Trout Smart?

[flybinder]

Season before last, we had a new member to our fly club that unfortunately, had the personality and arrogance, that no matter WHAT, anyone said, did, caught, tied, cast, you name it, HE "could improve on it, do it better, faster, longer and with better results".

We thought, after a few weeks of this, (on every club outing the club went on and he came along), that simply "accidentally having his belly boat deflate, out in the middle of the lake we were all fishing at the time, might look a bit suspicious. But, without resorting to that tactic, we were saved when one of the club members noticed that "After every fish he caught, he'd reach into his vet, retract a small spray bottle and spray his fly with it, before casting back out again".

That night in camp, while he was off to the showers, (that was ANOTHER very annoying thing about this guy, he BATHED, even though this particular outing was only 6 days long!), we got into his vest, took out the bottle of "Clam/Shrimp Oil Spray" he'd obviously been using and "accidentally" poured it, all, into his thermos of coffee.

Hid rod had been leaned up against a tree, too, still rigged up. So, we cut off his fly and tied the empty spritz bottle of oil to his tippet and allowed it to swing in the breeze. No one said a word, when he returned from the showers.

He was still damp, from the shower, it had grown chilly with the sun going down, so he dove for his coffee, as soon as he returned to the group. Needless to say, "the faces" he made, the projectile vomiting of the "Sea Food Coffee" and the sight of his empty spritz bottle dancing in the breeze, from his rod tip, made the man realize, "He'd possibly crossed a few too many lines, his repeated and constant bragging wasn't much appreciated and we weren't impressed with his "secret fishing methods"! (using any kind of "fish attractant on fly only water is against the law in the state of Oregon. We were fishing a fly only lake).

His change in character and personality, as least around club members, was amazing after that trip. He began "Asking questions", instead of ALWAYS having the perfect answer. We never saw him using any additive to his flies, after that night. This fall, he's running for Vice Pres, of our club and the way he's changed and with the new attitudes he's embraced towards the club and its members, I'm betting he gets elected!

[scubatim]

Well if it worked LOL but did anyone try and talk to him first? I think that would have been my first attempt after that whatever it takes.

[darenwh]

Ok, my turn...
My view, trout, like any other fish, are not smart. They do, however, zone in on an abundant food source and will not take anything else if the abundant source is so abundant that they are all ways seeing it float by for them to eat. It really comes down to the old equation. Calories eaten must exceed effort needed to consume said calories. In other words, if the fish is using more calories to catch it's food than it is getting from that food, and, if something does not change, then, the fish will starve to death. This is why a fish will zero in on an abundant source of food that is easy to catch avoiding all else. The fish is getting lots of calories for little effort so it has little to no reason to chase anything else. This can make trout very selective at times.

So, how do you get around this? Sometimes offering a larger meal to a trout will cause it to strike even with a very abundant food source present. This goes back to the same equation. Basically, if the fish recognizes something large as a food source then it creates an opportunity to get lots of callories for little effort. Other ways to get around this are to try to spark the trouts curiosity. Basically offer it something different that just stands out well such as an attractor pattern.

So, do scents work? Yes, but again, they are no guarantee. A fish that is concentrating on a certain insect is quite likely not going to grab a pattern that does not match that insect even if it does have attractant, unless the sent sparks the fish's curiosity the same as an attractor will sometimes do. But, if you use a scent on a fly that does match the hatch you will likely catch more fish. Why? The scent will cause the fish to hold onto the offering longer than it would an unscented fly. This can be the difference between detecting the bite and not detecting the bite, and it can also be the difference between being able to strike fast enough and missing fish that spit the fly.

So, is fishing with scents on the fly really fly fishing or bait fishing? That is up to the individual to decide. Personnaly, I see it no differently than using fly's that do not imitate natural food. Scents are not very likely to duplicate the true natural scents of insects or baitfish in the wild. You are merely using another tool to help fool the fish. Is a Chernobyl Ant really a fly? How about a popper? A royal wolff? A Wooly bugger? What do these really imitate? Nothing, they just suggest living things in their profile and movement. How is a scent really any different from using a pattern that resembles nothing in nature?

Daren

P.S. Scent should not be used where illegal, of course.

[Flyandtie1]

Ok, my turn...

So, how do you get around this? Sometimes offering a larger meal to a trout will cause it to strike even with a very abundant food source present. This goes back to the same equation. Basically, if the fish recognizes something large as a food source then it creates an opportunity to get lots of callories for little effort. Other ways to get around this are to try to spark the trouts curiosity. Basically offer it something different that just stands out well such as an attractor pattern.

That's exactly what I do when I can't figure out what the trout are taking during a hatch of some sort...surfacing like crazy, but can't figure them out. I take a #6-8 streamer, usually a double bunny style deal and strip it FAST right near the surface. It is truly amazing to see a wake follow your fly then explode on it.

[MontanaMoose]

If you fly fish with dry flies and if you use Aquel fly flotant and if you've read the text on the little bottle have you ever wondered what 'odor masking pheremones' consist of?

Cheers,

MontanaMoose

[PAangler]

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Hope OldBaldGuy doesn't mind me dragging his thread over here.

There ain't a fish we fish for that has much for brains, and you know trout that have been raised in a hatchery their whole life are probably in the lowest percentiles of fish intelligence. I know I will offend somebody, but there have been those that refer to those 10-inch catchable rainbows as the "blondes of the fish world". So keep in mind where they have come from and everything they have learned in their pathetic little lives--they literally have done nothing but swim in a raceway waiting for somebody to come and throw artificial feed on the surface for them. That does not mean the only thing they will eat is artificial feed, because they will try new food items (I have seen them slurping cigarette butts off of the surface as soon as they came off the hatchery truck),
			
		
	

I guess that would explain why the famed PA 'green weenie' only seems to work on fish that have been stocked in the creek for a month or so. If you don't know what a green weenie is, don't ask, I am too embarrassed to admit I've used it to catch fish in April.

[GBurgFisher]

I think most people need to shift gears when it comes to the scents. Its not putting something on to attract the fish...its not putting something on that will scare them away. There are plenty of folks out there that throw sunscreen on, and then tie on a fly. Those oils stay on your hand for some time and it also gets on the fly. That scent is certainly prevalent in the stream for a handful of casts, and I don't know how many mayfly nymphs are worried about UV ratings...so you can be sure that this is a huge turn off for trout. The same can be said about stepping in oily puddles while wearing your felt. I swear that will spook half the stream right from the moment you set foot in it. If I were to use any scent intentionally it wouldn't be to get that scent on the fly, it would be to get my scent off of it. That being said...I don't use scents, but i'm extremely careful about how much of myself I get on there.

It is a ridiculous concept though?why would a nymph smell like a shrimp, or anything other than what it is?