Give Em a Rest: Know When and Where to Fish and When to Give Them a Break
Across the country summer is hitting its peak and with it comes high water temperatures on many rivers and streams near you. Use onWater to make the best decision on where to go fishing when water temperatures are too warm and causing stress on fish. onWater’s My Waters feature makes it easy to know where to be for the best fishing and where not to be so you can give the fish a break from the summer heat.
Using My Waters customizable streamflow and water temp creation tool, you can set your own ideal water temp range and your own ideal streamflow range. Once you set your customized levels, you can view real-time water temperature and streamflows color-coded in your ideal ranges: green is good and in ideal range; red means it’s time to give the fish a break due to warm water temperatures.
If you don't know how warm is too warm, see the chart below from Trout Unlimited.
When one of your waters is showing green in the Flow box but red in the Water Temp box, the flow is ideal, but the water is too warm. That means it is time use the app to explore other waters. If both boxes are green, then it is go-time on waters near you for fishing.
The My Waters feature makes it easy and quick to view water temperatures and their patterns in real-time when planning a fishing trip near you. If water temps are too warm, then use onWater’s Species Layer to seek new places to fish until water temperatures return to ideal levels for your target species.
Understanding Water Temperature and Its Effect on Trout
As water temperatures rise the amount of available dissolved oxygen decreases, which means trout become stressed much quicker than in normal conditions. Simply put, the warmer the water temperature the harder it is for fish to survive.
All species of trout are negatively affected when water temperatures reach 68 degrees F. Anything above 68 degrees F causes stress, and the act of fishing, especially hooking and fighting a fish, causes unnecessary stress, even death, to an otherwise healthy trout. With water temperatures above 68 degrees F, the feeding habits of trout decreases substantially. With the low levels of dissolved oxygen in warm water, trout are forced to conserve their energy simply to survive.
Above 70 degrees F fishing should cease, and many anglers cease fishing once water temperature hits 68 degrees F. It's time to adopt along-term view of maintaining healthy populations for future seasons.
Head over to Trout Unlimited to learn more about conserving cold water fisheries.
Use onWater to Discover Your Best Places to Fish
Be sure to read onWater fishing blog posts to plan better and fish smarter and help you find places to fish near you.
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