Should We Fish for Trout During Spawning Season? What the Research Says

I have a confession. I like to fish for wild trout during the fall spawning season.

And when fall turns to winter, I keep fishing.

I’m not a hunter. Being on the water keeps me outside and active as the days get shorter. I enjoy the cooler weather, the quieter stretches of river, and the opportunity to keep my tightline nymphing skills sharp.

Spend enough time on social media, though, and you’ll find strong opinions about fishing for wild trout during the fall spawn. Some anglers put their rods away. Others suggest everyone should be required to do the same. At times, the conversation turns into shaming anyone who steps foot into a river in November.

I have another admission to make. I didn’t know as much about responsible fishing during the spawn as I thought.

I knew to watch for redds, the nests trout dig in the streambed. I associated them with shallow gravel. If I saw trout working a redd, I left them alone and moved on. I thought that gave me a reasonable understanding of how to avoid interfering.

I’m not a researcher or a fish biologist. I wanted to understand what the studies and fisheries guidance tell us, then consider how that information should affect my decisions on the water. Pennsylvania’s wild brown trout are my main focus here, although several of the studies come from other regions and trout species.

What Research Can Tell Us

I understand why some anglers stay away during the spawn. If you’re not fishing or wading, you won’t disturb spawning fish or step on their redds.

But the studies don’t give us a clear reason to say that all fishing during the spawn harms wild trout populations.

New York monitored 19 wild trout stream reaches from 2021 through 2024 after expanding its catch-and-release season. Researchers counted anglers and surveyed young trout. They found no detectable decline in young trout numbers associated with the new season, including in two of the more heavily fished brown trout waters. Fall fishing pressure was generally low. [1]

Another study examined Yellowstone cutthroat trout migrating upstream before spawning. Researchers tested their response to simulated angling and brief periods out of the water, then followed their survival and offspring production. They detected no reduction in either. The study did not test catching fish from active redds or disturbing their nests. [2]

What This Means for Anglers

I do not endorse fishing over redds or targeting actively spawning trout. If I see fish working a redd, I leave them alone and move on. The discussion here is about continuing to fish elsewhere in the river while avoiding spawning fish and their nests.

These findings have limits. The New York evaluation found no detectable decline in young trout associated with the expanded fishing season. The cutthroat experiment found no reduction in survival or offspring production following its treatments. Neither establishes that fishing over redds or targeting actively spawning trout is harmless.

We still have more to learn. These studies describe what happened in particular fisheries and experiments. They cannot tell us exactly what will happen in every stream.

I don’t think someone deserves criticism simply for fishing in November. But choosing to keep fishing comes with a responsibility to recognize spawning activity, leave those fish alone, and avoid disturbing the gravel where eggs and young trout remain.

What I Had Been Missing

Redds Aren’t Always in Shallow Water

I knew to watch for redds in shallow gravel, especially near pool tails and riffles. I hadn’t given enough thought to spawning fish in deeper water.

One study of large brown trout found redds across a range of depths, averaging about three feet. That doesn’t tell us where most trout spawn in Pennsylvania, but it does show that deeper water can hold redds, too. [3]

Avoiding the shallows isn’t enough. I need to look at the streambed wherever I plan to wade.

Give the Whole Redd Room

Fresh redds often appear as lighter patches of gravel. Look for a depression and a mound of gravel pushed out during digging. Both can help you recognize a redd. [4]

Watch the fish, too. A trout turning on its side and digging, with others gathering or chasing nearby, is a reason to leave that area alone. [4]

What I hadn’t understood was where the eggs were buried. Researchers found eggs throughout brown trout redds, most often in part of that gravel mound. Stepping around the depression and onto the mound could put your foot directly over eggs. [5]

The practical lesson is simple: give the whole disturbed area room.

Spawning Trout Can Still Eat

I often fish an orange Eggstasy egg with a smaller nymph trailing behind it. Sometimes trout eat the egg. Sometimes they take the nymph.

But a fish taking a fly doesn’t tell me whether it’s involved in spawning.

Researchers filming brown trout spawning saw fish eating eggs during some of those events. Even males that had fertilized the eggs sometimes ate them. [6]

I can’t assume a trout is safe to target simply because it’s willing to eat.

The Risk Continues After the Spawn

This changed my understanding more than anything else: the adults can leave while their eggs and young remain beneath our feet.

Hatching doesn’t mean the young trout immediately swim out into the river. They stay within the gravel, living on their attached yolk sacs until they’re ready to leave and begin feeding.

PFBC’s general Pennsylvania timeline places brown trout spawning in October and November, hatching in February and March, and the young leaving the gravel in April through early May. Water temperature affects that schedule, so the timing varies by stream. [7]

A wading experiment using artificial redds found that eggs and young trout were especially vulnerable around hatching and before leaving the gravel. Walking over redds during those stages could cause more damage than doing so shortly after the eggs were laid. [8]

Depending on how far the eggs and young have developed, stepping on a redd in early spring can cause as much or more damage than stepping on it during the fall spawn.

By then, the redds may be much harder to recognize. Algae and sediment can hide the bright gravel. Higher flows can erase the visible shape while eggs remain alive below the surface. [4]

Remembering Redds When You Return in Spring

Anglers who fish in the fall have an opportunity to learn something useful for later trips. Seeing a fresh redd and remembering its location could help me avoid it in March, when I might otherwise walk through without recognizing what’s beneath my feet. A photograph from the bank, with a familiar landmark, could help.

That knowledge won’t identify every redd. But it can help me choose a different crossing or leave a stretch alone when I return.

Whether we fish through the fall or return in spring, we still need to watch where we wade. The calendar changing doesn’t mean the gravel is clear.

The redd I avoid in November may still need to be avoided months later, even when the fish are gone, and the bright patch has disappeared.

Changing My Approach

I’ve written before about a Thanksgiving outing on a limestone stream when I watched a pair of brown trout working a redd in a side channel. I left those fish alone and continued fishing elsewhere.

I would make the same choice today. But I would also pay closer attention to where I stepped next.

Here’s what I’ll keep in mind:

• Look before entering. Watch the bottom and the fish from the bank. If I suspect a redd but can’t see clearly enough to be sure, I’ll choose another place to enter.
• Plan the whole route. Consider where I’ll stand, cross, retrieve a snag, and land a fish. If fishing a stretch requires moving through suspected redds, I’ll leave it alone.
• Remember redd locations. Use landmarks or a photograph to help avoid known spawning areas on later visits. Keep watching the surrounding water for redds I may have missed.
• Keep handling brief. Land fish efficiently, keep them in the water as much as possible, and be willing to release them without a photograph. [9]

I still plan to fish through fall and winter. What has changed is how I’ll assess the water before entering it and what I’ll remember when I return.

Leaving spawning trout alone was already part of my approach. Now I understand that avoiding the places where their eggs and young remain requires attention long after those fish are gone.

Author’s note: As I said before, I’m not a fish biologist or professional researcher. I used ChatGPT to help locate and summarize research, organize the material, and draft this article. The personal experiences and opinions are my own, and I take responsibility for the final text. Sources are linked below.

Sources and Further Reading

These include original studies, an agency field evaluation, and fisheries guidance. Several journal links provide abstracts; full papers may require separate access. Findings from other species and regions are identified above rather than treated as measurements of Pennsylvania streams.

1. NYSDEC, Fred G. Henson. An Evaluation of New York’s Inland Trout Stream Catch and Release Season: Angler Use and Wild Trout Young of Year Recruitment, 2021–2024.
2. Roth and colleagues (2019). Effects of Air Exposure During Simulated Catch-and-Release Angling on Survival and Fitness of Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout.
3. Wollebæk, Thue, and Heggenes (2008). Redd Site Microhabitat Utilization and Quantitative Models for Wild Large Brown Trout in Three Contrasting Boreal Rivers.
4. Wild Trout Trust. Salmonid Redd Identification.
5. Grost, Hubert, and Wesche (1991). Description of Brown Trout Redds in a Mountain Stream.
6. Aymes and colleagues (2010). Occurrence and Variation of Egg Cannibalism in Brown Trout.
7. Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. It’s a Trout’s Life.
8. Roberts and White (1992). Effects of Angler Wading on Survival of Trout Eggs and Pre-emergent Fry.
9. NOAA Fisheries. Scaling Back Your I