Q.
I occasionally fish
the Owens River in the Eastern Sierras. They
stock it regularly and I have done well with
little panther martin spinners and nightcrawlers.
My question is is it possible to catch freshly
stocked trout on a fly rod and if so, what flies
and techniques should I use? I am 17 and would
appreciate your advice if possible. Sincerely,
Jeremy Davis
A.
Jeremy, it is certainly possible to catch
stocked trout on a fly rod. In reality,
that’s what a big share of fly anglers are
catching when they fly fish. Most fly anglers
would rather catch wild trout and many of them
concentrate on fishing waters where little or
no stocking is done and the chances to catch
wild fish are greater. However, the cold, hard
facts are that many of our waters simply aren’t
productive enough to furnish enough fish for the
large numbers of fly anglers that are present.
On the other hand, Montana stopped stocking trout
in their streams when the biologists discovered
that the stocked trout adversely impacted the wild
trout populations; the rivers and streams produced
more fish naturally if left unstocked.
As to flies and methods, this is pretty tough to
answer in any definitive way. I guess I’d select
my flies in two ways: (1) stick with standard,
productive patterns (Adams, Wulffs, Elk-hair Caddis,
etc.), or, better yet, (2) talk with folks at
your local fly shops; they should be able to advise
you on popular and productive patterns for the waters
you are fishing. Fly fishing techniques basically
involve either fishing your flies dry, where they
are floating on the water surface imitating emerged
adults, or fishing your flies wet, that is, below
the surface where you are basically imitating the
immature nymphs and larvae living and drifting in
the water. There are way too many variations on
these two approaches that I can’t go into them here.
A great book (and inexpensive) for beginners is a
paper-cover book entitled The Curtis Creek
Manifesto. At first glance, it looks like
a comic book, but it contains a wealth of good,
basic information on fly fishing; I often use it
for beginning classes.
Another positive aspect of fly fishing is that
it is easier and more successful to release fish
unharmed back to the water so that they can live
to fight another day. ~ Bert
If you have a question, please feel free to contact me.
~ C. E. (Bert) Cushing, aka Streamdoctor
105 W. Cherokee Dr.
Estes Park, CO 80517
Phone: 970-577-1584
Email: streamdoctor@aol.com
The ‘Stream Doctor’ is a retired professional stream ecologist and
author, now living in the West and spending way too much time
fly-fishing. You are invited to submit questions relating to
anything stream related directly to him for use in this Q & A Feature
at streamdoctor@aol.com.
Originally published June 27, 2005 on Fly Anglers Online by Bert.