Standing Room Only for the Opening of Missouri's Trout Seasonhttp://cdn0.wideopenspaces.com/wp-co...-3-630x339.jpg
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Lived in Virginia for 10 years- same deal there before they changed regs
That looks so exciting I'll probably get constipated, just thinking about it.
I didn't know there were that many trout. I bet more fisherman got hooked than fish.
Looks like the stream in California I fished back when in the service. Everybody standing around with no fish in the stream all of a sudden a hatchery truck pulls up and runs a 5 gallon bucket of fish out of the tank dumps them in the stream and now everybody starts fishing. Made me and my buddy sick we got the heck out of there.
I'm supposed to be going with my family to vacation at one of our SiL's in Eastern PA.
She has a cabin on a beautiful, heavily wooded trout stream.
Supposed to go at the end of May, water should still be cold and holding hungry fish.
Of course I've no clue what I'm doing when it comes to such fishing.
Anyone care to give me some pointers on targeting them with ultralite spinning gear?
I've a UL 6' 2pc St. Croix Premiere, with a Penn 4300SS and spooled with 4#.
Wet flies, Mepps spinners, cranks/jigs, livebait?
Strike indicator?
Techniques?
that probably feels like fishing a head boat on some days.
Smaller size bubble floats were originally designed to cast tiny trout flies on UL spinning gear.Quote:
Originally Posted by ChileRelleno
Sorry Chile, the only place that I have fished trout East of the Miss. has been in WS. I have fished trout in Alaska, Canada, all over the Midwest and West. Trout being what they are, you must go with the flow. In other words, fish up stream and let the bait flow naturally down to the trout. Crawlers will work the best, but like the Gulf, do what the locals do. Crawlers will work with your ultra light, but use very little weight, if any, depending on the depth of the water. If you are spin fishing a lure down stream, retrieve it fast enough to keep the lure working. If you are fishing a big pool in the stream you may quarter the bait. Trout are normally in shallow water and must have structure (trees) to protect them from the birds and hawks above. Don't waste your time fishing trout in the "flat water" but fish the seams in the rapids. Trout may be in as little as 6" of water as long as there is a rock to hide behind in a rapids. A trout normally will not be in a fast moving rapids because they waste to much energy but in the seams and the lower part of the rapids. 90% of a trout's food comes from the bottom of the stream, so that is where they will be but they are always looking for something that may be floating or swimming around them. Good luck and keep a tight line. Let us know how you do.
I grew up trout fishing in northeast PA.Quote:
Originally Posted by ChileRelleno
Small Mepps & Panther Martin spinners are good.
But I mainly liked to fish small wigglers and salmon eggs too. Small hooks, #6 or #8, no weight or smallest split shot you can get by with. Trout will be in ripples, in eddies and little pools. Learning to read the stream is the trickiest part, you will be surprised how small an eddie they will hang in.
Take some hip waders, the water will be cold.
Make sure to check the regs in the stream you will fish, many are artificial or c/r only or have trophy rules.,
I agree with Carl...I've caught a great many trout when I was stationed at Ellsworth AFB in South Dakota Black Hills on silver Panther Martins; UL rod with 4 lb line worked great for me!! I also did a little fly fishing, usually with small nymphs under a small strike indicator....did OK, but not as good as on the small spinners.
I wouldn't fish like that even if the trout were full of pearls and had gold teeth. I pity the poor fools...:D:D:DQuote:
Originally Posted by Pier#r
Small mepps and tiny rapalas worked for me out westQuote:
Originally Posted by ChileRelleno
Thanks for the tips/tricks guys.
I'm looking forward to going this year, I missed out on it last year.
Sure hope my vacation time gets approved.
If it's a stocked steam expect most fish to be 8-12". But there will also be larger holdovers and they also throw a few old brood fish out in each steam. Check the Pa fish commission website for the stocking schedule and what they stick. Brookie's prefer worms, rainbows like salmon eggs. Browns attack anything.
san juan worms have worked well for me, but i've been criticized for using them for some reason. as always, it's just "match the hatch" i suppose so take a wide variety.
a small count-down rapala in gold is my go-to trout bait. size depends on stream size.
Child-
I fish trout pretty regularly here in Iowa. We have quite a few stocked streams and lakes. Many of the suggestions are pretty spot on. If I'm catch and release fishing my go to is usually a rooster tail spinner in 1/32 and 1/16 oz sizes. Will cast well on your set up. I also have used small chunks of night crawler or kernels of canned corn with good success. Usually only use live bait when planning to keep fish. The streams here typically are somewhere between 10 and 30 feet wide with series of riffles and holes. Fish lie along cut banks and in deeper troughs. Try to stay low and cast upstream. Deep holes on our trout streams are 3-4 feet deep. These usually hold the stocked trout.
Welcome to the Forum, Knutty, It's a great place to be, and it nice to have another trout fisher on board. I have wrestled in Ames a few times. Not normally a good experience.
Knutty, that is the same size stream I loved to fish. And I agree, stay low, wear camo and keep a backing of brush, rocks, etc will help you catch more fish, even stock fish get spookier after a while.
We also fished small rooster tails. Good lures. Canned corn too!
I'll be on the lower Bushkill in Monroe county.
Looks like the last stocking will be Rainbows and Browns, two weeks (May 10th) before we arrive on the 26th.
Keep the tips/tricks coming.
Will there be Eels in the creeks then?
I love broiled Eel with some unagi tare sauce.
Can y'all recommend a brand of good hip or chest waders?
i've also used sculpin and caught some really nice browns on the white river.
glad to know you like eels Chile.... The pearl river by my house has a plethora of them.. 2ft long mean, slimy, little turds. i wonder what postage on a live eel would be if i sent you some.
signed, eeled and delivered!
Chile, If the stream is not accessible to the fish stocking truck, it will not be stocked. They only stock trout close to a road. Rainbows will migrate a ways, browns will not go very far. The DNR will not stock rainbows if they are browns present because the "bows" are to aggressive, and leave nothing for the browns. "Bows" are complete idiots and very easy to catch on just about anything. In SE MN., where my home stream is, they only stock "bows" before the catch & kill season starts and only a pail full in a very few places. They know that they will be caught the opening weekend, and will not harm the brookies or the browns. The "bows" up here do not reproduce, the brookies and the browns are all naturally reproduced. None of them are stocked and we have plenty.
As far as the hip boots & waders go. Buy a cheap pair of waders, they all leak in about 2 years, the $400.00 ones and the $100.00 ones. Some of them leak the first time that I put them on, even the good ones. But I use them 4 - 5 times a week even when I'm down at the Gulf slurping ghost shrimp, so maybe they will last longer under normal use. Hip boots will not do the job, up here anyway.
A GREAT trout stream, if you haven't tried it, but it on your bucket list.Quote:
Originally Posted by j. gravy
Never fished the Bushkill but it has a good rep.
Just get a basic pair of denier over rubber waders. No need to spend a lot of money.