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3. Driftless area trout

Beautiful day in the Driftless area... except winds in the ~10-25 mph range. Caught your usual assortment of little brookies mixed in with a few nice browns. Flipped over to a #14 BH prince nymph around 10 am and worked the brushline. Hooked into this 16" beautifully colored brown on a 3 wt... great fight!

[edited by Troutnut to have a title]

Fished the drifless area week of the 8th of April. Wind and snow conditions horrible. Caught fish like the world was coming to and end go figure.

just learning about flyfishing...

Trout usually aren't so active during inclement weather are they? What made the difference on the day you were out? Were they just hungry?

Trout can definitely be active during inclement weather. It all depends on the specifics... and I don't think any of us really understands those specifics very well.

As a very general rule with lots of exceptions, trout are probably less active overall when the weather's bad than when it's pleasant.

Yeah, but if the trout in question were residents of a spring creek--as I suspect they were--they were one heck of a lot more comfortable than Greyghost was! Spring creek trout have it made pretty much year-round.

Not to reduce the value or correctness of your statement regarding spring creeks but just to bring out a point that I beleive misleads many anglers about fish, be advised that "trout are neither comfortable or uncomfortable in cold weather or water". Being cold blooded (blood temperature approx. same as the water) they don't feel the difference in their body temperature and the water like us warm blooded humans.
The colder the water, the less active the fish are, the less food they ussually burn and consequently, the less they usually eat. Pay particular attention to the word "usually".
In cold water with little food, (which is not the case in a spring creek) in theory (& if it were not for mother nature) they could actually burn more energy than they could replace trying to find and catch enough to eat.
If this don't get a reaction, I don't know what will.

Fair enough, Beachvid/VideoNut. I was tempted to quibble about the definition(s) of the word "comfortable," but because I was mostly joking, I'll resist the bait like a wise trout. ;)

GONZO April 13th, 2007, 2:33 pm
Boiling Springs, PA

Posts: 423 Fair enough, Beachvid/VideoNut. I was tempted to quibble about the definition(s) of the word "comfortable," but because I was mostly joking, I'll resist the bait like a wise trout. ;)

Lloyd :) I think you may have been hooked before.

John

Exactly, John! However, despite my caution, the problem is that we all have to eat sooner or later. So I'll likely be hooked again! ;)

in my (by no means expert) experience sustained warmer weather has a big impact on early season trout...... even if you are out fishing in crappy weather, if the week prior was a few degrees warmer, the trout are eager to get going coming out of winter.....

i've had a number of my best fishing days when it's snowing in april, but generally coming off a warmer week of weather..... once the temp climbs a few degrees in the streams, it takes a few days of colder weather to push it back down to where the fish become inactive again, esp. on spring creeks...... water temp obviously means a lot more than what's goin on up above..... so typically, i'd say ignore the day yer on the water and gauge it more by what's happened the last three or four days..... (and bring a thermometer)