Understanding Habits of Fish Article 2

Reading Stream Basics For Trout & Salmon
Understanding how moving water shapes a stream channel and learning to recognize the resulting habitat types can improve your chances of finding trout. In good trout streams, the current creates a riffle-run-pool sequence that repeats along the course of the stream. A deep pool may hold big brown trout, but rainbows and smaller browns are more likely to be found in runs. Riffles hold only small trout during midday, but are important morning and evening feeding areas for bigger trout.
Most stream anglers know that water plunging over a falls will dig out a pool at the base. But many do not realize that the turbulence caused by the plunging water undercuts the base of the falls, forming a cave that makes one of the best feeding and resting stations in the stream.


An experienced stream angler can learn a great deal about a stream by walking its banks and “reading” the water. He observes current patterns, surface disturbances, coloration, changes in bottom type, as well as other clues that reveal trout and salmon hiding spots.


Current patterns pinpoint the location of rocks, logs or other underwater objects that shelter the fish from the moving water. Current pushing against a bank may indicate an undercut that offers cover. The seam between fast and slow current makes a good feeding station; trout hold in slower water waiting for food to drift by in faster water.


Novice anglers pass up any water where the surface is broken and ripply, mistakenly assuming it is too fast and shallow for trout. If you look carefully, this water may have slack-water pockets. A small pocket behind a rock might be home to a good sized trout, even though the water is a foot deep or less.


Bottom makeup also dictates where trout will be found. A section of stream with a sandy bottom generally supports fewer trout than a section with a rocky or gravelly bottom. Important trout foods, especially larval aquatic insects, thrive among rocks and gravel, but may be completely absent in the sand.


If possible, examine the stream from a high angle to get an idea of streambed contour and location of boulders, submerged logs, weed patches and other underwater objects. You can see most on a bright day when the sun is at its highest. Polarized sunglasses will remove the glare so you can see into the water.

Weather

When stream fishing, nothing is more important as the weather. It affects water clarity, temperature and water level of a stream, which largely determine where fish will be found and how they will bite.


One important factor is the rain. Trout often start to feed when the sky darkens before a storm. A light to moderate rain slightly clouds the water, washes terrestrial foods into the stream, and increases the flow, causing more immature aquatic insects to drift downstream. These changes make for great feeding conditions and good for fishing. A heavy rain, on the other hand, seems to turn fish off. If the downpour is prolonged, it will muddy the water so much that fish cannot see, and with rising water, they abandon their normal locations. As soon as the rain subsides and the muddy water begins to clear, the fishing action picks up.


Air temperature also has a dramatic effect on feeding. Trout and salmon feed heaviest at water temperatures from 55 deg. To 60 deg. F. On a typical stream, warm, sunny weather early or late in the season will drive the water temperature to that range by mid afternoon, triggering an insect hatch and starting a feeding spree. But in summer, the same type of weather warms the water too much by mid afternoon, so fishing is poor. Trout bite better in the morning or evening when the water turns cooler during the hot summer months.


In sunny weather, trout are extra-wary, seeking cover of boulders, logs or undercut banks. Cloudy weather makes trout become more aggressive and more willing to leave cover for food. Anadromous fish will migrate more under cloudy skies. Windy weather makes trout more aggressive. The wind blows insects into the stream and trout start feeding.

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