Jimmy, I've caught fairly large browns- 5 to 10- lb class- on everything from size 16 PTN's to 6" long streamer flies. So I think to that fish are opportunistic and will eat what they can swallow. I also think that at times they can be selective and only will sip certain midges at times. They can be lazy and not want to move but an inch or two to feed. They can be agressive and jump up on a rock or log to grab a frog or mouse. They will feed at mid-day and greedily eat hoppers along a bank, or splash in a river all night long, attacking everything in and on the water.
So you could say a trout is totally different from a bass. Or you could say a trout is just like a bass. I guess you could call it Quantum-Fishics. You can prove whatever you want to by the results you get (by looking for that result). Dr. D ----- Original Message ----- From: Jimmy D. Moore To: [email protected] ; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, November 20, 2006 8:36 AM Subject: [VFB] Trout and Bass more alike than you think In re-reading my April 2005 issue of The North American Fisherman, I found an article that I missed the first time around. The author, David Hart was telling us that some experimenting Chuck Kraft had done for 22 years in Western Virginia, resulted in his realizing that bass and trout had more in common than most of us think. ( Heaven forbid!! Dare we uppity trout anglers learn something from a "chunker and winder" bass angler.) "Noting in his research that nine out of 10 big browns had crayfish in their bellies, not little ones either, many were 3 or 4 inches long, got his juices flowing and he started experimenting on trout with smallmouth flies that imitated crayfish and baitfish.. He didn't stick with tiny flies that mimicked the insect life, he started experimenting with the same flies he used for Smallmouth on the Shenandoah, James and New rivers, three of the country's top smallmouth streams. The trout took them readily. He tried them on Western rivers, and even in trout waters in South America. They worked everywhere he tried them. As all of us know, aquatic life in a typical trout stream consists of a whole lot more than just insects. Crayfish, minnows, sculpins, madtoms, salamanders, frogs - you name it and they're there for the taking. Every trout stream also has various types of baitfish and nearly all of them have crayfish, so Chuck focused on those two when he started developing his new flies. Back in the 80's most crayfish and minnow patterns were little more than rough concoctions of hair and feathers. Few of these cut it for trout, because they kind of rolled as they drifted with the current. Didn't move anything like a real crayfish, so Chuck added some weight to keep the fly upright and then used materials that moved, like legs and claws. On his new minnow pattern he used materials that didn't flare out when the fly stopped, like marabou and other materials do. According to Chuck, that scares more fish than it catches, especially the older, larger fish that have been around the block a few times. Eventually, he settled on a crayfish pattern much like a jig-and-pig, (from chunking and winding fame), which he called a Claw-Dad and a CK Baitfish, a 3 inch minnow that he used to take a variety of fish in both fresh and salt. Both are deadly trout flies, even though most of us trout anglers might shun them for their size. He ties the Claw-Dad in sizes from 1 1/2 to nearly 3 inches long. I suspect that many of us have already discovered this, for I'm seeing more and more smallmouth patterns appearing in Swaps and in fly fishing magazines. Of course, the authors don't dare credit the"chunkers and winders. Recon these flies would work on the big browns on New Mexico's Rio Grand or other rivers were as Size 24 and smaller is the norm????? I don't know about you, but I'm going to tie up some crayfish and minnow patterns for my next trip to the Cimarron an "One thing's for sure: Big, meat flies that imitate crayfsh, minnows an other mouthfuls will catch some of the biggest trout on any water." Any argument or comments? I'd like to know your experiences with these type flies, if any. JIMMY D ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.409 / Virus Database: 268.14.10/541 - Release Date: 11/20/2006
