Trout Opener Forecast

Trout Opener Forecast!

This Saturday is the regular season trout opener for most of southern Ontario, it's an exciting time to be an angler. Whether you'll be fishing resident trout or steelhead, this can be the best time to catch both numbers of fish and quality fish as they haven't seen a fly in a long time!

Resident Trout

If you're planning on fishing resident trout, streamers, worms, and nymphs will be the tip picks. However you'll want to keep your eyes out for some dry fly activity as temperatures on Sunday and Monday will be into the 20's, which could definitely bring on blue winged olive mayflies and maybe even hendrickson mayflies!

Rain in the forecast will bring out worms, so be ready with your favourite san jaun, squirmy, chewing gum worm or other worm patterns! We're big fans of pink but red and brown can be very productive too, especially if those fish have seen a lot of pink flies.

This weekend is setting up to be a prime streamer fishing weekend, with warm temperatures and some stain to the water, fish should be looking to hunt. Whether your preference is small or large streamers, both should work well. Water temps are pushing 50F (10C) in some rivers with is on the cooler side of prime activity for brown trout. With this in mind these fish should be very willing to eat a streamer, but you'll want to fish them slower with pauses.

Dry flies are a real opportunity as well out on our rivers, especially in the warmer stretches. Even with rain, if we get breaks of drizzle or cloudy skies, be on the watch for blue winged olives (mayflies) coming off, and if we get some sun and a warmer day, hendrickson mayflies may start coming off too. 

Check out our top picks for flies below!

Found Link	BH San Juan Worm	Butt Monkey

Steelhead - Nymphing

For the steelhead angler, rivers are in prime shape right now and fish are hungry. Swinging flies or dead drifting streamers works great for hungry drop back fish, of course you can never go wrong with worms, nymphs and eggs too!

If targeting these fish with indicators or a centrepin, worms, similar to resident trout, will work very well. Egg patterns in pale colours to resemble the lighter coloured sucker spawn work well too. And don't overlook dead drifting minnow patterns like white woolly buggers as well, as these fish are often looking for a bigger meal. If fishing clearer water, try small nymphs like walts worms, bugs are active and plentiful for these fish to eat this time of year.

Sexy Walt's Worm	White Woolly Bugger	Yarn - Oregon Cheese

Steelhead - Swinging

If you want to get a fish on a swung fly, spring is the time to do it. Fish are actively feeding now as they recover from spawing and make their way back to the Great Lakes. Because of this they can be very opportunistic and aggressive. Try swinging natural baitfish imitations in olive, cream, or white.

RIO's Make it Rainbow - Olive	RIO's Make it Rainbow - Brown

As always, if you need advice to make this opener a successful one, please drop us a line or stop by the shop, we're always happy to assist!