees but be 70, 30 yards downstream. Or a feeder creek may lower the main-stem temps and so on.
This

Re: Cut-off temp for summer trout?

Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2020 10:43 am
by Rusty Spinner
coaltrout wrote:
Tue Jul 07, 2020 8:44 pm
Drossi wrote:
Tue Jul 07, 2020 6:19 pm
coaltrout wrote:
Tue Jul 07, 2020 2:38 pm


nope. i wonder if these downpours and scattered storms are helping too. I imagine the more water, the better?
Downpours hurt in a lot of cases, superheated runoff from hot impervious surfaces. A good example would be runoff from Rt 57 hitting the Musky and raising the water temp further.
I see, i always figured this was just parking lots for some reason never thought of roads.
Don't forget roofs. Same issue as asphalt roads. Any impervious surfaces act to increase velocity of storm water while at the same time super-heating that stormwater.

Re: Cut-off temp for summer trout?

Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2020 11:49 am
by coaltrout
Rusty Spinner wrote:
Thu Jul 09, 2020 10:43 am

Don't forget roofs. Same issue as asphalt roads. Any impervious surfaces act to increase velocity of storm water while at the same time super-heating that stormwater.
Yep that came to mind too. I gotta watch out for my favorite creek alongside the local wally world :mrgreen:

Re: Cut-off temp for summer trout?

Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2020 2:38 pm
by Rusty Spinner
Modern stormwater systems do a wonderful job at buffering these flows directly into our streams and rivers, but the trouble for NJ is that so many of our systems are very much outdated and lack those protections.

Re: Cut-off temp for summer trout?

Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2020 8:45 am
by BiggerThomas
Rusty Spinner wrote:
Thu Jul 09, 2020 10:42 am
lightenup wrote:
Tue Jul 07, 2020 3:39 pm
MickyFinn wrote:
Tue Jul 07, 2020 11:59 am
New to this forum--and an enthusiast of limited experience--so I want to ask: What water temperature is considered the high cut-off point for trout fishing?
I agree with 68...but, If you take the temp in the morning, and it's hot out, check every half hour or so as the temperature of the water can rise very quickly on hot sunny days..I was surprised when I found out how fast. One day I went in the morn and it was 63 degrees by noon it had risen to 70 degrees. Carry your thermometer and check often. Also different parts of the stream may give you different temps. If you check where a spring is it may read 50 degrees but be 70, 30 yards downstream. Or a feeder creek may lower the main-stem temps and so on.
This
This is also why installing streamside temperature-reading stations might not be all that effective. It's best to take the temperature when you're actually standing in the stream, that way you can be assured the time and place you're fishing are actually safe to do so.

Re: Cut-off temp for summer trout?

Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2020 9:46 am
by Jaybird
Great thread I hope alot of the lurkers are reading this .

Re: Cut-off temp for summer trout?

Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2020 10:16 am
by martalus
Although not particularly cool weather, looks like some significant rain coming to area streams with this tropical storms.

Re: Cut-off temp for summer trout?

Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2020 10:23 am
by Rusty Spinner
BiggerThomas wrote:
Fri Jul 10, 2020 8:45 am
Rusty Spinner wrote:
Thu Jul 09, 2020 10:42 am
lightenup wrote:
Tue Jul 07, 2020 3:39 pm

I agree with 68...but, If you take the temp in the morning, and it's hot out, check every half hour or so as the temperature of the water can rise very quickly on hot sunny days..I was surprised when I found out how fast. One day I went in the morn and it was 63 degrees by noon it had risen to 70 degrees. Carry your thermometer and check often. Also different parts of the stream may give you different temps. If you check where a spring is it may read 50 degrees but be 70, 30 yards downstream. Or a feeder creek may lower the main-stem temps and so on.
This
This is also why installing streamside temperature-reading stations might not be all that effective. It's best to take the temperature when you're actually standing in the stream, that way you can be assured the time and place you're fishing are actually safe to do so.
Agreed, and very important for certain streams that see a lot of groundwater entering into the river and cooling it down significantly. TU is looking at the correlation between groundwater upwellings and native brook trout spawning and the science is fascinating. We have identified a section on the Lopatcong, a spring fed creek in Warren County that flows into the Delaware, where temps recorded outside the groundwater upwelling were 22C (71.6F) whereas the water temps in the cool zone was 13C (55F). :shock: