Stocker Rainbow Trout vs Bright Colors?

FAOL Community Fly Anglers Online
1

http://www.finefishing.com/flies/colorovision trout.htm

[i](http://www.finefishing.com/flies/colorovision trout.htm)n the article above, Gary Borger says,

Fluorescent colors stand out strongly against background spacelight of any color, and fluorescent shades of reds, oranges, purples, and chartreuse are highly attractive to salmon and trout.
Anyone fishing for steelhead or migrating salmon is well aware of the attractiveness of lures of these colors. And anglers fishing “glo-bugs” have discovered that trout will take them readily at any time, not just during the spawning migrations

The stocked trout in a nearby lake seem to have gotten more finicky. They have been in the lake since at least January, and according to reports from guys I know who have checked stomach contents, they have certainly acclimated to dining on the local forage. Gone are the days of “just imitate a fish pellet”. :slight_smile:

Typically, size 10 and 8 woolly buggers and variants, or nymph patterns in browns, blacks, rust, white or flashy gold have produced well for me. But that bite has seemed to diminish as well. Part of this may be due to the population of trout remaining in the lake continues to be increasingly depleted over time, as many folks take their limit of 5 if they can catch them. That’s fine. I’m just trying to improve my success on the trout that DO remain in the lake.

So here’s my question. I haven’t tried bright colors yet. Flash, yes, but not bright colors like bright orange or chartreuse. I’m wondering if any fellow FAOLers that fish lakes stocked with trout have any notable success with these bright colors? I use chartreuse often for crappies, largemouth and smallmouth bass, bluegills, and white bass & hybrids (wipers). I know the trout can see it, I just wonder if they’ll hit it or be scared by it.

I take it back…I’ve caught 2 rainbow trout while casting a chartreuse fly patterns. One hit a chartreuse/yellow Clouser for white bass. I assumed it was a fluke. I also caught one just after dark on a charteuse mylar woolly bugger. It seemed to be the only thing they could still see well enough to strike at the time, but I still only caught the one trout on it. Since I couldn’t replicate the experience, it could have been another fluke.

2

Try a Pink Squirrel with UV Pink Ice Dub for the collar. It works really well for stocked rainbows in streams in my area and I would imagine it would work just as well in lakes. Plus it’s a midwest original fly.

3

A few years ago I was fishing a Lake Michigan tributary in August looking for a small mouth bass or maybe an early Salmon so I tied on a big florescent chartreuse streamer. What I caught was a nice brown on the first cast as I lobbed it up under some bushes and swam it out. Since then I’ve tried to keep couple of bass type streamers in my trout box. I do have trouble trying them except as a last resort as I can’t lose the habit of to sticking to more drab colors for trout .

4

I have not fished any lakes or ponds stocked with trout, but, in our local rivers here a bugger tied with a chartreuse marabou tail and a body of chartreuse Ice Chenille and a gold bead up front has been a reliable pattern.

5

You also might try a Mickey Finn. That pattern has worked on trout and crappies for me.

6

A black soft hackle with a red thread head seems to make a marked difference here in Connecticut.

7

One of my home lakes is stocked with Trout. When they start stocking in the Fall, everyone is using bright colors, be it hardware, flies, micro-jigs, or whatnot.

8

You can never go wrong by imitating what the trout are eating. Since you are aware that the fish are now feeding on local forage, tie up some imitations, some with a little extra flash, like a flashback or UV collar. Be very specific as to size and shape.

9

Stockers are easy to catch in this neck of the woods, at least compared to wild trout. Seems my experience is when you get anywhere near replicating what the hatchery feed was, or just about anything that resembles food that’s flying or in the water, the stocker will hit it. With the wild trout color makes a difference; and here, ironically, the bright colors do better on a bright day while the dull color does better on an overcast day.

10

I mostly fish a tailwater that has many of the characteristics of a spring creek. Much of it is C&R year round, some seasonal C&R. There are wild brookies and a few wild browns in the river, but it is dominated by stocked rainbows. When they are first stocked, they are very easy. Usually a Woolly Bugger or a flashy streamer is all you need. After they have been in the river for a week or so, they begin to forage. At that time, midge larvae and pupae, scuds, and sowbugs become the main menu items until the BWO’s, hendricksons, and sulphurs become active. Imitations of the current food items will outfish other flies by a wide margin. A decent imitation, with a little flash added, properly presented, will prove to be very successful.

Ad a blanket statement, if you can determine what the trout are feeding on, imitate it, and present it properly, you will generally have some very good days.

11

I’ve not found that to be the case, instead there’s night and day difference from a hatchery trout and one that begun it’s life in the wild, i.e., a wild trout. And, of course, imitating what trout are feeding on is fly fishing 101.

12

Sometimes bright colors work ,but in a midge hatch I have seen freshly stocked fish key in strongly on the midge pupa. I wish we all had access to wild fish and uncrowded fishing

13

Sometimes I check what color power bait is working for the others and try to match the batch. I have yellow, red, blue, orange and rainbow colored wooly buggers and other assorted flys. Sometimes it works. Jim

14

<Bringing the bowl of popcorn over from another thread…> :wink:
(Please note the Smiley.)

Regards,
Ed

15

A cyber friend from another board who is fully capable of tying a perfect size 20 Parachute Adams ties the scruffiest flies for himself you’ll ever see. He has been experimenting the last few years mixing the bright colors you’re talking about into regular patterns. Well, regular for him. He ties these scruffy nymphs with lots of UV and florescent duns mixed in. He catches a lot of fish and says the addition of bright and UV colors has seemed to up his already better than most catches.

And soaking your flies in liquid power scent overnight will do wonders too.:cool: