Jul 22 2008
Never Too ‘Late’
For the typical, New England, clear water fly fishermen, trout season tends to stretch primarily from opening day, the third Saturday in April, to about late may, into early July, when the temperature begins to rise, and the water levels begin to drop. Although this sad state of affairs has mostly become accepted as typical trout behavior, it can still be disappointing to those fishermen who do not wish to spend their time dreaming of next season’s fish, but rather want to get out and cast their rod. For those fishermen out there, there is hope. If you wanna catch late-season trout, all you have to do is look in the right places.
Just as bass tend to make their way from hiding, and enter to now warm streams, trout tend to find their place in dormancy, seeming to disappear from nature entirely. In reality, trout simple lay low during the heat of the day by avoiding unnecessary exhaustion, primarily by laying still, and not eating.
Furthermore, when fishing for ‘lates,’ it is best to fish under in the shadows of overhanging trees, typically large pines that are growing along the bank. As well as these shadows, there are two other key locations to find trophy lates: in deep holes, and at the deltas of tributary runoffs.
In the late summer, it is not uncommon to find masses of trout sitting at the delta of a tributary, the place where a mountain runoff meets the main stream. It is at these places where very cool water enters, and where fish have a place to lay without being subject to warm water. Also, these runoffs tend to have a very high oxygen level, and therefore are able to support the trout far better that the slower moving body of the stream. It is in these deltas that one can be guaranteed to catch late trout. So, when approaching a stream, keep an eye out for tributary water, keep you distance, and land those lates.
