Been experimenting with Rainbow Trout in 11 lakes and ponds in central illinois and so far 5 out of the 11 still have thriving trout populations this late into the summer.

4 of the 5 are heavily spring fed, the 5th is where the trout are actually doing the best and it is not spring fed, just elevated, 47 feet deep, windblown, clear, infertile, with a sandy/carbon bottom. The surface temps are in the low 80's and the trout still come up to feed at the surface, even during the middle of the day!

Anyhow, one of the other lakes is 5 acres, 60 feet deep, clear, spring fed, and infertile as well. Those trout have dissappeared since mid-june and I finally got out on the lake to find out where they were hanging out.....We found 'em, the trout are suspended 20-30 feet down and were aggressively hitting rapala ice fishing jigs, curly tailed grubs, and fathead minnows. Surface Temp was 79 degrees, down 20 feet the water temp was 63 degrees, and down 30 feet the temp was 58 degrees. There was still plenty of 02 down that deep! We were even catching a few BG, BC, and LMB down that deep.

Here is a video from fishing today: Trout Fishing Video

Cool Nate! Summertime trout fishing is fun. I like to night fish. The big key is to have a good fish finder and temp depth probe. If you find where the fish are suspending and put the bait in front of their nose you can clean up on them... Try to find where that cool well oxygenated water meets the bottom and you are really in the money!

Nate,

That is really cool!

Interestingly in my area of northern Indiana the trout fishing in the local natural lakes this year has been poor due to the all time record cool summer. Yes, poor due to the cool weather! The reason is typically there is a narrow layer in the thermocline that trout are concentrated where there is optimum temp and D.O. This year due to the cool weather that layer is much thicker and they have more area to move around in so they are more difficult to locate. As you know the hardest part of catching them is locating them.

Yep been there done that CJ. Used to do it a lot as a matter of fact. Lantern and fishing right over the side with slip bobbers and a crawler. Many times the fishing was so fast it was silly to use more than one pole as they just got tangled up.

Interestingly in the lakes around here the rainbows suspend while the browns are closer to the bottom. In Massachusetts where I used to live it's just the opposite at a small lake I fished. The browns suspend and the bows are near the bottom. Not sure why but I'm sure it has to do with each species and type of food available. Of course there is a mix sometimes too.

Wow, Nate. That must be a "cool" (no pun intended) water body with that kind of depth.

Yeah, one of my favorite lakes to fish is stocked with trout in the spring and almost no one knows they hold over just fine through the warm months. Like you said Cecil, they get really concentrated in the summer and then you can clean up. A word of caution though... Catching rainbows in the summer, all that flipping around and hard fighting you see those rainbows doing in Nate's video is all part of the fun but it really stresses them. Mortality of hooked trout in the summer is very high. Much like big HSB or stripers in the summer. If you plan to release the trout, don't over play them. Or better yet, just keep the ones you wish to eat...

We just kept them all CJ and I sure am aware of how easily they stress. I stopped catch and release in my trout pond years ago for that reason. I've had them die in cool water too.

At first we released a few only to hear them flounder outside of the lantern light on the surface with their bladders full of air. I know they are supposed to be physostomas (sp?) but apparently some of them didn't get the word.

Many times it's hard to keep the fight down on the big ones. One lake near me they average 3 lbs. and they are like sticks of dynamite. I had one come immediately to the surface like a rocket and hit me square in the forehead once. I was stunned.

Literally and figuratively! Rainbow trout sure do put up a fight and they are quite the jumpers... Like Nate said, it's amazing the other game fish you catch when fishing for suspended trout. I guess most fish like cooler highly oxygenated waters.

Believe it or not in my area a lot of people don't like the trout and blame them for declines in bluegill populations, when they themselves harvest and eat a lot more bluegills than any trout. They call them "snot rockets."

Hmmm... Some of the best bluegill lakes I know have very healthy trout populations. The one I spoke of above and Deep Creek Lake are fairly close to each other and both have trout and Deep Creek produces BG over 3 pounds with dozens in the 1 pound range. I guess it's the same as the guys who blame the stripers for poor LMB fishing.

My theory's always been that poor fisherman need to find excuses. Usually poor fishing skills and ignorance of fish interactions go hand in hand.

I have been learning about trout and night fishing, cause I cant catch catfish anymore using chicken livers after dark. The trout eat that stuff up like you cant believe!!!

I will definitely check out the the 30 foot deep water near the bottom, the problem is there really isnt much 30 foot deep water, its deep fast.

Stomach contents of the trout at clients lake were snails (research). I am going to start experimenting with a floating feeder and sinking food to see if we can get these trout to eat comfortably, they are much smaller than their counterparts that were stocked in my lake.

I was out feeding my fish today, and the rainbows 2-5 lbs were still aggressively feeding on the surface and air temp was 92 and surface water temp was 80!!!!

I was told by a guy in PA he had the same thing happen in his trout pond with warm surface temps. He says since they can come up really quick and go down fast, it's not a problem for them. Apparently not. My pond is so small and fed by a well, the water temps stay fairly low except for the top few inches. As soon as the Sun starts to go down the surface water gets skimmed off and cools down.

Are able to get a good look at your trout when you feed them Nate? My brooks come up so fast I can't hardly see anything. Maybe when they get larger (they are about 14 inches now) they will slow down? I seem to remember larger trout in the past just leisurely sucking in the pellets.

They swim fast at the top, but stay up long enough to eat about a dozen pellets at a time. You can get a real good look at them.

Snail eating trout... That has to be a new one. You gotta research this more! I am very interested!