Spawning Fever: Autumn is the Time for Egg Patterns, Streamers and Big Trout
To everything, there is a season. Fall is the season for striking scenery, cool, comfortable weather and, best of all, big trout. October is a terrific month on most trout streams, and if you happen to live near a stream that gets a spawning run, October may be your favorite month of the year.
Dry-fly fishing can be hit-or-miss in the fall. When there are flies on the water, trout may very well rise and provide you with some memorable late-season action. Nymphing works as well in the fall as it does the rest of the year. But two categories of flies are at their best after Labor Day: streamers and egg patterns.
The reason, of course, is that fall is when most species of trout and salmon spawn. Brown trout, brook trout and Atlantic and Pacific salmon all ascend rivers to create the next generation of fish. For the Pacific species, such as Chinook and coho salmon, it will be their final act; these species die after spawning. The Atlantics and the trout will live to (hopefully) spawn again next year.
Near The Fly Shack headquarters in upstate New York, great fishing can be had on a variety of waters for a variety of fish at this time of year. Landlocked salmon make their annual migration to the shallow shorelines of Lake George. Chinook and coho salmon, along with really large brown trout, run up the Lake Ontario and Lake Erie tributaries in spectacular, eagerly anticipated runs. Steelhead rainbows won't spawn until next spring, but they start running the rivers in the fall too. And our local trout rivers will find fish feeling frisky and hungry as the days get short and the leaves start to fall.
The spawning act is fairly simple. The female digs a small nest, or "redd," in fine gravel on the streambed. Her mate sidles up next to her, and as she deposits her eggs, the male extrudes the milt which will fertilize them. Exactly when this happens varies from river to river and species to species. But even if the pregnant hens aren't doing the wild thing yet, the other trout in the stream seem to know by instinct that tasty, nutritious eggs are likely to spill from nests and drift downstream. That's why flies like Glo-Bugs, Sucker Spawn, Estaz eggs and Egg-Sucking Leeches are so effective this time of year. Fish them on a natural, dead drift through any spot that looks like it might hold a trout. Deeper is better, and since egg patterns usually aren't weighted, you may need to add some split shot to pull your egg to the bottom.
Of course, the eggs won't hatch until spring, so the streamers that work so well in October aren't meant to suggest the offspring of the spawning fish. But the streams are full of minnows and young-of-the-year trout that love to raid spawning trout's nests, and grown-up trout in spawning mode will attack them with extreme prejudice. And even in streams where no spawning happens to be occurring, trout love streamers in the fall -- in all likelihood because they can sense that the long, lean winter is only weeks away and they'll need to fatten up to survive.
Salmon and steelhead anglers tend to have favorite patterns for fall streamer fishing, but a wide range of patterns and colors will work well - everything from black Woolly Buggers to red and yellow Mickey Finn bucktails. Unlike the dead drift you're after with Glo-Bugs, your streamers need to swim. You can try and impart the curious, hungry movements of minnows foraging for roe, or you can make your streamers dart through the water as though they're terrified by their vulnerability. You should do both (unless one retrieve is working so well you have no reason to try anything else.) Again, deeper is better. Try a sinking line or detachable sinking tip with a very short leader - two or three feet of sturdy fluorocarbon is not too short - and work your streamer through every likely lie. Bunny Leeches, Muddlers, Zonkers, Deceivers and Clousers will all take fish this time of year, and have the potential to take big ones.
If you can, try to avoid wading through spots where the streambed is mainly gravel. Remember, if all goes well, those eggs will be nice trout in two seasons. Try to resist the temptation to catch trout that are actively engaged in the spawning process, but if it can't be helped, try to land them quickly and release them with as little fuss as possible. There are few things in the world as precious as wild trout, and this is where they come from.
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