When to Fish For Trout? The Ultimate Timing Guide To Catching Whoppers.

When you’re looking to bring in big fish, one of the things you’ll need to know is the best time to fish for what you’re looking for. This can include the best time of the year, the season, and even specific times of the day that are best for what you’re angling for. Weather can affect these times, too!

If you’re looking to bring in a big trophy trout, learn all about the best times to fish for trout throughout the year!

Best Time of Year to Fish For Trout

When fishing for trout, there are better times of year to fish than others. Generally speaking, throughout the year, fishing for trout is the most lucrative in the spring. In the spring, trout generally have a more aggressive feeding behavior. They’ve just gotten through the winter, and need food to keep up with their metabolism that’s increasing with the warmer temperatures. Because trout are opportunistic feeders, they’ll go after just about anything, including your bait as soon as it hits the water.

The Weather

The weather plays an important part in trout behavior in the spring as well, and bright sunlight warms up water, and thus warms up fish. They’re cold blooded, and they’ll become more active as temperatures rise. Just a few degrees can make a difference in the behavior of trout you’re looking to catch. Weather can play a role in this, with sunlight heating things up. While it seems counterintuitive, rain also helps to heat things up. Rivers and streams are fed by snow melts in a lot of cases, and can be frigid because of this. Rain water is typically warmer than this, and can change the water’s temperature quickly. Trout will often frenzy during the rain.

Spawning Season

Both rainbow and cutthroat trout spawn in the spring, and during this time they become particularly active. They get more aggressive, and strike at nearly anything, hoping to keep their fuel reserves up for finding mates. Not all anglers are supportive of fishing for trout during spawning season, as they believe it can impact the population of the fish, but it is a very easy way to bag a few big fish.

Fishing in the Shallows

During spring, trout will spend time in the shallow sections of whatever body of water they’re inhabiting for a few reasons. Typically, the shallower the water the warmer it is, and are great feeding grounds for trout in need of a quick bite since they’re inhabited by worms and insects in the springtime, as well. This shoreline trout fishing really only comes once a year, and it’s best to take advantage of it while the fishing is easy.

Best Time of Day to Fish For Trout

When you’re out fishing for trout, chances are the best time no matter the season is going to be in the early morning. When we say early morning, we mean early. You’ll want to start casting no later than sunrise, and will have the best fishing for about two hours after the sun has risen. They tend to “cool down” overnight, and by the time that the sun is beginning to rise they’re metabolism has picked up again, and they need to feed.

The second best time to fish for trout is in the evening, as the sun begins to set. Typically, you’ll want to start your casting in the late afternoon as the temperatures begin to fall. This is normally about three hours before sunset or dusk. One of the reasons that the afternoon and early evening is such a good time to fish for trout is the increased insect activity. This is very tempting for trout, since they do very little feeding throughout the day.

Why Trout Feed Early and Late

Trout’s eyes are specifically designed for feeding. They rely on it to pinpoint their prey and strike when the moment is right. In addition to having such precise vision, they are also very well equipped for vision in reduced light (like sunrise and sunset). The way their eyes have evolved over time allows them to see with better contrast in reduced light, as well as with better depth perception. In fact, when the light is too bright, they can’t feed as effectively as they could if it were just slightly darker.

What About Overnight?

In certain cases, fishing for trout overnight can be pretty advantageous. Typically, you’ll only want to spend your time overnight fishing for trout if the population you’re encountering seems to be rather large. It’s been shown that overnight, more timid trout will feed while the more aggressive trout rest. It’s still not the best time to fish for trout, but it can yield positive results, and will always be better than fishing in the middle of the day.

Can You Fish for Trout Year Round?

While spring is by far the best time to fish for trout, realistically, catching trout is possible throughout the year, so long as you’re able to find suitable conditions for the fish. Trout need to live in waters that are no warmer than 70 degrees, and even that’s a bit too high. They are most active in water temperatures that fall between 50 and 60 degrees, but can tolerate colder or slightly warmer temperatures. If you’re willing to travel, there’s always trout fishing to be had in North America.

How to Fish For Trout in Any Season

If you want to fish for trout year round, you’ll need to know how to, and sometimes where to. Check out our guide on fishing for trout in any season.

Spring

Spring is the best time to fish for trout, as discussed earlier. Trout can be found in most waters in the northern part of the continent plentifully in spring. They’re going to be active, and they’re going to be big. Try to find waters that have already thawed, and don’t be afraid to fish in the rain if you can stand it, it’ll always result in good fishing when you’re looking for trout.

Summer

Surprisingly, summer may be the worst time to fish for trout. While other fish flourish in the warmer temperatures, trout have a hard time with it. In the southern regions of North America, you’ll hardly find any trout in the summer. You’ll need to travel north, and fish waters that are a bit deeper than usual, or have plenty of shade. High water temperatures kill trout, and anything 75 degrees or above is lethal to them.

Fall

Still better than fishing in the summer, fall can still mean some frustrating fishing trips. During the fall, you’ll absolutely need to fish during peak times, such as early morning and late afternoon. The cooling temperatures in the fall tell the trout that winter is coming, and they start conserving energy to help them make it through winter. Because of this need to conserve their energy, they’ll also be far more wary, meaning that you’ll need to be pretty stealthy to catch them.

Winter

While fishing for trout in the northern regions is, well, abysmal, trout fishing can still be done in the winter. Ice fishing is a viable fishing opton for trout if you live in the north and can’t travel for the season. They tend to stay in the deepest parts of the body of water that they’re in, which can present a challenge, but catching them can be done. Additionally, if you’re able to travel, you can make your way to warmer parts of the continent like North Carolina and Texas. This is likely the only time that trout can be caught in some of the southern states, actually.

Sources

The Best Time Of Year To Fish For Trout (and How To Catch Them In Any Season)