Brown trout are moving toward the spawn — and how we behave around it matters. (In the Great Lakes tributaries, browns are spawning now; across much of the West and East, they’re still staging in pre-spawn — but the ethics are identical either way.) The fish you’re watching on the gravel are doing the work that keeps the river fishing next year. Here’s how to enjoy the fall spawn without damaging it.
Learn to spot a redd
Redds are cleaned-up, bright gravel patches in shallow riffles and tailouts — freshly swept free of algae by the female. Once you know what they look like, they’re obvious. Train your eye on every river you fish in October.
Don’t fish to spawning fish
Fish sitting on redds are not feeding — they’re spawning. Casting to them is not fishing; it’s harassment. Target the rainbows and other trout in the runs below the redds instead, which are actively feeding on drifting eggs.
Don’t wade through redds
This is the big one. Eggs incubate in that gravel through winter — roughly 50 days at 50°F, hatching February through April — so fall spawning ethics are really winter wading ethics too. One careless boot through a redd destroys eggs that have been developing for months. Wade in the deep, dark water, not the shallow bright gravel.
Know your closures
Some waters close spawning areas seasonally — and this year’s dates are confirmed. As of October 1: Montana’s Big Hole (below Dickie Bridge), Ruby, and Beaverhead rivers have spawning closures in effect; Wyoming closed the Green River below Fontenelle Dam to the Weeping Rock cable crossing; California closed all Crowley Lake tributaries except the upper Owens. New York’s upper Delaware shifts to catch-and-release, artificial-lures-only on October 16, and the Salmon River’s Lower Fly Section is closed through October 31 for the hatchery’s egg collection. Illinois trout waters were closed until October 17 and have reopened. Check your state’s regulations before you go; if a section is closed, there’s a reason.
The spawn is one of the great spectacles of the fishing year, and watching colored-up browns work their redds is worth the trip on its own. Respect it, and the river pays you back for years.
