Trout Are Impossible To Catch?

[ness]

If I'm fishing a 6wt fly rod but still want to fly fish for trout what pound leader should I use

Like wrench said, the fly should determine what you use at the very end--the tippet end -- of the leader. Bigger flies (2, 4, 6, 8) you'd need to go with a heavier tippet, say 1 or 2x; Medium flies (10, 12, 14) down to 3 or 4x, and small ones (16, 18, 20) 5 or 6x. You're trying to get the weight of the fly and the stiffness of the tippet to work together, so you're a) not slapping a small fly on the water or ruining it's drift or b )having a heavy fly fail to turn over correctly.

So, if you're casting a bigger streame, like a 6 wooly bugger, maybe do a 2x; bigger dry or nymph (like a 10 hopper or stonefly), maybe 3 or 4x; little nymphs or dries, 5 or 6x.

[Justin Spencer]

With bigger nymphs you also need to consider water clarity. We throw lots of size 4-8 stoneflies on the NFoW, when it is clear I will go to 4x.

[ness]

NFoW is the biggest water I fish regularly (if you can call what I've been doing lately 'regularly'), and it's a different animal. I feel like I need two rods -- one rigged with a finer, shorter tippet for hitting riffles and tail outs, and one with a big-honking heavy black nymph on a long piece of mono under a bobber 'for all those hard to get to' places.

[rFisherk]

I found from teaching fly fishing classes, guiding on both rivers and lakes for decades and giving seminars that people who have fished for a long time tend to take too much for granted when dealing with beginners. It's obvious to me you are a very new beginner, because you haven't yet learned to most common attribute of a fisherman, and that is to lie and exaggerate how much you have caught, how much you catch and the importance and productivity of your particular methods or baits. Don't worry, though, that part will probably come naturally after you catch just a few fish.

The rest of it, however, is a life-long learning experience, which keeps the challenge and the rewards fresh. My old friend, Robert Montgomery, probably put it best decades ago when I was guiding him down the NFoW. He said a fishing theory is something that happens often enough to become a theory, but never often enough to be proven. And I've notice repeatedly over the years that about the time I think I've got them figured out, they'll do something different.

I also remember my frustrations when I started fly fishing the trout parks back in the '60s. I already knew something about fly fishing, or thought I did, had the right equipment and all that, but my success was similar to yours. Don't feel too badly. In fishing, it is the frustrations that make the successes so sweet.

The trout parks can be especially frustrating, because you can see schools of trout at your feet, and you can, as you said, literally bounce baits off their noses.

My advice is to study the other fishermen. Pick out someone who seems to catch trout at will, introduce yourself and ask for help.

[JestersHK]

I've fished many species my whole life, but this is only my 3rd Trout season. Now I can say I had an awesome teacher in my fishing buddy who has been fishing the parks and rivers for almost 20 years. Most important thing he taught me with jigging is that its all about the rythm.

Not only should you try different lures and jigs, but the method you fish them is very important starting with a good rythm during retrieval. Maribous get a slower rythm while mixing up your retrieval speed. A wooly bugger gets more of a fast action almost erratic type of jigging again while mixing up the retrieval speed. Out of all my jigs I own theres really only about 4 or 5 patterns that I rely on. Occasionally on a hard day I will go to the odd box and try a really out there pattern, but I have found its all in the speed of retrieval and jigging technique that get them on the line.

Maybe its dumb luck, or maybe he was on to something with his teachings, but I have never not been able to "limit" out on fish in the parks, and even fishing Tanycomo and the rivers I can usually find a method to land fish in good numbers.

If you are ever down at Bennett when I am fishing I'd be happy to show you what was taught to me. I've had success teaching a few of my other buddies as well as my 10yr old daughter who even throughout the day well past the whistle can still get them biting.

JestersHK

[rFisherk]

Good post, Jesters.

The first question most fishermen ask, is what color were you using. From a lifetime devoted to fishing, I have determined that color is the least important part of catching fish. Colors catch fishermen and keep the lure manufacturers in business.

Most important is the action, or body language, of the lure. Part of this is built into the design of lures and effected by the type of equipment used, but much of it is determined by the person presenting the bait. The differences in presentation between catching some fish and catching a bunch of fish is often very subtle and hard to relate in words.

You'll catch more fish if you concentrate totally upon exactly what you are making the lure do and imagine the body language being presented. Body language is the universal lingo of the wilds.

[TheRustyHook]

Green trilene 4 pound test changed my trout fishing experience!! For beginner I found that fluorocarbon tended to be more difficult to tie and is usually close to double -sometimes triple the price of mono. The real answer, is DONT QUIT!! Every time you go out you will learn a little more and discover something just a little different, pretty soon you will have your own favorite method, but you'll never figure it out if you aren't on the water!

[Old plug]

I know nearly nothing about Trout fishing. And it certainly is not my cup of tea. But yeasterday I was down on Lake taneycomo with my family to take My grandkids to Silver Dollar City. Because my son picked up food poisons and that very expensive place he was sick part of our intended fishing day so we stayed on the bank at the house we rented.

I used a spinning outfit with 8lb test line. I tied a 1/2 oz bell sinker on a dropper 6" below the line. Then put the hook or fly about 2 ft in back of that. I cast this out and let it bounce over the bottom. I found out by mistake that when it caught momentarly caught on a rock if I let it set there in the current for while a trout would get it. I used a black fly that resembled a helgranote part of the time and also pink trout worms the other part of the time.Both caught fish on the 8lb line. we caught mostly small fish but two were between 13 and14 inches. It really surprised me. Remeinded me of catfish fishing in a river. I guess we caught about 7 or 8 fish.

[dennishoddy]

Good thread with lots of info. I've been hammering the White for 26 years. The first 22 with bait and lures. Caught all the trout that was legally possible, and only kept enough to eat for an evening.

My go to bait rig is a 3/8oz slip sinker on the line over a #12 swivel. Then use a wire hook with two power baits.(if the hook is too big or the wire too thick, the bait won't float) Always white for one and the other a pink, bubblegum, or chartreuse with sparkles. At low current,  throw out at a 45 degree or more angle, take up the slack until you get a tight line, and then back off one turn of the reel. With the slip sinker, the trout will hit the bait, then you give it some slack so it will pick up the bait again an make a small run. Set the hook. Done deal.

In high current, you have to make it a 1/2 ounce weight and fish it at almost a 90 degree. Trash on the line makes it tough, but if you watch the rod tip, you will see the strike.

Don't buy a fly rod. The addiction is bad. You won't catch as much fish as bait, but you will expend your life savings trying to do so.

Come on November!! Got a new 5wt fly rod and can't wait to go to Lillies and try it out on Tanneycomo. Hooked on fly fishing now.

We just left fishing the White below Bull Shoals. So much water flowing that we had to drift fish. We did well.

[snagged in outlet 3]

"You won't catch as much fish as bait,"

 

I don't agree with this.

Pete