If you can find trout, you are one step closer to catching them. The key is knowing where to look.
Trout come in two main species: stream trout and lake trout. Stream trout can be broken up into four major species: brook trout, brown trout, rainbow trout and cutthroat trout. Though, cutthroat trout are more closely related to lake trout and Char because they have light spots on a dark background while trout have dark spots on a light background. No matter what species all trout are coldwater fish whether they inhabit a stream or lake, they require water that stays well oxygenated and cold. Here are some key locations for both species of trout.

Stream trout:

Streams:
• Gravelly tributaries or gravelly tails of pools served as spawning sites for rainbows and cutthroats.
• Shallow turbulent water called riffles hold feeding trout in the morning and evening.
• Deep channels excavated by the current called runs hold trout any time.
• Deep flat water called pools hold the streams biggest trout because they are the ideal resting areas.
• Undercut banks offer shade and overhead cover.
• Spring holes in the headwaters will hold brook trout.
• Spring areas draw out trout during the hottest part of the summer.
• Plunge pools that form at the base of a waterfall are prime spots for big trout.
• Scattered boulders on shallow flats with pockets of deep water behind them called “pocket water”.
• Gravelly reaches near the headwaters and gravelly tributaries draw spawning brown and brook trout in the fall.

Lakes:
• Shallow bays warm earlier than the main body of a lake, so they attract trout in early spring.
• Shorelines with a gradual taper are prime spots in deep, cold lakes.
• Rocky points with a slow taper make good morning and evening feeding sites.
• Inlet streams carry an abundance of food and draw a large number of trout
• Cool water in the thermocline may hold practically all the trout in the mid summer when the surface water is too warm for these coldwater fish and the depths have too little oxygen.
• Weedy or even woody cover is a must for trout when the water is shallow or else the fish would be vulnerable to predators.

Lake trout:

Early Spring:
• Off slow tapering shorelines and islands.
• Ends of gradually sloping rocky points.
• Narrows between two basins of the main lake.

Summer and early fall:
• Sharp-breaking lips of islands and points
• Deep humps
• Deep slots and holes in and otherwise shallow part of the late
• Off steep cliff walls.

Mid-fall through spawning:
• Shallow, flat-topped reefs.
• Shallow rocky points with long extended lips
• Shallow rocky shelves along shorelines and islands.

Winter:
• Same structure that held trout in summer, although the fish may be shallower.

Keep this information on hand, finding trout of either species will make the difference between being an average fisher and an expert fisher. If you can remember these locations all the time, you will always find a trout if there are trout to be found.

Tags: Articles, Finding Fish, Trout by laura
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Knowing where pike and muskie swim at certain times of the year is a key factor in actually catching pike.
Pike and muskie are very similar fish so they have been grouped together in this series of articles. They are considered a cool water fish, usually staying in waters in the mid 60s to low 70s. Usually though once a pike reaches 30 inches, they begin to favor water that is cooler somewhere around 50 to 55ºF. Pike are green sided with rows of oval shaped light colored spots where Muskie are light green to silver sided with dark bars or spots. A pikes tail is rounded with dark spots where a muskies tail is sharper with either small spots or no spots at all. Both are generally found in weedy natural lakes and slow moving weedy rivers. Here are some prime locations for these fish:

In Shallow Natural Lakes

Early Spring through spawning:
• Marshes connected to the main lake
• Shallow, weedy bays

Late Spring though Early Summer:
• Weedlines and weedy humps and points close to spawning bays
• Shallow gravel or rock bars

Mid-Summer through Early Fall:
• Beds of lily pads or other floating vegetation that keeps the water cooler
• Bars, points and flats with a healthy growth of submerged weeds, particularly cabbage.
• Edges of deep bulrush beds
• Weedy saddles connecting two islands or a point and an island
• Pike: Inflowing springs

Late Fall and Winter:
• Deep, rocky humps
• Deep holes surrounded by shallow water in lakes with high oxygen levels.

In Deep Natural Lakes

Early Spring through Spawning:
• Shallow, mud-bottomed bays attract pike soon after ice out and muskies a few weeks later.

Late Spring through Early Summer:
• Shallow flats just outside of spawning bays, particularly those with weedy or rocky cover
• Channels leading from the spawning bay to the main lake

Mid-Summer through early Fall:
• Mouths of good-sized inlet streams
• Pike: Rocky reefs below the thermocline
• Shallow rocky reefs
• Deep narrows that have moving water on windy days
• Clusters of islands that have extended lips with submerged weed beds
• Weedy or rocky points that slope gradually into deep water.

Late Fall:
• Gravelly shoals and points that serve as spawning areas for ciscoes when the water temperature drops to the mid-40s.
• Rocky points and humps that slope sharply into deep water

Winter:
• Shallow bays

In Rivers:

Early Spring through Spawning:
• Shallow backwater lakes in big rivers
• Seasonally flooded lakes in small rivers

Late Spring through Early Summer:
• Tailwaters of dams
• Deep, weedy backwaters and side channels

Mid-Summer through Mid-Fall:
• Good-sized eddies that form below islands, points or sand bars
• Current breaks, where there is a distinct line between fast and slow water
• Pike: Spring holes
• Pike: Mouths of cold water streams

Late fall and winter:
• Shallow backwater areas through the early winter
• Deep holes in backwaters in the late winter
• Impoundments about low-head dams in small rivers

Year-round locations in smaller rivers:
• Deep pools with light current
• Deep oxbow lakes off main river

Keep this information handy, it means the difference between an average fisher and an expert fisher. Also if you naturally know where to find these fish you will not have to break out the fish finder.

Tags: Articles, Finding Fish, Muskee (Muskey), Pike by laura
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Knowing where to look for white and stripped bass is a key point to actually catching them.
White and striped bass are warm water fish; they prefer temperatures from the mid 60s to mid 70s. Do not confuse them with largemouth bass these fish are a completely different species of fish. White bass are also known as sand or sliver bass and spend most of their time in fresh water. Striped bass are known as rock-fish and will spend most of their life at sea only coming into fresh water to spawn. White bass thrive in big-river systems including connecting lakes. Striped bass are usually located in large reservoirs with open water forage like shad. Here are some prime locations for finding these fish.

In man-made lakes

Early spring through spawning season:
• Tailwaters of upstream dams
• Creek arms at the upper end of the lake especially those with significant flow.

Late spring through mid-fall:
• Edges of shallow flats
• Mouths of major creek arms
• Suspended over the old river channel and creek channels or in the submerged timber along the edges.
• Edges of shallow man-made lake points
• Narrows between man-made lake basins.

Late fall and winter:
• Coves between main-lakes points
• Junction of creek channel and old river channel
• Deep holes in the new river at the lower end of the lake only in the late fall to early winter.
• Deep holes in the old river channel at the upper end of the lake only in the late winter.
• Deep main lake points, especially those at the upper end of the lake.

In rivers

Early spring through spawning season:
• Large backwaters that warm earlier than the main river
• Tailwaters of upstream dams
• Mouths of large tributaries

Late spring through to mid-fall:
• Sandy flats around the mouths of tributaries
• Pools with rocky feeding riffle just upstream
• Deep riprap banks along outside bends
• Slots and washouts below boulder and other large objects that break the current
• Eddies created by sharp turns in the river
• Eddies created by points projecting into the river

Late fall and winter:
• Deepest pools in the river
• Holes along outside bends
• Deep washouts in the tailwaters of upstream dams.

If you keep this information handy you are going to have an upper edge over every other fisher on the water. Knowing where to look for fish before breaking out the fish finder is the difference between an average fisher and an expert fisher.

Tags: Bass, Finding Fish, General Fishing by laura
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