wgmiller
Well-known member
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2008
- Messages
- 2,837
I was up in Cameron County with the family and relatives this weekend for opening day. Since I really got into fishing, this was my first opening day with such a hardcore group of folks, so all around it was a learning experience. I got very little fishing time in because a.) I slept in until 08:00 and b.) I'm in the running for "Father of the year award" and was in charge of our two-year old while my wife fished with our oldest daughter.
As I arrived at the cabin, I saw several "live wells" with aerators keeping the minnows alive. I thought to myself, "Well, my flies should be able to slay the fish as well".
My wife found a hole on the way into the fish nursery on Wykoff Run where she typically does well. She didn't have live minnows, but instead was using your typical trout bait (Powerbait, waxworms, etc.). She wasn't having any luck on that stuff and got moved in on by two youngsters using live minnows. Needless to say, they creeled their limited of meaty brookies from that hole in no time.
Frustrated, I told the Mrs. I'd head over and move in on them and yank some fish out. I tied on a #10 white bugger and sent it down the riffles time and again, but to no avail. I thought for sure these stockies would be on to a bugger danced through the riffles, but not so.
All weekend I heard success stories of guys "smashing" the trout with live minnows. In fact, my wife took my oldest daughter and other family relatives to the kids' fishery and smashed the brookies on them as well. They were the envy of every camo wearing young boy in that stretch as they reeled in fish after fish.
This morning I looked in my fly box and there they were, staring at me, my streamers (BND, Grey ghost, Mickey Finn, etc.). Why in god's name I didn't tie them on yesterday is beyond me. In retrospect, those would have been my only source of redemption, but there they sat, nice and dry in my fly box.
To sum up my ramblings, can us fly guys hold a candle to the bait guys who are nailing fish on live minnows? Are streamers the "go to" pattern? Although I'm new to fly fishing, I really felt that I had the "tools" in my pouch to make it happen, but lacked the experience to convert.
It was a beautiful weekend in northcentral PA!
Quehanna Highway Elk
As I arrived at the cabin, I saw several "live wells" with aerators keeping the minnows alive. I thought to myself, "Well, my flies should be able to slay the fish as well".
My wife found a hole on the way into the fish nursery on Wykoff Run where she typically does well. She didn't have live minnows, but instead was using your typical trout bait (Powerbait, waxworms, etc.). She wasn't having any luck on that stuff and got moved in on by two youngsters using live minnows. Needless to say, they creeled their limited of meaty brookies from that hole in no time.
Frustrated, I told the Mrs. I'd head over and move in on them and yank some fish out. I tied on a #10 white bugger and sent it down the riffles time and again, but to no avail. I thought for sure these stockies would be on to a bugger danced through the riffles, but not so.
All weekend I heard success stories of guys "smashing" the trout with live minnows. In fact, my wife took my oldest daughter and other family relatives to the kids' fishery and smashed the brookies on them as well. They were the envy of every camo wearing young boy in that stretch as they reeled in fish after fish.
This morning I looked in my fly box and there they were, staring at me, my streamers (BND, Grey ghost, Mickey Finn, etc.). Why in god's name I didn't tie them on yesterday is beyond me. In retrospect, those would have been my only source of redemption, but there they sat, nice and dry in my fly box.
To sum up my ramblings, can us fly guys hold a candle to the bait guys who are nailing fish on live minnows? Are streamers the "go to" pattern? Although I'm new to fly fishing, I really felt that I had the "tools" in my pouch to make it happen, but lacked the experience to convert.
It was a beautiful weekend in northcentral PA!
Quehanna Highway Elk