Water Temps & Fly Fishing For Trout – A 101 Guide

Anglers are often excited to see the summer months coming up on the calendar. This typically means runoff is over, dry fly fishing is picking up, and the waders can go into storage for a few months. Naturally, When the air temperatures consistently climb, the water temperatures will soon follow. In order to be mindful of the health of our fisheries and the impacts of water temperature we put together a quick reference guide to refer to for your next outing.

The informational chart below offers a quick explanation of the temperature suggested for fishing and when you should absolutely stop fishing.

Here are a few more tips to help you have the best day possible on the water.

1. Start Early or Fish Late. Ideally you’ll want to start fishing an hour before sunrise and about an hour or two after dusk. Take a break during the hottest part of the day.
2. Have a thermometer and check the water temperatures frequently as the day warms up.  Please use best judgement and understand that each thermometer could be off slightly. Always keeping in mind that once the thermometer reaches 68°, it’s time to stop. If you don’t have a thermometer handy currently, check out our selection here: Streamside Termometers
3. Rope Up! When temps rise make sure to use heavier leaders and tippets to land fish quickly! Check out our selection of tippet and leader here: Freshwater Tippet & Leader
4. Minimally touch the trout, crimp the barbs on your flies so that you can release the fish quickly.
5. Carry a landing net in order to bring fish in quickly. Keep the fish in the water while removing hooks. Some of our favorite nets can be found here: Landing Nets