Small Stream Night Fishing

Two weeks ago I went out to seek small stream wild brown trout after dark. I'd spent a lot of time on small water throughout early spring without much luck catching wild fish. I was getting stockers out of some really small water but not streamborn fish, and I wasn't really sure why. I started to do some analysis. I observed a lot of different variables over a number of months before coming to a hypothesis: The wild trout in the small streams I was fishing would switch from diurnal feeding to nocturnal feeding in late June when the water temperatures exceeded 62 degrees and the bulk of hatch activity started occurring late.

Well...

So my hypothesis lead to a theory of seasonal small stream trout behavior. My own observations seem to suggest that the small stream wild brown trout in CT have a different nocturnal schedule than those in larger marginal rivers. In fact, it seems the small stream fish are on the same schedule as those in the Farmington, where extremely cold water can suppress nighttime activity. Until the water exceeds 62 degrees, productivity night fishing small water is minimal.

That being said, if the sun goes down and I feel the urge to go fish a small stream, I'm still going to, whether I think it will produce any trout or not. Because being out in the woods at night is special. I get to see and hear things that most people don't. That alone is worth it.

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