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Thread: Whitefish fry

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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    bozone, mt
    Posts
    518

    Default Whitefish fry

    Imitate this?

    Did some bug netting at the Cobblestone fishing access on Montana's Madison River this morning. This is way down low on the river. Not many mayflies. There are quite a few caddis cases. Virtually no Pteronarcys or Skwala stoneflies this far down the river, but vast numbers of golden stoneflies. Mind-boggling numbers of midge larvae. A few scattered cranefly larvae and sculpins galore. Lots (lots) of baby whitefish too. This one is about an inch and a half long. There are so many baby whitefish in March it must be most of them get eaten long before they grow up. Else the river would be bank to bank whitefish. Baby whitefish have a long skinny profile with mottled, sculpin-colored backs and bright bright white bellies. They flash like silver dollars when they move. There are lots of theories about why killer whales are black on top and white below. What about whitefish fry? They are even whiter on the belly than the eventual adults. Whitefish spawn early--or late, depending on how how you look at it. They do their thing in Jan/Feb I think. So these 1-1/2" long whitefish minnows must be yearlings from last winter. Ainoway they grew two inches in a week or two.


    Last edited by pittendrigh; 03-10-2012 at 11:06 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Ashburn, Virginia
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    7,867

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    Neat pic. JD Miller tied up a nice whitefish Clouser a few years back on rockymtnfly.com but it looks like the fly has been pulled off the board. Seems something like that, on a fairly small hook, would work; lots of white buck or calf tail underneath and olive topped or mixed with black on the upper, plus some flash.

    Regards,
    Scott

  3. #3
    AlanB Guest

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    You could try Oliver Edwards' Waggy Tailed Sculpin. Not the easiest of ties but works very well.
    Here's a step by step. You should use white dubbing for the underside. Mark it up as you like for the fish you want to imitate.
    Cheers,
    A.

  4. #4

    Default

    Looks like something a Scott Sanchez double bunny would imitate nicely. Easy to "match the hatch" colors with that pattern.

    Can't recall ever seeing any whitefish under about 5-6", and those were not nearly so brown on top. But coloration on whitefish seems to be highly "system dependent" with a great range of coloration in the adults. On the Big Lost tailwater at Mackay ID, the whitefish have a pinkish tone, which speaks to their isolation, and why they are protected on that piece of water.

    John

    P.S. Strikes me as curious that there are no salmonfly nymphs in a place where the golden stone nymphs are prolific.
    The fish are always right.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    bozone, mt
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    Yes. I've been thinking a squirrel strip Matuka with white marabou belly might do it.
    RE> "curious no salmon flies"

    This is way way down low, near the Three Forks of the Missouri. The water speed is slower and siltation from irrigation worse than up above. The Pteronarcys nymphs are vegetarian detritus eaters. The Golden stoneflies are carnivorous. I don't in any way know how that explains it. But there just aren't many salmon flies down low. There are a few. But not many. The Goldens may well be thicker than up above.

    RE> "never seen white fish smaller than 5-6""
    Well this is March. These two inch long guys may well be 5" by June. I don't know. There sure are a lot of them down low in the river. The few browns I've killed down low seem to specialize in sculpins, baby white fish and crayfish. The rainbows eat lots of caddis cases, golden stoneflies and what ever they can find.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
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    NE Gwinnett Co., GA
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    Ya know when you post a thread with a name like "Whitefish Fry" some of us Southern boys start looking for our hushpuppy recipe.
    Want to hear God laugh? Tell him Your plans!!!

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