Subject: : Paflyfish General Forum Topic: : "Junk" Flies with stockies (What's that smell?) Re: "Junk" Flies with stockies (What's that smell?) Author: : jolie Date: : 2008/5/1 9:41:16 URL:

As the midseason stocking happen perhaps this again in pertinent.

I've had nearly five hours in two outings right over a large group of stocked fish. This was a good chance to test some of the ideas in this thread.

First, you occasionally read/hear that stockies will take a little fly or a nymph or ANY fly (with action / indicators / weight, etc). Not for me. Nearly all my conventional patterns bombed and bombed real bad, even when I knew they were fished right amongst dozens of stocked trout. Dry flies didn't even warrent a look. A couple wet flies I tried, even made the trout move out of the way as to NOT intercept them. They seemed oblivious to almost all nymphs and the smaller the less interested they were. The was a heavy caddis hatch, and they weren't the least bit interested in any caddis imitation, bottom - middle - or top...

I think that the stocked trout didn't see a little as edible. And apparently they haven't figured out caddis yet, either. for me what worked was bead head nymphs, slightly and Wooly buggers definitely. Other streamers, even a bright mickey finn weren't as magical (although I'll be darned to know why). and the trout were much more interested if the moved or twitched. so long as they didn't Drag ...

Then I got really curious and did the bad thing. I put a little salmon egg on my nymph. OH my goodness, what a spectacle. It was as if I just 'Matched the hatch'. fifty trout that had spent two hours ignoring every offering had some immediate interest in that unreal squishy ball drifting through the rocks. I sampled the dark side of the fly tackle, and.. well, I really don't want to catch them with flies. Even if it is harder to catch trout with flies. ok, I have ordered but not tried San juan worms, the famed green weenie, or anyone of a zillion salmon egg imitations.

The second outing was just about catching them on wooly buggers. Still ignored ,at times cast after cast, but definitely interested and caught (and released) several.

I'm intriqued by report of luck with a BHPT or little stuff, like midges and the like. I wonder why I do so poorly with stuff that some of you have clearly caught even stookies on??? And dries? they work for stockies -- are YOU sure???? they don't even rise up during a THICK caddis hatch...

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but maybe they do during the evening or something. couldn't spend hours and hours at it (and wouldn't want to , pitching some conventional pattern that wasn't working).

Jason

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