Fly Fishing

psc_wildboy · Posted: Thu 10/18/07 7:29 pm Post subject: How do I get that big smart trout?

I am temporarly living in Sacranac Lake, NY and I have found a nice big rainbow right in town. The river flows through the town park, and there are always people fishing there. The past three nights I have tried to catch it, but with no luck ... it has almost struck about five times though. I have tried alomst every fly I have, and I am stuck. If anyone knows any secrets to catching educated and spooky trout let me know, cause this guy is haunting me. Also, just for kicks, it is about 26-28 inches and very fat, and it hangs out in the shallows (1-2 feet deep), just to the side of deep and fast water. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

jeremy · Location: Portland, Maine

cool scenerio ... sounds to me, based on what you said, that the fish is hungry ... but every night you only get a couple shots at it before he realizes what's going on .. and once he starts to see lots of flies thrown at him .. he is probably on to you ... i am not qualified to give anyone any "technically" correct advice on anything ... but here is what i would do .. and some points i can gather from the scenerio.

1. the fish is hugry and/or spawning .. if he swiped at your flies already but didn't take .. so, he's interested and holding his ground ..

2. i would treat my first cast to him like the golden ticket ... he hasn't seen you flies yet today .. so use your first cast wisely .. every cast after that will probably have less likely of a chance to trick him

3. i would probably try a fly that might both interest him to eat and at the same time irritate him .. so, i would probably go with a leach patter .. olive and on the bigger side. even though its shallow i'd still use a conehead.

4. i would try to resist the urge (and it would definately be there for me) to just get there, throw on my waders and launch a cast .. i would think on the drive to the river, what is the BEST spot for me to stand in order to get the best cast and best presentation ..

5. i would try to roll cast and swing the fly to him so as to disturb the water as little as possible and present the fly first ...

if that didn't work ... i don't know what i would do? maybe someone else could offer some advice????? would be cool if "we" could catch this fish .. let us know if you get him tonight ...

Matt1515 · Location: Greensboro, NC

My usual tactic with big spooky trout is to tie on a big black wooly bugger and dance it right in front of his nose, then jig it back to the bank cross current. The next step is a small bugger with quick jigging motion in the same fashion. When the bugger doesn't work, then its time for the 26 midge to come out. Usually something in red or black with a thread rib of different color. Dead drift to the left or right of his head. The only reason I do thatis if I'm sight fishing, I will see a slight movement and don't have to throw on an indicator. Oh, and long leaders help too.

psc_wildboy · Posted: Mon 10/22/07 6:20 pm Post subject:

So... I went out tonight, no big rainbow trout. I think that the recent warm weather may have pushed him to a deeper pool. However, I had tied a leach pattern of my own, and made some casts. I caught an 18" creek chub, its no trout, but it gave me a good fight on my little 3-wt. Well hopefully it cools down and that big bow comes back out, cause i am ready for him.

colehatch · Posted: Fri 11/16/07 10:56 pm Post subject:

PSC,

You ever stick that rainbow?

I agree with Jeremy that the first pass is it...gotta make that one count. I've had those same encounters with resistent fish when I lived in Colorado fishing Cheeseman Canyon and it can get frustrating. You see these giant trout all over the place and they want nothing to do with what you're offering up.

If that big boy is rising I'd make sure I knew exactly what he was rising to and match it as best you can. Then if possible I'd run the fly from top down. Get in position above the fish (not directly though), make sure you have enough line to reach it, make a downstream 'S' cast a good 20 feet above it and feed line off without any drag.

The other thing to think about is if you've seen it chances are others have also, meaning it's seen alot of flies. Mix it up with something a little different, something other than the average caddis, pheasant tail or whatever.

Good Luck and keep us posted!!!

urinalcake · Posted: Sun 03/09/08 9:17 pm Post subject: