The Very Large Trout Lover's Thread (ot)

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Stimbo

Trad climber
Crowley Lake
Nov 13, 2016 - 09:39pm PT
Stimbo I heard it's slow and a cluster f*#k over on the trinity. The report from some friends was that there were a lot of pissed of people fishing. Hope you got into a few but word was there were only a few fish around.

WTF, heading out in the morning for the Trin. I have heard the same reports but it is what it is. You can't catch steelhead unless your line is in the water. It is my window of opportunity. Hopefully, I will have an encouraging report. I usually fish the lower river, away from all the guide boats. Anyway, I look forward to the change of scenery.
Stimbo

Trad climber
Crowley Lake
Nov 20, 2016 - 02:09pm PT
The Trinity ended up being good. Damn lucky!


Escopeta

Trad climber
Idaho
Nov 20, 2016 - 04:29pm PT
Here we go! Nice work Stimbo!
Stimbo

Trad climber
Crowley Lake
Nov 20, 2016 - 04:45pm PT
[youtube=https://youtu.be/aq7lr-4AyPE]

Thanks! It turned out to be a good trip. Here's a video of another fish I stuck. Enjoy!
briham89

Big Wall climber
santa cruz, ca
Nov 20, 2016 - 05:20pm PT
Nice fish Stimbo!

What did you have luck swinging with?
Stimbo

Trad climber
Crowley Lake
Nov 20, 2016 - 06:23pm PT
What did you have luck swinging with?

With the low, clear water I was just swinging regular trout flies, about size 12 with a tungsten bead.
micronut

Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
Nov 23, 2016 - 01:33pm PT
PLEASE HELP!!!



I'm hoping to get down and fish the Middle Fork of The Kings River out near Yucca Point this weekend but the season might be slamming shut on us. I've never really fished this late in the year in the Sierra but I have a full day pass from the wife and a couple old friends and I want to go try our luck in a new place we've never been.

1. Our temps have been dropping around here and we have had a couple pretty rainy small storms in the past two weeks

2. Are we idiots for trying to head up there.

3. If we do go....what kind of patterns should we be thinking about?

Any intel would be much apreesh. We hear the gate may be locked but we might tote up a couple of my kids small dirtbikes to get past the gate and make it a smash and grab mission! I promise to post up if we get into some fish!

Thanks in advance,


Scott
micronut

Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
Nov 28, 2016 - 12:50pm PT
Well........No thanks to any of you, you lazy no beta offered, keep all my secrets to myself, internet slackers....



We made it down there despite the 22 degree 0-darkthirty alpine start.
And I caught the largest trout of my life. What a ride. Unbelievable day on the Middle fork. Good friends, good scotch, and a trout that was an honor to land.

Check out this HAWG!


Fritz

Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
Nov 28, 2016 - 02:13pm PT
Nice trout micronut. I'm glad you got out, made the journey, and had a big time.

Our S. Idaho spring creeks mostly close for the season as of 11/30.

I had been hoping to get out another time or two & find "the big one," but we have had a bunch of windy days. My best friend was up from SLC 9 days ago, but we both agreed we don't enjoy tossing "lead" aka big wet flies, in 20 mph-plus winds. I have seen folks show up in fishing shops, wanting help in removing large wet flies from their faces. (A good reason to wear a broad-brim hat & debarb your hooks)

It's finally looking much calmer the next two days.


There's just one little problem.

I had a minor Squamous skin cancer removed 6 days ago & the doctor sternly warned me against doing things that might agravate the wound.

Next year it is then! Luckily, Idaho is some of the best "next year country" around.
guyman

Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
Nov 28, 2016 - 03:22pm PT
Scott... did you need the dirt bikes? How much of a hike is it to the Middle Fork?

Looks like it was well worth it!

Fritz... ouch!! Looks like you will have a cool scar.

I spent 3 days in Bishop... the lower O was really frustrating, I cant figure that place out. The two days I went there, fish were feeding on the surface...from about 10am to 12:30 Looked to me like something was hatching and small winged creatures were flying up into the sky....not a ton but it was constant. They were grey in color, only about 3/8 of an inch in length and flew almost straight up, with their ass end down low. I could not see any of them floating on the surface. I tied on many many different flies..Maybe 20-30 different ones... didn't get a hit.

So a noob question. Is this when I should have switched over to some sort of an emerger or wet fly?

Went to the ORG and did some climbing and when my young friends went to go climb 5.11s after the warm ups. I dug out the gear and was able to catch a few nice Browns. One was about 14" and made the whole trip a success.



ruppell

climber
Nov 28, 2016 - 04:06pm PT
Guyman

Probably a baetis hatch. Check out this link and see if it looks close

http://www.flyfishusa.com/flies/baetis.htm

As far as when to nymph and when to dry that's pretty easy. If you have a hatch going off and you see very few rises it means the fish are feeding subsurface. You'll usually be able to see them turn sideways and flash you with some silver. If you see that get to nymphing. If you see a bunch of rises and just aren't getting any trout to take you have the wrong fly, wrong presentation, or your just really unlucky. I've suffered from all the above on more than one occasion. lol
guyman

Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
Nov 28, 2016 - 04:50pm PT
ruppel.... I think you nailed it. Very few were jumping, most were just showing a little side action without really disturbing the surface to much and they were being gobbled up right where the water went from riffles to calm deep pools... like at a turn in the river.

Thanks so much for the link. I will study and read more... and they look like they have good $$$ on flies.

Despite getting skunked, I had a really fun time trying to figure out what was going on with those buggers and I needed more practice changing out my flies.





guyman

Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
Nov 28, 2016 - 05:07pm PT
WTF... I think you are correct.

Last New Years Day the Chief took me out and had me nymphing (sp?)in the ORG it was cold as heck... He got some, I got some little tugs that I now can recognize as action, at the time I thought I was just getting stuck on sticks.

Thanks for the reply's.
micronut

Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
Nov 28, 2016 - 05:17pm PT
Guyman the one time I fished the Lower Owens River, The Chief took us out and pimped us out on the proper flies and we slayed em. Not big, but lots of em biting on very tiny Blue Winged Olives. And they really only bit during a couple windows from like 9-11am and 4-5pm. It really helps to have local beta on that kind of river. We probably would have gotten skunked had we taken our "West Side" attitude and West Side flies over there.

ruppell

climber
Nov 28, 2016 - 05:40pm PT
WTF

For sure man. To me the "right" fly is shape, size, and color in that order. Proper presentation goes a really long way as well.

I can't count the number of times I've been fishing the same hatch, same fly, same weight line and tippet right next to a less experienced angler. I'm getting fish and they're not. There's a lot to be said for learning to mend line. If your presentation is moving slower or faster or at a different angle than every other real bug the fish will take the real ones every time.

And nice fish micronut. Glad you got into some good action. Like I said, fish eat year round. lol
jonnyrig

climber
Nov 28, 2016 - 05:43pm PT
Stimbo

Trad climber
Crowley Lake
Nov 28, 2016 - 08:39pm PT
The lower Owens is a great fishery. I would pay to spend a day with stimbo if you can afford it. He know the Owens like the back of his hand I suspect. You can gleen a lot of knowledge from a guide day that would take you weeks to figure out if you ever figure it out.

Thanks for nice compliment! I have fished and guided the lower Owens more times than I can count. It is a great fishery and a place that never gets old. There are sooo many tricks..... I am still learning.

Here's some more info to add to the confusion and fun of fly fishing. Usually around lunch time this time of year, a nice surface hatch occurs with bwo's (blue wing olives) lifting off the surface, brown and rainbow trout looking up and feeding in a frenzy. Usually, you can tie on a size 18 or 20 bwo dry fly like a parachute Adams, start casting, and get grabs. If they are hesitant, maybe go down to 6x tippet. One time though, during a really prolific hatch, I could not get a grab to save me. I tried a variety of flies in that baetis family with no luck. So.... I finally changed to a Comparadun. This too is a bwo fly but instead of sitting on top of the surface film like an Adams (which was getting rejected) this fly sits within the film, a sagger. That was all it took to get hookups, a different rendition of a bwo. Anyway....

At Micronut, I am glad your trip worked out and you caught a nice fish. That is a beauty. I would have offered some advice but your post came at a time when I headed to S. Cali for Thanksgiving sans computer.

WTF.... you've been reading George Daniels book on nymphing?
micronut

Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
Nov 28, 2016 - 10:02pm PT
Thanks Stimbo. Limpingcrab gave me the beta on using a big stimulator (size12) and a little Bead-head hares ear dropper(size18-20). It was a deadly combo with the fish hitting the large stimulator half the time and the little tiny drop her the other half of the time.

I had my children sit around and pre-tie them on Thanksgiving day. Making them do my dirty work for me was nice so that I would just whip one out and have it ready on the river rather than having to tie droppers when the action started happening.

Escopeta

Trad climber
Idaho
Nov 29, 2016 - 04:43am PT
That looks familiar.....

This spot (which many will recognize) was always fun. One day I came up to it and there was an old timer standing in the wrong spot, fishing the wrong fly and generally very frustrated. I couldn't understand the deal until I found out that it was a fishing club from somewhere (Reno I guess) and he was a newbie that had just graduated to the level of tying on his own fly- and even that process was tough for him. His experienced partner had left him on this spot to thrash around on his own.

We struck up a conversation and since I had already caught more fish that day than anyone should be afforded, I told him that I would make him a deal that I would share a secret with him as long as he promised not to share it with the tard that left him there - he readily agreed.

Long story short, I helped him wade across some swift current, tied on the proper fly and leader, and after instruction watched him catch a ridiculous amount of fish in one place without ever moving his feet. In fact, he actually wore out a fly to nothing but tatters that still dangles from one of my fishing hats.

His friend came along and saw us there and asked what was going on and he said "Oh nothing, this nice young man helped me across this swift current because I thought there was fish in here......I was wrong".

He winked at me and said "Let's go". So I helped him back across and told him he'll make a fine fisherman.



Escopeta

Trad climber
Idaho
Nov 29, 2016 - 04:46am PT
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