Caught some fish but BUMMER!

FAOL Community Fly Anglers Online
1

Today I went to a small stream I found recently to practice wading and fishing streams, something, with which I am not familiar. I saw lots of little fish but really couldn’t identify them. I started with a nondescript fly in a light gray with a grizzly collar and attracted what turned out to be Bluegill. Lookers but no takers. So I switched to a streamer, figuring if minnows were in the stream, something might be tempted to eat them or something that looked like them. I did manage to catch a few Bluegills and Green Sunfish on the streamer. I started heading back to the area where my truck was parked and noticed a lot of activity in the area. When I got close I could tell that it was the KDFW (Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife). About 6 of them all milling around. I approached and asked what was up and while most of them were silent one explained that they were stocking Trout! Sure enough, at the end of the short path to the parking lot was the stocking truck. And in the pool under the bridge was an abundance of 8" to 12" Rainbows swimming around. I asked if they stocked this stream in accordance with the schedule that they publish on the web and elsewhere and he explained that they stocked this area once in the spring and once in the fall. They moved up the river one bridge and finished emptying the truck. (I followed and watched). The bummer of the whole thing is today is my day off and tomorrow I have to be back at work. The fresh stocked fish were not in the mood to play with me but at least I know where they will be for the next trip. I have caught lot of trout, but never on a fly rod. Now that I have this limited resource close to home I may change that yet.

(I may have to change my name) AKA Bluegill Budd

Clint

I feel closer to HIM when I’m fishing.

2

Only once in the fall and winter? I’m from KY too, and the stream I fish is stocked monthly throughout the summer. The KDFW also has a publication that has the stocking schedule in it.

3

Don’t be bummed out. A friend and I were guiding a number of newbies on a popular stream in Ontario and only one fish was caught. Later we learned the stretch had been stocked in the morning. The new fish were nervous and seeking shelter, the resident fish were nervous because they were invaded! Just as well to wait a week until things settle down.

4

In my experience as a hatchery worker that does the stocking, freshly stocked trout are raring to go soon after they hit the water.
A lot depends on the water conditions like temperature and O2. But these fish are hungry.

In the hatchey they are “force fed” many times a day, in order to achive a maximum size in a mimimum time.

Prior to being stocked, they are not fed for a week (at our hatchery) to cut back on the trauma of being netted, the packed ride in the truck, netted again, and being tossed into the lake or stream.
Once the trauma is over they are ravenous.
I’ve seen fish caught before we left in the truck.

“The trout were laughing so hard at us that they considered evolving legs so they could crawl on to land and catch their breath”
Dave Barry

5

Tossing clipped deerhair “pellets” and starting a “feeding frenzy” by tossing pea-gravel into the water, we used to pester some of them successfully. We are still able to glean entertainment from behind a hatchery truck by JUST doing the “frenzy” thingie.
…lee s.