Mid Summer troutin

[Capt. Lou]

Mid summer troutin' decided to finally get back on stream after last rain , prior water temps dangerous to fish .
Limited out in a couple hours & dropped a few but overall satisfied for conditions
Stream extremely low , unfortunately,rain simply runs off so in a matter of hours rivers drop .
All stockie bows hit well water temps mid 60's , used lures with barbs pinched & single hooks only ! I Could shake fish off w/o,touching them clean release .
Crossing big D water way down , tough summer water wise & spring not much better .
Back to cod N fluke for now early fall back to stream troutin' ! Hope we get water soon !

[kcritch]

Nice to hear that all them trout aint dead already! With that heat wave they must have been suffering a little. Nice job on the limit.

[Dave B.]

Glad to hear you took advantage of the brief respite from the horrific conditions the rains proved and got into a few Lou. My last outing was the weekend after July 4th. Creeks were low but still up a bit from storms Fri evening and Sat afternoon. Hit the BFB on Sat, Brodhead on Sun and Bushkill on Mon all with great results.
Hope you're doing well in the salt.

[23cardinal]

I've always toyed with summer trouting- does anything stay deep up north? The pequannock- Wanaque and to some extent the Ramapo get very low- I don't fly fish- so sometimes low water isn't super easy for me-

[Capt. Lou]

Originally Posted by Dave B.

Glad to hear you took advantage of the brief respite from the horrific conditions the rains proved and got into a few Lou. My last outing was the weekend after July 4th. Creeks were low but still up a bit from storms Fri evening and Sat afternoon. Hit the BFB on Sat, Brodhead on Sun and Bushkill on Mon all with great results.
Hope you're doing well in the salt.

Thanks Dave , yes so far decent season in the salt Cod off but flukin up north red hot ! Good to see U enjoy the fruits of UR labor 😄
I almost went to BFB that day to finally fish the stretch we stock I knew it woiuld hold fish but stayed closer !

[Dave B.]

Originally Posted by 23cardinal

I've always toyed with summer trouting- does anything stay deep up north? The pequannock- Wanaque and to some extent the Ramapo get very low- I don't fly fish- so sometimes low water isn't super easy for me-

The big problem this year obviously is the severe lack of precip in central and northern NJ. In average years some of our northern trout waters maintain adequate flows and cool enough temps to allow safe trout angling pretty much throughout the summer with a few days of exceptions. The mid to lower Musky, upper S.B. Raritan, mid to upper Flatbrook and lower Pequest just as a few examples generally retain suitable conditions to both holdover and sustain a fair amount of summertime trout fishing.
This year July was particularly harsh in both the temp and flow departments. Generally during summer lower flows the aforementioned waters and others are able to sustain adequately cool temps despite the reduced flows due to the volume of springs supplying them. However this July and even into the present the extreme lack of rainfall has allowed even the groundwater supplies to diminish drastically thereby dramatically reducing the streams flows and allowing the temps to rise well above where they would normally reach. The recent rains, despite mostly running off rather than absorbing into the soil, have alleviated the harshest conditions to some small degree and it appears we are at least for the present out of the extended dry weather pattern we'd been stuck in for a long time. That being the case if you hit some of those northern waters within a day or 2 after a storm event you should find both adequate flows and acceptably safe temps along with very willing fish.
In these conditions when we get a storm event that raises flows and cools the waters the fish go on a heavy feeding binge for 2-3 days so spin fishing success is generally no problem.
Best advice, get a thermometer to check the temps before you fish, choose a stream section that is likely to have good temps, has numerous deeper pools/holes where the fish can hold over during the worst conditions because when the conditions do improve even if only temporarily they will spread out from those locations, and a place that has limited/walk-in access to avoid the most popular bridge/roadside locations that generally get fished out by mid June. The stream sections I mentioned above would be good areas for you to start. I'm sure others here can offer some additional tips without giving away actual honey holes or exact spots. Good luck, and don't forget to post if you go, good or bad. No need for exact spots but general info shared is always a good thing.

[23cardinal]

Thanks Dave- yea I ve seen a few spots on my rivers- will look at yours too- generally run into wild Browns up here- always afraid of hurting them- 68right?
Solid advice- maybe a week from now after all this thunder- gotta work during it

Also-love the ground water explanation-thank you