1. Troutnut Forum
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2. Fly Fishing
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3. Revelations...

Looking back on my previous fishing experiences, I can see how many go Purist and simply discard all spinning tackle for the fly rod.

I live on Star Lake. In the Fall, the rainbows are in the shallows, to 2 feet deep.

I'd hop in my rowboat with the trolling motor, not the outboard. I get my med-action spinning rod ready with a Christmas Tree (Lake Troll) and put a nightcrawler on the end of the two foot leader. Then I'd spook any self-respecting trout to the Atlantic as I go back and forth in my big ol' clunker, making all sorts of noise and blinding the heck out of any fish within range. I think they'd bite just to keep the others from going blind, there's no way a worm being dragged behind a half-pound of metal looks realistic.

I did manage to hook a few large(er) bows, but most got away during the fight or my clumsy netting. Largest landed was a 20in.

However, I'd glimpse countless large (20+in.) rainbows as they dart to the nearest dropoff. It really makes me want to go back and take the canoe, my fly rod, and some little dries on a long leader. I bet I'd hook into quite a few ore of those big guys. This spring will be so revealing...


Fly fishing is truly an art of deception. Learning this art makes one better at spin fishing, not just with the fly. When I spin-fished, I never put the effort or thought into trying to fool the fish. It was my intended goal, but I never really applied much thought to it.

Cast, reel in, fish no bite, repeat.
Cast, reel in, fish no bite, repeat...

This was my thought process in "the before". Now if I ever find myself needing to fool a fish, whether with a fly or a less refined form of fishing, I will constantly be soaking in every bit of stimuli available, melding it with my knowledge and experience, and producing different strategies to get that wary fish to take my offering.


So thanks to all you guys who have helped me learn a thing or two about this amazing art! I am as excited as a kid on Christmas for that first day of trout season!

...(Sorry this was so long, guess my typing hands got away from me)...;)

I enjoyed it. You'd be in the minority here if your typing hands didn't get away from you occasionally...Sometimes when I get going on fly fishing it can be tough to stop.

Just because I am fly fishing I still will not give up bait fishing totally.

The great thing about fly fishing is that people don't keep getting irritated because you left the worms in the sun.:)

Sam

Gldsrtmsam wrote;

"Just because I am fly fishing I still will not give up bait fishing totally."

I'm okay with this as long as the target with bait is not wild trout. I love wild trout too much to see someone throwing a gob of worms into a pool, letting the trout swallow the bait and then see the guy winch the fish out with a spinning rod.

When I was a boy and first got interested in fishing I started, probably like 99% or everyone else, fishing with worms. I can vividly remember watering the lawn during the day and then going out at night with a flashlight and coffee can and collecting a couple dozen nightcrawlwers for the next days fishing. I also used salmon eggs and once in a while minnows when I could find a store that sold them. Luckily I moved on to lures and then flies but I love to catch big smallmouth bass. I fish the Susquehanna River with flies and have caught some really big 18" - 20" smallmouth on flies but in the fall when the water temperature drops below 50 degrees those bass just don't seem to want to chase my streamers or eat my crayfish so I buy a couple of dozen medium shiners and get in the boat and motor up to a nice slick with some deep water near by and set the anchor and just pitch a minnie out there on my 9' noodle rod and live line it with just one BB to get it down a few inches and hang on - 'cuase if they are there they will be on that minnie in just seconds. I use 8# main line and a piece of 6# fluorocarbon under a micro swivel and have a ball. I use long shank Gamakatsu worm hooks with small barbs and hook 90% of the bass in the lips and the other 10% someplace in the mouth.

I caught probably well over 100 smallmouth and largemouth this year on a wacky-style stick-O rubber worm. They LOVE it!

But when you fish nearly every day for more than just a few hours, that might not seem like so many any more.

The only trout in the interior of Alaska are stocked.

"The only trout in the interior of Alaska are stocked."

That is akin to me saying all of the trout in the Madison River are stocked.

See new post below.

The only native Alaskan rainbows are down south in rivers such as the Kenai... In the interior at least around Fairbanks the only trout are in lakes and they are stockers.

Well, I think you got your answer there, Matt. Now put that in your pipe! :):)LOL

Hey Samuel, I think you are confusing "wild" with "native". Naturally reproduced trout are wild even though they may not be native. Perhaps a better term would be "feral", but that is nitpicking. Most anglers consider planted fingerlings that grow to maturity to be wild as well. Stockers or "catchables" as they are sometimes called, typically run in the 12" class with (on occasion) larger brood stock thrown in. Their purpose is to be caught fairly quickly by the "truck followers", casual anglers, picnickers and such. They are pitiful creatures and very few survive the year. Now, are you saying that's all there is in the interior?

Well I guess I should check things out before I mispeak!! I did some investigation and it appears that Alaska does in fact not only have a cold water fisheries stocking program but it is absolutely humongous. Literally millions and millions of trout, grayling, and other cold water species are being stocked annually. It appears though from the many pages of lists that all of the stocking is conducted in still waters. I did not see one moving body of water listed.

If anyone should care to read through this report (over 150 pages) here is the link.

http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/Static/fishing/pdfs/hatcheries/12region3.pdf

Gldstrmsam - I apologize for my comment but stand by my comment that you can kill all the stocked hatchery trout that the law allows just leave the wild/native/feral trout in the rivers and streams.

Kinda off-topic, but...


How do you guys feel about fishing right after a stocking? When the DEC stocks Little River with the Browns, it creates a big excitement and everyone fishes them out in a few days. I know that's overkill, but what would you say to some C&R after a stocking? Not sporting, or a good practical (for beginners) experience?

Nick,

If you want to C&R your fish that had just been stocked thart is entirely up to you. If you want to kill a few to eat that is cool too. But if you do release some you might just catch them again or one of your friends might get the chance to enjoy it too.

The stocking philosophy of many states is to provide the easiest method for the average meat fisherman to limit out, be happy, and continue to buy those fishing licenses so they can continue to mass produce genetically screwed up hatchery trout. But, hey that is okay! You can partake in that truck chasing mentality or you can refrain from it. I know in PA the Fish Commission posts on a web site, months in advance, when streams will be stocked. Not only what day but often what time of day and what sections will be stocked. As soon as the fish are dumped people are allowed to surround them, throw Power Bait at them and put them on a stringer or in the old Artic Creel.

I used to live in NJ and there stocking plan is a little more civilized. People still know what river is going to be stocked on what day but truck following is useless as the body of water that is stocked is closed to all fishing until 5:00 pm of that day. That at least gives the fish a chance to spread out a little and if they are put in at 8:00 am they get a nine hour reprieve before they have to survive the gauntlet of hardware and bait being thrown at them.

That's Okay. I'm not holding any grudges.



I'm glad you found that website. I was going to dig it up for you.

"I'm glad you found that website. I was going to dig it up for you."

Yea, me too, if you'd of sent it to me first I'd need a whole bunch of help to extricate my foot from my mouth!