Dealing with the HEAT!

Fishing the earliest part of the day is crucial right now. Get out there early, release them quickly, and pinch your barbs. Refraining from using stomach pumps is also critical. Their metabolisms are raging with the heat and O2 levels are low, meaning they are living in the heat of the Sahara with the oxygen levels of Mount Everest. The trout are working extremely hard keeping their bellies full. The Oconaluftee River hit 77.44° on July 4, which is nearly a death sentence to our trout. In chemistry terms, this water contains much less dissolved oxygen than 67° water, and 57° water is in the Goldilocks zone for dissolved oxygen. The lower the temperature, the better. Brown trout have a much higher temperature tolerance than Brook Trout (Specks) or Rainbow Trout, but they’re feeling pretty lousy, too. All trout are avoiding slow sections entirely right now and are seeking more oxygen rich areas of the rivers like riffles. You will almost always find fish holding tight to current seams in steeper sections this time of year. The steeper and more boulder strewn a stream is, the better for the trout. Bubbly water provides a slight boost of oxygen. If you go, fish as high in elevation as you can and work streams that have plenty of canopy. There are numerous places that offer decent access at high elevations, but the best fishing always requires a lengthy hike to get elevation and cooler conditions. The temperature gauge on the Oconaluftee is around 1850’. Let that be your reference for the lower elevations.

There is a long-time train of thought to “go early or go late” during the summers. As you can see in the gauge picture using the link below, the temps continue to rise late into the afternoon. At 9am on July 4, the water was 70.34°. By noon, it was up to 72.5°. At 4:00pm, we hit 77.44° which I think of as the “Dead Zone.” At 9:00pm, the water had only cooled to 76.28°. Please don’t go late. You catch my drift?

Here is the link to the USGS stream gauge for the Oconaluftee-

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring.../USGS-03512000/...

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