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3. Ethics of fishing with egg patterns, Page 2

Recover and hit the water. I've done very well this year, night lake runs and pike. Kings were about the same. I'm above Bayfield most of the time now. Sioux was hokding some browns below Big Rock when I stopped by. Nice coaster brook trout this year also to the east of Ashland.


Get better!!!! Good to hear from you up there. Onion is a mess. More signs and some fences out in the water now. Should be good with the rain and snow we are getting in smaller amounts than the flood last year. I'll be up this week when the crowds are gone.

Fishing beads pegged with a tooth pick about 2" above an 8 or 10 scud hook works for me. I have caught dollies, trout and coho salmon this way. When the current is swift use a split shot above the bead of appropriate weight and distance to simulate the desired drift. Troutbeads has a a variety of sizes and colors to simulate eggs and to match color.

As mentioned earlier by a fellow alaskan the pegging of the bead no more than 2" from the hook will aid in catch and release without the guilty feeling.

Hey Jbird,

Where are you in Alaska? I'm moving to Fairbanks in a few months and getting pretty excited about it.

We're talking about fishing right?.....isn't that the point...to catch fish?...yes we can go into the whole....."it's more than catching a fish" thing...but really here....If there is a size 18 BWO hatch...I don't throw a size 6 stonefly because I don't want to fish to the "easy picking" fish.....

When in doubt throw the eggs......just my opinion.

You shouldnt fish eggs.... so i can have the stream to myself :)

Eggs are a natureal food in a fishes diet so I'm for it.Troutnut moving to Alaska WOW cant wait to see the photos you take.

I feel your pain brother. I'm a guide in Colorado and I've always thought that the egg pattern was cheating. It's not a fly. We're FLY fisherman! If you use a egg pattern you might as well buy a jar of salmon eggs. It would be a lot cheaper per egg that's for sure, but it's not imitating a bug. However there are those days when you've tied on every BUG in your box and dangled them right on the nose of many prospective trout and nothing. You tie on a egg pattern and BAM! You can fish most any stream in Colorado with two patterns, the prince nymph and the egg pattern, and catch fish all year long. It has been a pattern that I know will produce and will always be in my box. However, I like to challenge myself before I resort to an egg. Besides, isn't that what fly fishing is about? Figure out what bugs the trout are feeding on, find a pattern and size that fools the fish. But, as a guide it's a must! Sometimes, the only way you'll get your client into a fish is to "empate en los huevos"

With all that said here's another one to think about,
"The Worm Pattern"?

Keep a tight line!

Well, if we're going to restrict our definition of "fly" to real insects, then technically the thing on the end of your line is not a fly, either. It's just a bunch of fur and feathers tied to a hook. ;)

Even if we allow for imitations of flies to count, provided they imitate real flies, then we run into problems with beetles and ants and many other insects and crustaceans that aren't flies. We also have to question mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies, which are not among the Dipteran "true flies."

I think it's better not to try to be too purist about it, and call everything in those little compartments in the fly shop a "fly."

Jason your only saying that because it 's true.
I Agree

JaD

Jason, I couldn't agree more with your definition of a "fly." Remember the idea here is to fool fish with a "fly" to imitate trout food. That could mean anything from a water spider to a helgrammite, to an earthworm -- and of course any stage of an aquatic insect:0

I do not believe that a trout will eat an egg pattern any more voraciously than any other fly. Therefore the comment about "gutting", in my opinion, is not an issue to worry about. As someone else stated the decision to use non traditional "flies" is more of a personal and asthetic nature and has nothing to do with what other people may think or say.

If the item tied to the end of your tippet meets the letter of the law for the body of water you are fishing than you should be able to fish it with a clear conscience. I always use egg patterns when fishing for Great Lakes steelhead or for PA stocked trout. However I don't like using them for wild trout - probably because it my mind they may provide me with an advantage and the quarry may eat them more readily than other, more traditional, flies. But that is my personal choice rather than worrying about what some one is preaching.

I hate bobbers but I don't go around berating guys for using them. I grew into nymphing when cane rods were common and fiberglass was the only other rod material. I prefer to nymph w/o an indicator and am confident I can catch as many, or more fish, than a guy standing near me using one. Again it is all a matter of your perception of a technique that will make you decide whether or not to employ it.