What fly would you use?

FAOL Community Fly Anglers Online
1

TWRA is going to stock the local city pond next Thursday.:smiley: We just had a really hard and no doubt killer frost yesterday morning. I am sure there probably aren’t any insects, certainly no terrestrials left alive.:frowning: In other words, no hatch to match. I have sat at the park everyday at lunch since I learned it was going to be stocked wondering what flies to use?:confused: Except for one black duck, which I have named Daffy, I haven’t seen anything alive in the pond. Although, Daffy is diving and eating something out of the pond. Minnows I assume.

Oh, and I should probably point out, I suspect they will be fed lots of corn in the first few days.:frowning: I have never seen anyone fly fish around here, nearest trout stream is about an hour away and most people think you can only fly fish for trout.

So under these circumstances, what fly would you use?

thanks in advance,

hNt

PS My wife has already pointed out the fact that I am crazy for naming the duck.:stuck_out_tongue:

2

Stillwater nympth, staynor ducktail, holloween leech, egg sucking leech, and any variety of leechs or leech patterns. Any color of wooly bugger should work as well.

3

Chironomid under an indicator or strip a leach. Almost all bodies of water have midges of some sort.

4

Tan colored scud pattern, some folks also say orange is a good color for stocked trout, but I have nailed them with tan scuds and hairs ear patterns when I take my boy to our little stocker pond If they start rising, throw an adams at em.

d

5

these will be hatchory fish, most likely they have only seen parina fish chow, so tye up a few pelet flys would be your best bet for some action.
Ghost.

6

I would use one of these http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/beginners/part9.php

size 12 tied in olive dubbing with Squirrel tail and a little red flashabou for grins.

I would fish it wet, cast it out and strip it in slowly with 4 or 5 inch strips.

Lots of fun, that didnt work I would then go to a wolly bugger, that doesnt work anything else in my wet fly box.

Eric

7

You might try this:

http://flytyingworld.com/fly-detail-157-TroutChow.html

or this:

http://flytyingworld.com/fly-detail-155-OliveD-Bugger.html

Just a thought.

8

stockers = pellets :smiley:

9

HungNtree, try an olive woolly bugger with yellow hackle tied on a size 6 or 8 hook. For the tail I really like yellow marabou with a thin sliver of red marabou in the middle. If unweighted, it can be Ginked and fished as a dry. I have had good luck on our stocker 'bows with that fly.

Also pay close attention to anything that Jack Hise or WarrenP tells you. These guys are both retired and consider the week a waste if they don’t get on/in the water at least three times a week, every week, all year long. (It’s a rough job, but somebody’s gotta do it…)

Good luck!
Ed

10

If they’re anything like the PA pelletheads, you need only take variations of 3 flies for the first 2-3 days:

Buggers in black, white and olive, with and without flash & beads.

Eggs in hot pink, fluorescent chartreuse, and bright orange.

Variations (softhackled, beadheaded, flashy, etc.) of a rather large (10-12), very buggy, brown generic nymph.

Start with the buggers. Cast out beyond cruising fish and strip it in as fast as you can manage. Fresh stocked fish are highly competitive and getting 4-5 fish racing to your fast bugger is not at all uncommon. After catching a few, they may get turned off. Switch to a slight variation…either flash or color. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Failing that, go to either of the other two, starting with the eggs, which are bright and easy to see. The fresh fish will go after these as well. Either drop it in just in front of the cruisers and let it drift down through the water as they pass, or cast well ahead of them, and twitch slightly when they get close…almost on top of it. Again, reaction/competitive/agressive strikes are the game.

Finally, that brown thing represents both the pellets that have been synonymous with food for that trout’s entire life, as well as a fair approximation of 95% of what his new diet will become. To fish as a pellet: throw a small handful of pea gravel or other tiny stones on water near, but not right above, cruising fish to simulate feeding time at the hatchery. Then toss in your fly and let settle slowly. To fish as a nymph, any type of cast & retrieve may work…try them all. :slight_smile:

Stocked fish, IMHO can be much more difficult to catch than wild ones, at least for the fly angler. They dont behave like normal fish and as a result, its hard to read & interpret their behavior, let alone turn that into success. After they’re in the water for about 5-7 days, they’ll be REALLY tough to catch for a week or so, especially if they see alot of pressure. They’ll approach all offerings with caution, and midges may be your best bet. After a week or two of that, they’ll behave much more like normal fish.

HTH

:slight_smile:

11

http://www.feather-craft.com/wecs.php?store=feacraft&action=display&target=JF113

The description cracks me up!

“Chum them up, and let them have it…”:lol:

12

Seeing as it’s a city pond, I’m guessing that there’s a good bit of water fowl manure and run off.
If that’s true, the water is probably loaded with algae.
In my experience, aquatic worms love that sort of environment.
… stick your hand in and grab a handful of the algae next time you’re there. Betya a nickle you come up with a handful of wigglers.

A tiny marabou jig under an indicator works well for this ‘hatch’… the color matters a great deal and could change daily

As for the pellet idea… I use to work at the state trout hatchery.
The fish respond to the sound of the pellets hitting the water, not necessarily to the pellets themselves. I doubt seriously that a single fly that may or may not look like trout chow would be the best fly to use

13

I start out with a wooley bugger and go from there.
You can catch stockers on most any fly.
I’ve had good luck with a SJ worm under an indicator too.

They are fed brown nugget fish food most of their life so keep that in mind. “Match the hatch”.

14

The fish respond to the sound of the pellets hitting the water, not necessarily to the pellets themselves. I doubt seriously that a single fly that may or may not look like trout chow would be the best fly to use

Quite true, which is why I suggested a small handful of tiny stones. They’ll get their attention but then get out of the way, sinking fast. Now that they’re interested, and their brain is thinking food, your “pellet fly” is drifting down through the water much more slowly. :wink:

15

A pink san juan worm or a greenie wienie might work well for fresh stockers. It might take a couple of days for the fish to acclimate to their new surroundings and pellets have been their primary food source up until they are put in the pond.

16

There are only three flies to use for fresh stockies. Wooly Bugger, Wooly Bugger and…Wooly Bugger. Best is black body and tail with grizzly hackle, next is olive body and tail with olive hackle, third is black body and tail with black hackle. Tie them in sizes #8 and #10, and add a few fibers of Crystal Flash to the tails. There is no need to attempt to match the hatch if you are fishing within a few days of stocking, and I doubt that pellet flies would work very well in a pond.

Wooly Buggers are definitely the way to go.

17

I would probably use a Y2K with a San Juan Worm dropper. This rig works well with stocked trout. The Y2K is basically an yarn egg pattern, but it is shaped more like candy corn.

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18

PS: Mallard ducks don’t eat minnows, they eat plankton and other vegetable matter that may have scuds mixed in by default. The fish (being fish) will eat something that twitches, twinkles, and trembles - i.e., is alive. I agree with the flies suggested, but you may have to retrieve them very slowly and near the bottom.

19

i heard that stocked fish eat what they were feed for atleast a week after they’ve been stocked… but i guess all of the above would work to (: will never know until you try it out! :smiley:

20

I have seen stockers rise for sun flower shells and cigarette butts they aren’t real picky in what they will go after. If you put your fly close to them and it resembles food they should bite it.

Eric