Can anyone give me some tips on stream fishing?

[BillM]

Well, I had a few hours to kill tonight so I decided to head back down to the little stream I fished yesterday. Water had really cleared up, level dropped a bit and it seemed more like a stream now, instead of a ragging muddy mess .

 

I had my ultralight gear along with a little hook, a sinker and half a worm. Dropped it down into a few logs jams and picked up some small brookies. Man, I still can't get over the colours of these fish. I didn't fish any of the faster water, basically looking for eddies and deeper pools to drop the worm into. I happened onto a real nice spot. Pulled one small speck out of there then about a 1/2lb sucker!!! lol Did that ever get my heart rate going.. I threw on a little mepps spinner and a peice of worm and made a few casts. Had a couple of hits but never got a hook into one. After I was done with the spinner, I put the hook/worm back on... As I was doing this a big dark rainbow came out of the log jam... What a fish!! I put my worm right in front of it's face, it was interested for a split second, then swam off and sunk down into the deeper part of the pool. I did notice fish were taking flies off the surface.. I am no stranger to flyfishing, but it's been years since I've picked one up. One thing I am going to pick up is a noddle rod.. I could really use the extra 3ft it would provide to get out in the middle of those pools.

 

Is there something I am missing out on? More spinners? small spoons? float setups? Perhaps little red worms instead of your average dew worms? Should I bring the flyrod down and give it a shot? Biggest fish I've pulled out of there is about 5inches, there has to be a way of picking up the bigger boys

 

Thanks guys!! I would have taken pics of the few small fish I caught, but wanted to get them off the hook and back into the water asap...

Edited June 2, 2008 by BillM

[danc]

Give a Rapala cd3 a try.

[BillM]

Dan, I'll pick one of those up before I head down next time Thanks!

[ehg]

Personally i just 'flick'#2 or for large waters #4 silver bladed Panther Martins in pools.

If you can get clear space longish casts are good.

Waders are a must to get unsnagged, cross river etc..

Good luck,

ehg

[Zamboni]

It would be a lot easier to offer advice if you told us exactly where you were fishing

[danbo]

I like Gold blades for Specks especially the little sizes of PM's.. Or Mepps BlackFury . Roadrunner Jig either all black or all white is deadly too.

[ketchenany]

There are lots more under those logs Bill! Had it happen to me many times, they come out look at it and back down they go. Bounce it off the bottom as far as you can go under the logs, lots of snags but the results are good.

 

Glad you had a good time.

[BillM]

It would be a lot easier to offer advice if you told us exactly where you were fishing

 

Zamboni,

 

I'm having a really bad case of amnesia today

 

 

 

Al, logs everywhere!!! I've donated quite a few hooks already!

[timmeh]

If you only have larger dew worms, breaking them into smaller pieces is an option. I've also had some success on berkley trout worms if you don't want to always use live bait. However they can be really hit or miss, occasionally I've found days when they love'em (mostly browns though), other times not a sniff, but it's an option.

 

If you're getting snagged a lot one thing you can do is pinch the barb of your hook in. This helps getting off of logs though you're still going to donate a few hooks. As a plus it's much better for the fish. As for those big ones that come out and tease you, that's what keeps you coming back.

[huntervasili]

If you have the option of fly fishing for them do it. Use anything that's hatching for dries and use some BHPT nymphs, Mickey finn's hare's ears etc. should pick up a bunch. Good luck

[capt bruce]

I keep a box of micro baits ,00 spinners,tiny spoons , tiny rapallas etc. and just because you dont have a fly rod you can still bounce wet flies with a small split shot or behind a tiny spoon or spinner thru a pool or under a clear tiny float, I smoke so I like to light a cigar and sit and watch a pool for awile and try to figure out the feeding lanes and than try to present my bait the most naturel way down these food highways and ya you can be surprised at some of the larger fish that live in these streams ,good luck and stealth is important as theses fish spook easy.

[BillM]

Great advice guys!

 

I brought down the flyrod today..I haven't touched one in years and did it ever show Tried a few drifts with some dry flies without any luck, I guess I wasn't matching the hatch good enough, because there were fish taking surface bugs, just not mine. Also tried some wet flies, but with my floating line that was a bit of a pain. I gotta admit I got some nice fish to follow the wet fly (10 inches or so) but no takers. Alot of the smaller fish were hitting the tiny inline spinners. Got a few good strikes on a new BlueFox 01 spinner, then donated that to a tree. Luckily I had an old Mepps spinner in the bottom of my vest, used that for the remainder of the night. I am going to hit up a different section of the river as I have fished this one section quite a bit the past couple of days.. No raises from any big fish, and I remembered the Muskol this time! Going to get rid of the 6lb line on my spinning setup and put on some 4lb Sensation.

[singingdog]

You will donate a lot less spinners if you go to a single hook instead of a treble. Switch out the treble for a small streamer and get into the wood with it.

[BillM]

Ahh, the secrets are starting to come out now

 

You don't notice less hook ups with a single compared to a treble? I'll have to try that the next time I am down there.

 

thanks bud!

[ketchenany]

Bill, that place is addictive, I know!

[BillM]

Al, if you ever have plans to head down there, let me know perhaps we could put some hurtin' on the fish? (Or maybe not, lol)

[ketchenany]

Bill, I was there a few years back (about 6 am) and it was solitude just the sound of water, could hear a pin drop. Settle in a pool in front of a beaver dam, as you said they came out and looked at it but no takers . . . but they were getting very close. On my right I saw a small beaver coming into the pool; not a ripple on the water, I just froze, maybe he'll go by, not a chance gets within 4 or 5 feet and "SLAP," just like a gun going off . . . home I went. :wallbash:

If I decide to get out I'll pm you for sure.

[BillM]

Excellent!

 

I had a porcupine crash its way through the woods last week and sit across the stream from me, lol.

[Rybren]

You can always try flies, wet or dry, on your spinning rig. I like bouncing wet flies about 3 feet behind a split shot. If the fish are really spooked, try tying on a leader of 4lb test.

 

Another technique that I've used around small streams and beaver ponds is to use caddis fly larva. Pick up a few rocks in the shallows and look for little bundles of sticks (about 1-11/2 inches long) The larva will be inside the bundle. Peel of the sticks and thread the larva onto a small hook (it's not easy) and drift away. Again, light line is the way to go.

 

Good luck. Wish I had one of those streams near Ottawa.....