What do stocked fish like to eat?

[Fishing Jill]

Am I nuts to fish in areas where there are power bait fisherman catching large stocked fish?

I took my dad fishing (and hiking) down the North Fork of the Stanislaus with nary a bite between us. The scenery was spectacular and that made up for the lack of action. As we walked through the campground on our way back to the car I saw some fishermen at their campsite with about a half dozen fish on a stringer. The men said they used powerbait and fished right at the campground. We had hiked about two miles below this area to get away from the hub of civilization.
I returned to the campground late yesterday and got some strikes in the "powerbait" area. It wasn't satisfying the way it is down river or even up river where the fish aren't freshly stocked. I use barbless hooks and do not want to keep my fish, my dad on the otherhand wanted to.
Well, here's my question:
I spent a few days fishing with my dad last week. We used various flies, times of day, and locales. We are both seasoned and have learned over the years that you can't always catch the big fish even on a good day. There was a point where the cballenge lost its charm at least for me. I fished nearby small streams with success this last week but that still didn't settle the frustration of not catching anything with my dad when we did it all right except we didn't use powerbait.
How do I deal with that?

BTW - My dad is 83 but you wouldn't know it to see him scrambling up and down the streams determined to get a fish.

[luckie88]

Try tying a pellet looking fly, you know somewhat like an egg pattern but brown, like what the kids feed the fish in the stocker ponds and get out of the gumball machines.

[Lotech]

I've heard the pellet fly works well on Rufus Woods in Washington, just below the net pens. Check out the thumbnail in the 5th post on the following link;

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/s...ghlight=pellet

[James Smith]

Keep in mind where the stocked fish are put into the river as well. It's very likely that the fish were stocked right at the campground area since the game warden or hatchery folks would have had to hike up or down the river like you did carrying the fish in buckets. I've stocked fish when I was younger and it's not easy work. If the fish were recently stocked they will hang out in the same area for a few days before they really spread out. It sounds like you hit the river a day or so after the fish were stocked and most of the fish were still near where they had been stocked and stil used to their food being brownish pellets.

Just a thought...

Jim Smith

[Uncle Jesse]

The largest trout I have ever seen caught was at a fishing platform at a state park. The guy who caught it saw the fish the day before cruising for floating food pellets and found some the DNR guys dropped when they filled their bucket. Food pellet flies can be a good way to "match the hatch" if the state is feeding the fish in an area. There are also plastic corn you could put on a hook and cast with a fly rod. and of course eye patterns.

[dunfly]

I would use a Y2K fly. It is a beadhead fly I tie on a scud hook with yarn. It is traditionally tied in yellow and orange, but you can tie it in any color combination. It is very eash to tie. Here is a link to a good video. I usually fish it as a dropper under a terrestrial, but they almost always hit the Y2K if they are pellet fed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0Flj878L68

68T2L4JE_lg.jpg

[flybugpa]

deerhair pellet "fly" stacked deerhair trimmed to shape, grease well and fish it as a dry

[dudley]

I'm always surprised to see people recommending a pellet fly for stocked fish
I use to work at the state hatchery and the trout there are conditioned to respond to the sound of hundreds of pellets being broadcast into the water..... not one individual pellet.
Part of my job was running the state pay-to fish ponds
I kept a bag of pellets in my office so that I could 'chum' for kids that were having trouble
I'd throw out a handful and have the kid cast their fly into the middle of the frenzy. Not a pellet fly either but a regular dry, wet, or nymph.
The fish never responded to a single pellet being tossed in. It was always the sound of many raining down.

[okflyfisher]

The fish adapt fairly quickly to what is in the stream. If there are minnows in the area stocked trout will hit small (size 10 or 12 marabou streamers) in the pools and nymphs or soft hackles in the current seams. Drift you fly on the slower side of the current seam. within a couple weeks of being in the water these fish will be sipping emergers or dry flies

It is awesome that you get to take your dad fishing. Good Luck!

[kglissmeyer]

"WHAT DO STOCKED FISH LIKE TO EAT?"

Food more specifically, fish food... Hehehehehe

Sorry, couldn't resist.

A well presented Hare's Ear nymph in a size 12 or 14 seems to work best for me, but not too many stocked fish places that I frequent nowadays.

Kelly.