Targeting larger fish

Wildfish

Wildfish

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Sep 4, 2009
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I've been hitting Valley pretty hard this week and seem to only hook up with very small fish lately (between 3 and 4 inches). I did get into it with one big guy last week, but he unbuttoned at my feet.

I'm happy to hook up with wild browns of any size, but I fear that these really little fish are particularly delicate. Any way to at least try to target bigger fish or avoid the babies?
 
Streamers in low light conditions.

You're going to have to accept your fair share of skunkings, but fishing streamers is the only way to really avoid the smaller fish.
 
That's what I fear. Valley is pretty clear for streamers. Fished them after the rain the other day, but eventually gave up and moved back to large princes hoping the big nymphs would scare off the little fish. They didn't.
 
This one chased a spinner half its size
 

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JayL is right. Beyond that i believe Jay to have a fair amount of experience on that stream. Yes smaller trout will attack bigger streamers but they have trouble hooking them selves. I have also seen smaller trout swarming a streamer of mine and a big trout come to take it. I think sometimes if a bigger trout sees smaller trout feeding it will do one of 3 things.

1. make the bigger trout desire food.
2. make the bigger trout attempt to show his dominance by taking the food from the smaller trout.
3. Nothing - in which case your back to square one.

Either way JayL gave some solid advice.
 
Thanks guys. I know it's sound advice, I'm just stubborn. Valley is kind of a weird stream, and I can't seem to find big fish spots. Plus I hate fishing streamers in low, clear water. I'm just not good enough to do it confidently.

Nevertheless, I gave it a shot this am. I started out today with the streamer--white and black buggers. But fearing the skunk (and after spooking a fish with my streamer splash) I switched to nymphing, and landed more of the same little brownies.

Hopefully I can give it a shot again at the end of the week.
 
Large fish that have been in the water a while generally won’t chase a rapidly retrieved fly all over the water – you have to get the fly to them where they can take it. Setting aside nighttime fishing when large fish will cruise looking for food, the majority of large fish tend to stay hidden and ambush unsuspecting prey as they wander by especially during daytime hours.

In low clear water there are two streamer approaches: (1) use a thinly dressed small streamer (size 12-14 along the lines of a black nose dace, mickey finn, gray ghost, small deceiver, maybe even with a little marabou) and fish these streamers like and injured minnow slowly bobbing and floating it near the surface working it along undercuts, trees, brush, etc., or (2) use a fatter “buggier” fly like the woolly bugger or muddler minnow or maybe even a sculpin BUT put enough weight on it so it sinks to the bottom and bottom bounce it slowly like it’s tumbling helplessly downstream.

Also, with the buggier flies sometimes they work best fished upstream like a nymph so they bottom bounce headfirst downstream. Or if fishing downstream use a curve cast so the fly bounces headfirst down and across before starting a headfirst upstream swing. Having the fly bounce headfirst downstream can sometimes mean all the difference between success and no success. I’ve found this to be especially true with buggers.
 
I had a good size (10-11") trout checking out attractor patterns the other day at Valley Creek. I was fishing the slower water and got several "hits" on dries; however, they were more or less bumping it and not actually taking it in. The faster water seems to fish best at Valley for any size fish. With regard to streamers, I have yet to catch any fish at Valley on buggers or streamers; however, the most effective method I have found for targeting big fish elsewhere is to strip a heavily weighted wooly bugger upstream in the current seams. For valley creek, a size 10 or 12 bugger would probably work well, but I would focus on the faster water and not the slow deep pools. I am by no means an expert at Valley Creek; however, I hope this helps.
 
GreenWeenie wrote:
Large fish that have been in the water a while generally won’t chase a rapidly retrieved fly all over the water – you have to get the fly to them where they can take it. Setting aside nighttime fishing when large fish will cruise looking for food, the majority of large fish tend to stay hidden and ambush unsuspecting prey as they wander by especially during daytime hours.

In low clear water there are two streamer approaches: (1) use a thinly dressed small streamer (size 12-14 along the lines of a black nose dace, mickey finn, gray ghost, small deceiver, maybe even with a little marabou) and fish these streamers like and injured minnow slowly bobbing and floating it near the surface working it along undercuts, trees, brush, etc., or (2) use a fatter “buggier” fly like the woolly bugger or muddler minnow or maybe even a sculpin BUT put enough weight on it so it sinks to the bottom and bottom bounce it slowly like it’s tumbling helplessly downstream.

Also, with the buggier flies sometimes they work best fished upstream like a nymph so they bottom bounce headfirst downstream. Or if fishing downstream use a curve cast so the fly bounces headfirst down and across before starting a headfirst upstream swing. Having the fly bounce headfirst downstream can sometimes mean all the difference between success and no success. I’ve found this to be especially true with buggers.



If you want to fish streamers in low clear water, print the above paragraphs and tape it to your fly box.

Also, Fishidiot has a great technique for fishing streamers, in the low clear water in the SC limestone streams, perhaps he will share it with us.
 
do the really big trout chase streamers very often ? i kinda thought maybe a better approch would be a small say #16 nymph right infront of his big nose so he didn't have to move too far to grab it ?
 
It isn't often that you get a chance to sight fish to large wild trout. If I can see one, I tend to throw very small streamers or scuds/nymphs.

For a large stockie, I forgo the drama and throw him a san juan worm. It works ok on the wild ones too, but it's stockie candy.

Big streamers are best at finding large trout. If you know where they are, you can use a more precise method. I find it difficult to fish heavily weighted streamers to visible fish in most cases.
 
Wild fish are wild fish, you get what your fly brings. You could go larger in fly size but still the little ones will gulp at a chance for a large meal. Sometimes you have to accept what nature gives you. If you release everything you hokk and are careful about it, don't worry.
 
Nice treble hook there Rookie. I tie an egg pattern on trebles but pinch down the barbs
 
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