# Lethal trout temps - do you alter your plans or ignore?



## Benzie Rover (Mar 17, 2008)

Just checked the USGS gauges. Here we are on June 8th and the So. Branch of Au Sable is 70 degrees and climbing. Below Mio is 72 and climbing. Upper Mani is 67 and climbing (has been 70 several days recently). Temps above 70 degrees have a very high mortality for trout caught and released due to lack of dissolved oxygen in the warm water. They simply cannot recover after expending energy in the fight. This is a very well proven fact. Any hardcore skammie angler below Tippy can tell you all about this. Or if you really want to see a debacle, go down to Trail Creek in Indiana during a big summer run day and you can count the dozens (some days more) of dead skams in the muck that were released earlier that day upstream. 

I am really curious how many folks recognize this as a serious issue and adjust their inland trout angling plans accordingly. By 'adjust' I simply mean wait to fish until dawn/dusk/dark or possibly not at all if the water doesn't cool off? So, I am posing the question to both elicit responses and also to shine a spotlight on this issue. Folks that are only trout fishing for the meal might say it doesn't matter for them. And if you keep every single trout you catch, that is certainly correct. That said, I'd say most would agree it's pretty hard to exclusively catch keeper trout and never release a small one (or large one if you like to let large spawners go to do their thing).


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## Boardman Brookies (Dec 20, 2007)

I will be taking break until the weekend when things cool some back into the upper 70s low 80s. Id love to be on the stream but I dont need to fish just to watch them float away dead. The Boardman stays cooler than most I took a reading last night around 8pm. It was 69 so it was over 70 earlier. Today was even hotter.


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## Manolin (Feb 20, 2021)

I fish a lot of skams. When the waters warm you have to plan to kill some fish. And that means not trying to put up numbers.


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## Botiz (Oct 21, 2010)

I’ll take a break and do something else until it cools down.


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## John Hine (Mar 31, 2019)

I hold off unless I’m fishing for keeps anyway, you’ll still see all the guides, with boats full of clients from Grayling to Gates & all thru flies only on the Manistee. Last year I questioned one of the guides about it as the temps were 74 degrees, he said it was ok for him to do it because he was a guide & he knew how to handle the fish. He looked to be all of 25 years old.
One of the reasons I hung up my fly rod last year.


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## Manolin (Feb 20, 2021)

And sounded about 25……


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## TK81 (Mar 28, 2009)

Manolin said:


> I fish a lot of skams. When the waters warm you have to plan to kill some fish. *And that means not trying to put up numbers.*


So you go fishing and use techniques that won't get bit? Or does that mean once you land a fish you cop a squat on the bank and enjoy a stogie or a pull off the flask?

Maybe hit the spring creeks and feeders that stay much cooler.


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## LWCClub (Oct 20, 2011)

Cancelled my plans for tonight and Friday night


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## Manolin (Feb 20, 2021)

TK81 said:


> So you go fishing and use techniques that won't get bit? Or does that mean once you land a fish you cop a squat on the bank and enjoy a stogie or a pull off the flask?
> 
> Maybe hit the spring creeks and feeders that stay much cooler.


Take the three, and go grill one….


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## kzoofisher (Mar 6, 2011)

I won’t fish. Can’t remember the last year I didn’t walk away before the hex were over because the water got too warm. Usually I can chase the hatch in a cooler section or another river. This goes for mousing, too. I always take a temp when I arrive and if it’s above 70 I leave. If it’s just tickling 70 I’ll wait and see if it cools. BTW, I always wade out to where the water is well mixed to take the temp. Near shore can give you a pretty inaccurate reading in either direction.


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## Swampbuckster (Nov 28, 2010)

My weather app defaults to Atlanta Mi then I select my location from there here in SE mi. Temps have been averaging hotter in the north lately than these parts which is crazy!


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## kzoofisher (Mar 6, 2011)

John Hine said:


> I hold off unless I’m fishing for keeps anyway, you’ll still see all the guides, with boats full of clients from Grayling to Gates & all thru flies only on the Manistee. Last year I questioned one of the guides about it as the temps were 74 degrees, he said it was ok for him to do it because he was a guide & he knew how to handle the fish. He looked to be all of 25 years old.
> One of the reasons I hung up my fly rod last year.


Very curious when and what stretch that was on. That's really unusual temperature for any of the flies only stretches.


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## gunfun13 (Jun 13, 2003)

I usually only get a few nights a year to fish hex, so I fish when warm. I'll cut my leader down to ~25# test, horse em in, no net, no pics, no handling. If the fight doesn't go as planned and I suspect the fish won't make it (rare but happens), it'll go home with me.


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## PunyTrout (Mar 23, 2007)

Spoke with an alumnus of the trout forums last week that reported that the streams north of GR were already cooked.

Time to finish any projects that need doing that you've been putting off.

If streams are already too warm with low volume and it's only June 8th, what's it gonna be like in mid August?


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## kzoofisher (Mar 6, 2011)

Not enough water left to float a log.


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## John Hine (Mar 31, 2019)

kzoofisher said:


> Very curious when and what stretch that was on. That's really unusual temperature for any of the flies only stretches.


I can’t name specific stretches on here due to forum rules but I assure you those temps have not been unusual over the last 2 seasons. M-72 to yellow trees was my usual general area tho I saw temps in the 70’s all the way up to 612. The year before was even worse, we spent more nights sitting on the bank with a cold beverage watching the fish feed than we did casting for them during the hex hatch. The flies only section of the manistee is roughly 4 miles from my house & im friends with all the TU & friends of the manistee river folks.

Thanks for calling me out tho, I appreciate it.


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## Lightfoot (Feb 18, 2018)

Seeing high temps and floating trout keyed me in on this no no back in the early 90's.


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## B.Jarvinen (Jul 12, 2014)

The best piece of Trout fishing gear I have ever purchased is a thermometer. Am quite looking forward to using it on some medium-serious walk-ins on otherwise warm segments in the U.P. 

I don’t fish in hot weather, am not really into deliberate catch&release fishing anyway and thus rarely fish stream Trout around home in the Lower Peninsula. There are a few cold streams I want to try out but generally I am bored with all the smolt factory streams. Headwaters tiny Brookies also don’t really interest me, either. 

DNR stream surveys from over the decades do sometimes reveal where the cold water is, if you dig into them. 

Everywhere Trout live would benefit from true tree canopy cover adjacent to the flowing channel. Alder tunnels are not enough.


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## jmaddog8807 (Oct 6, 2009)

My main trout stream never gets near that temp, so I don't have to take any breaks really. I do stop fishing some smaller streams closer to me and I don't explore new water as much, but at least I have one stream that I know will never get close to 70 let alone mid 60s.


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## kzoofisher (Mar 6, 2011)

John Hine said:


> I can’t name specific stretches on here due to forum rules but I assure you those temps have not been unusual over the last 2 seasons. M-72 to yellow trees was my usual general area tho I saw temps in the 70’s all the way up to 612. The year before was even worse, we spent more nights sitting on the bank with a cold beverage watching the fish feed than we did casting for them during the hex hatch. The flies only section of the manistee is roughly 4 miles from my house & im friends with all the TU & friends of the manistee river folks.
> 
> Thanks for calling me out tho, I appreciate it.


Not calling you out so much as questioning the accuracy of your thermometer. The headwaters being significantly warmer than the water at Sherman is really strange, especially last year which was relatively cool and none of chronic warm stretches passed 74 except for a couple days around the Fourth of July. 

I don’t know a lot of the TU guys or the Manistee guys but I do know the guy who is fanatical about keeping the fly shops in line when water is over 70. If the local shops had been doing it I would have heard about it. Lots of guides coming over from the PM in the summer and especially at hex, maybe that’s who you saw. Or just some kid trying to turn a buck on the side.


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## John Hine (Mar 31, 2019)

The North Branch of the Manistee in Kalkaska has been really suffering over the last four years or so due to, believe it or not, beaver dams, extreme water temps & otter activity. The beavers build up a dam & the water temps sky rocket up near 77 or greater, which seems to stun the fish, then the otters come in & clean house. I’ll go in & trap what beavers I can & an otter or 2, then it starts all over again the next year. This year it’s extremely low, & warm. It amazes me there’s any fish left there at all.


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## westsidepolack (Feb 6, 2018)

Im learning a lot from all the the input that everyone has to say about the water temps and how it affects trout. I've always known that they prefer cold water and browns can handle the higher temps compared to rainbows and brook trout. I didn't know that 70 was basically like the cut off for water temps and increased mortality rates for trout. I'll be picking up a thermometer today and checking from now on when I hit the trout waters. I typically fish the smaller creeks that have great canopy cover but recently acquired some property on the upper manistee downstream from the ccc bridge so the thermometer will help with me deciding whether or not ill be fishing the manistee or just getting my feet wet.

Sent from my LM-G900 using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


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## kzoofisher (Mar 6, 2011)

Boardman Brookies said:


> I’m sure some still run. That’s irresponsible. I know the Old Au Sable shop canceled all their trip this week. Couple guides I know personally have as well.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman


There’s a guide that posts in the NE forum and I know he’s cancelled some. Going to be tough on some people if hex season is a bust. Not just because of the high temps. I wonder if the hatch will blow up system wide and then blow out. Lots of vacations get planned for the last two weekends in June.


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## Shupac (Apr 17, 2005)

Fished the upper Manistee and a few unmentionables last week for a few days. Manistee ran 66-68. The unmentionables were 58-60 in late afternoon. Only caught fish (and very few) on the Man though. In response to the original question, no I don't fish trout in ≥ 70˚ water.


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## lostontheice (Feb 18, 2011)

John Hine said:


> I hold off unless I’m fishing for keeps anyway, you’ll still see all the guides, with boats full of clients from Grayling to Gates & all thru flies only on the Manistee. Last year I questioned one of the guides about it as the temps were 74 degrees, he said it was ok for him to do it because he was a guide & he knew how to handle the fish. He looked to be all of 25 years old.
> One of the reasons I hung up my fly rod last year.


Did he have red hair, an annoying voice,and try to promote his YouTube channel??.. just asking..


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## Tron322 (Oct 29, 2011)

I alter my plans for catch and release. If I am keeping the fish I go, was a good plan to hit tippy the last week of August when I was younger, just hook a king and hold on for a while and that bathwater coming from the pond would stun them, easy to pull in then if someone on the other bank hadn't snagged it or my line by then.

So I wanted to go trout fishing today, plan A was warmer, but plan B was cold this morning where I was fishing, forgot my thermometer but it was definitely under 70, felt to me like a trout stream is supposed to, definitely colder than spot A I was going to try that wasn't quite warm but you could tell the difference Good thing about the original plan being warm is I got to try a new spot way higher up than I ever have before.

LIke others have posted the water was low, only landed this brookie which was released and swam off great.









Missed a dozen more trout walking about a mile of stream biggest miss was about a 16" brown that chased my spinner right to my feet. My wife missed it before I got there as I worked upstream to the spot I left her and my kid. The big brown looked good too, at least I was surprised to see it that far up, looked like one I would see further downstream, probably moved upstream for cold water.

Weather looks good Tuesday morning to cool things down, feel bad for my garden but wanted to get out after trout one more time before July when I take a break unless I get a taste for fresh stream trout, hopefully next weekend is still good or else I will be going way upstream on something to try and outdo my wife, my best is a 15" brown this year. She has a couple 17" browns and a 16".


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

Just because released Trout swim off great in warm water, doesn't mean they will survive. They build up lactic acid from the fight, and it frequently kills them later - after they've swum away great. I've seen it countless times when people release Skams in warm rivers, in Summer. They swim away, and 15 minutes later they are floating Crayfish food.


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## stickbow shooter (Dec 19, 2010)

Lots of folks fishing this past weekend .


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## MoJoRisin' (Jan 30, 2004)

Not sure how much rain you've got up there but in muskegon county...specifically at my place by mona lake I got 8.5" in 72 hours.


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## kzoofisher (Mar 6, 2011)

Fair amount of rain but it hasn’t blown any streams out like down south. Water cooled off nicely a while ago with mid 60s in most places last weekend and well below 70 even below dams this past week. It was 59 last night on the Au Sable above Mio pond


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## Botiz (Oct 21, 2010)

I have a question about current temps on the PM. I know zero about fishing the PM, I’ve been on it before but years ago and only once or twice in my life. I’d like to take my raft down it this weekend. I don’t need any info and not looking for spots, etc. I only would like to know, is right now okay to fish through the day for trout on the upper PM? I can find some temp data that looks like mid-60’s right now so I feel okay but am hoping some folks familiar with the river could tell me if now is okay to spend all day on the river or will I be putting too much stress on any fish I’m lucky enough to catch?


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## riverman (Jan 9, 2002)

You will be fine. Have a great day


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## Botiz (Oct 21, 2010)

Thanks!


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## Boardman Brookies (Dec 20, 2007)

Temps there should be fine now. Cooler and we got nice rain.

Totally opposite from where I was in Montana last week. Many streams are under hoot owl restrictions. Basically no fishing, only in the mornings. Some rivers are closed completely. It was 90-95 each day there, no clouds and zero rain. The rivers are all melt off feed and they at all time lows. 


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