How cold is too cold for trout?

[Bemoredog]

Talking rainbows specifically.

Was at a southwestern stocked pond last weekend. Fishing in about 10 feet of water. Saw a brief window of action and then nothing the rest of the day. Water temp near bottom read as 33 Fahrenheit from my camera's sensor.

Assuming reasonable dissolved O2 levels, I've read that rainbows can typically survive temps between 35f to 77f long term--but on the extreme ranges of this spectrum are extremely docile/unwilling to bite and face higher mortality. Ideal temps are reportedly 50f to 55f.

Anyways, I figured the lack of fish could be due to the low temps and reasoned it would be warmer in deeper water and therefore more fish. So I headed to around 30 feet of water. It was warmer and my camera temp sensor read 36f right on bottom. Saw more fish, but no interest in my lure/bait. Seemed very docile, suspended just above bottom.

Curious to hear from folks: do these temps seem extremely low or are they typical? are these fish essentially dead meat? if a lake is this cold is there any point in fishing it?

I thought my temp sensor might be wrong so I tested it in a sink full of tap water against a digital food thermometer. The readings both matched. Oddly when the camera is out of water it reads several degrees below the current ambient temp. Possibly because it's calibrated for liquid?!?

[huntsfurfish]

Water gets cold in winter, fish metabolism slows. They eat less frequently and not as long of periods.

Dont worry get out there and fish.

[RavYak]

Trout usually feed for a short window and then just cruise or rest. Kind of like whitefish in that you have to hit them when they are feeding in order to have good success.

[Bemoredog]

Fair enough. I guess I just expected water temps to be somewhat higher than 36f. Seems like the fish would be on death's doorstep, but since this is really my only time actually getting temp info I have no historical data to compare against.