It's finally trout season! I start cruising for trout starting in September. I was out once in early September but got skunked. Six of us from the OFS went to Sugarbush last Monday to Wednesday. This size of fish was common but there were a few in the sixteen to eighteen inch range that were caught and many fourteen inchers. We suspected it might be slow but it was the only time we could get in September. We go to Chevreuil Blanc in October. Kenauk stocks their lakes according to the same formulas as NY State and Ontario, however they compensate for harvest, so that at any given time, you are fishing in a lake which is stocked to maximum capacity. Unfortunately, MNR cannot do this. During the mid morning to mid afternoon, the average catch was 1-2 fish/hour but in the early AM, just before daybreak it was common to get 5 fish/hour. On parting day Wednesday, I had caught eight rainbows in 1/2 hour. Then as the sun peeped over the hillside, it slowed right down. It is still too early. Surface temperature was 67-69F which is OK for trout but only one was reported caught casting to shore. Most were caught in deep water with full sink lines. Not the most exciting kind of flyfishing. Best fly for me was an Orange Hamills but Olive WBs were good too. No trout were caught on dries and late evening fishing was no better than daytime. Trout are still in the summer doldrums. We need a few frosts to wake them up. And by November even the much more cautious larger trout are grabbing anything that moves in order to fatten up for the long winter. Quebec is more advanced than Ontario in this regard. Trout are easy targets for ice fishermen. They occupy a narrow band of oxygenated water during the winter. Lakes can easily be fished out in winter, especially smaller lakes. Quebec closes the trout fishery in the middle of September. They should keep it open another two weeks as their closing date has not taken into consideration the documented increase in lake water temperature over the past number of years. Hopefully this is just a cycle and not the disastrous man-made global warming claimed by the Alarmists. A few fish were cleaned revealing not much food in them. The anticipated boatman hatch was happening at Collins, quite a bit lower in elevation so this hatch will be happening in Calabogie any day.
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