Fly Fishing

flyinredneck · Location: Scarborough, ME

Hey Guys,
I've got another question to pick your brains about. I've been fishing a lot up here in northern NY on the st. regis river, at a spot I'd rather not disclose, and have been having great success in the past few weeks. I originally started fishing a dropper, point nymph rig with an indicator. That worked great for a few outings. Then I swapped out the indicator for a big attractor dry fly as my indicator, because I was having a few fish attack my indicator! and that worked well for a few outings. So, I went out yesterday on a beautiful bright sunny day, with the same setup that had been working, I initially noticed that there were a few stone fly's in the air and landing on the water, then I noticed several fish rising around me. I was super excited so i started presenting my dry dropper rig to them. The fish would hit they dry and I would play them in only to be disappointed to see they were Chubs, not trout! This went on for about 20 minutes before i gave it up. I did have one take on one of my nymphs by a nice rainbow but he spit the hook. Anyway my question is, with all these rising fish around me it is hard not to try and go after them with a dry, but how can I tell if they are Trout or not? should I just keep fishing the nymph rig and hope to have success or should I throw on a dry and hope one of the risers is a trout? Is there something that I should know about Chubs, in that they are more aggressive and are all the trout just sitting on the bottom? anyway let me know what you think, I look forward to hearing. Thanks Again.

-Shane

kory_k · Location: New York, NY

I have encountered this scenario several times over the years, mostly with whitefish in the west but also with chubs, suckers and carp. In the case of the carp, I actually wanted to catch them since they fight well and are a blast to catch. For the rest of them, not desirable. On certain rivers in the west, rising whitefish are frequently in the mix with rising trout so determining the type of fish is important if you don't want to waste your time and ruin your flies on whitefish. There is no "foolproof" way to determine the type of fish, but there are things to look for. Chubs are a little harder because they rise in a very similar manner to trout. Here are a few things to look for:

1. Does the fish look like it rising vertically? Trout usually rise from a position very near the surface (there are exceptions in faster water and for smaller fish), so if it looks like a vertical rise it frequently isn't a trout.

2. Can you see the fishes' head? With trout if you watch closely, you can frequently see the mouth and head above the water. With chubs and carp there is more of a dimple or just their lips breaking the surface

3. Does the fish "push" water? When trout rise, they frequently move water in front of them from their bulk and you can see this, chubs usually aren't big enough to do this

Those are a few things that have worked for me. Also, if you catch a few to figure out what they are and then use that to identify the next that can help too. At least you are getting out and having some good fishing! Good luck!

flyinredneck · Location: Scarborough, ME

Thanks Kory,
Your advise worked awesome, I was able to target a few rising trout, and the river was on fire yesterday! I caught several with a nymph rig, but my most exciting moment was catching a nice wild brookie on a dry fly, my first dry fly catch this season. Truly awesome! Thanks again for the advice!