The Drift Team
Late Summer 2019 - Trout Fishing is Back ON!
Updated: Aug 29, 2019
With cool nights and shorter days many of our trout rivers and streams have come back online!
We keep a close eye on river temperatures during the summer to find cold water windows to head to our local trout streams. Most of our Southern Ontario trout streams currently have temperatures holding below 68 degrees Fahrenheit for a good part of the day. Smaller creeks and rivers with a lot of cover and shade will cool faster and stay colder longer so look to those for your first choice. Wider shallower rivers will heat quickly with the sun beating down on them, so keep a close eye on water temperatures as the day progresses. Keep that thermometer close at hand!
Where should you head? The Forks of the Credit, the upper Beaver River, the Pine River, the lower tail water section of the Grand River, the upper Saugeen River and its tributaries. The list goes on! Get out and explore! Just be mindful of private property, we’ve already lost an access point on a local river this year.
A note on the Grand River trout tail water section - Water from the Grand River coming out of the Shand Dam is running at 70+ degrees F, so avoid the upper tail water section. As the water flows downriver the cool air, and ground water seepage will drop the water temperatures to, fish-able, sub 68 degree F water. Out last drop-by of the Grand had the water temperatures reaching the 68 degree threshold by 1 pm at Wilson's Flats and the access at Weisenberg Road.
What's happening out there? As always, nymphs and streamers will produce. As for dry flies, check out our Hatch Chart page on our website to see what you'll find flying at this time of year. Our last outing only a few days ago saw a very large number of tricos, a good amount of tan caddis, small BWO's (size 20's), and terrestrials (hoppers & ants) - get geared up and GO!
General trout season ends at the end of September for Zone 16 - don't miss out!
Three fish from very recent trip to our local trout streams.
Credit River - Cataract River Temperature Monitoring Station - via CVC Website
