What makes a fish worth catching

[rfb700]

I was thinking about the coming season on my little stream and the fish I was going to catch and a thought occurred to me. This is an unusual occurrence as normally my brain is thought free. So it sort of hung there demanding attention.

What makes a fish worth catching? In my stream, for every trout I hook, I catch about 7 - 10 Creek Chub and Fallfish. An awful lot of times I can't tell the difference in the fight till I actually see the fish. Fallfish especially have given me some good little battles. We're talking relatively speaking as most of the trout are under a foot.

But every time I see its not a trout, I'm a little disappointed. Why is that? The fights about the same. I have to present my fly in the same manner to catch them. So why is a trout just so much more desirable?

I think, for me at least, it's because trout are just prettier creatures. I admit it, I'm superficial. I go for looks over substance. I feel the same way about bass. I love angling for smallmouth in the river next to my office, but Im just not as fond of their olive green, chunky build.

Does this make me a bad person? Because I'm starting to think the wifes looking a little older these days.....



Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk

 

[Rip Tide]

I like to fish for trout just like anybody else but in my neighborhood any trout larger than 9" was stocked.
I've caught a lot of stocked trout over the years and for a while when I worked for the state inland fisheries, I had this thing about catching fish over 20" on tiny dry flies. The 20/20 club
The problem was I was well aware that a freshly stocked 2 foot hatchery rainbow was no better an adversary than a 10" fish of the same hatchery vintage.
Those fish didn't even "count" for me.
While I'm not an advocate of fall fish or even carp, wild fish are far more worthy of my time than are cookie-cutter stockers.
That's the main attraction of saltwater to me. Big strong native fish in a wild environment.
Those are fish worth catching

 

[bigjim5589]

Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder! IMO, this is a question only answered by each person based on why they bother to go fishing in the first place. I have an extreme fondness for SM Bass, Striped Bass and Redfish because of the environments they live in & how they each attack a fly or lure, and the resulting battle, plus each has their own beauty.

Yes, there are other fish species I enjoy chasing & there are things I like about each one, and sometimes they're caught while fishing for those others. But, those first 3 are my favorites, and I can't really say why other than what I've already expressed. Generally, when I'm fishing I forget about everything else in the world, and especially when targeting those three.

I get the most enjoyment from chasing them, even when I don't catch them. Perhaps a bit of a spiritual thing, like faith, that can't be entirely explained.

 

[nc_cooter]

All fish are worth catching, assuming they take the fly I am using. Hate to foul hook a fish. I give them a quick look and return them to the water.
Mike

 

[trout trekker]

When I was a little kid we moved to Oregon for a couple of years. One day while fishing along a valley river I caught what I knew from pictures to be a member of the black bass family, my first bass, but I had no idea what kind of black bass it was. That fish represented a milestone for me.
A middle aged lady standing in her backyard saw the event and hollered down to me “ What did you catch? “ and I. beaming about my catch tossed back a “ It’s a bass Ma’am”. To which she replied, “ Well keep at it and maybe you’ll catch something good!”

I still hold every fish I catch with the highest regard, though I’ve learned to temper my outward enthusiasm around strangers.

Dave

 

[Ard]

I think we get preconditioned because they don't sell Chub reels, they sell trout reels for fly rods. We go out the door to go trout fishing and we tie trout flies. With all that anxiety centered around catching a trout there may be some lack of enthusiasm when something else turns up on the line.

One night I was sticking it out near where one of our larger creeks meets up with the West Branch of the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania. I knew that with all those trout living up the 40 or so miles of the main stem not to mention all those little tributaries there had to be brown trout at the confluence. This is big water right downstream and I was swinging a big black leech down a riffle that fed a huge pool. No doubt some monster brown comes into there at night and eats whatever he wants.

I had spent some time sitting on a convenient log after having no grabs and stepped back to the waters edge. A good cast, quick mend as it hit the water and away it went for another swing. This time things went according to plan. Wham, solid and hooked, no need to worry about how to set that hook just hang on because this thing is running like a steelhead! As I finally found myself gaining ground with the old pump and reel routine usually reserved for salmon up at Lake Ontario I even spotted a flash of silver in the poor light. This was a mystery even as I backed away from shore and dragged the monster into an inch of water.

I gave my Flex Light a twist (remember them) and ran to the shoreline. What the hell? It took a second or so to settle in that I had caught a Channel Cat and a darn big one at that. Maybe it was the size that made it a talking point with my fishing buddy next time we got together. Maybe the smoking runs, the line slicing through the water, but that was my most appreciated non target species catch.

I always liked chubs unless there were so many that I had no hope of finding a trout. I remember one up on Big Pine Creek above Jersey Mills, Christmas Eve afternoon 1996. Maybe the largest chub I ever caught, took a Nine Three feather wing size 2 tied long. Again I was looking for that big brown that no one had ever found and I found a Creek Chub, the not so pretty chub almost 2 feet long and very well fed as well. That fish beat the heck outta catching nothing and I remember it as if it were just last Christmas.

---------- Post added at 12:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:13 PM ----------

I think we get preconditioned because they don't sell Chub reels, they sell trout reels for fly rods. We go out the door to go trout fishing and we tie trout flies. With all that anxiety centered around catching a trout there may be some lack of enthusiasm when something else turns up on the line.

One night I was sticking it out near where one of our larger creeks meets up with the West Branch of the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania. I knew that with all those trout living up the 40 or so miles of the main stem not to mention all those little tributaries there had to be brown trout at the confluence. This is big water right downstream and I was swinging a big black leech down a riffle that fed a huge pool. No doubt some monster brown comes into there at night and eats whatever he wants.

I had spent some time sitting on a convenient log after having no grabs and stepped back to the waters edge. A good cast, quick mend as it hit the water and away it went for another swing. This time things went according to plan. Wham, solid and hooked, no need to worry about how to set that hook just hang on because this thing is running like a steelhead! As I finally found myself gaining ground with the old pump and reel routine usually reserved for salmon up at Lake Ontario I even spotted a flash of silver in the poor light. This was a mystery even as I backed away from shore and dragged the monster into an inch of water.

I gave my Flex Light a twist (remember them) and ran to the shoreline. What the hell? It took a second or so to settle in that I had caught a Channel Cat and a darn big one at that. Maybe it was the size that made it a talking point with my fishing buddy next time we got together. Maybe the smoking runs, the line slicing through the water, but that was my most appreciated non target species catch.

I always liked chubs unless there were so many that I had no hope of finding a trout. I remember one up on Big Pine Creek above Jersey Mills, Christmas Eve afternoon 1996. Maybe the largest chub I ever caught, took a Nine Three feather wing size 2 tied long. Again I was looking for that big brown that no one had ever found and I found a Creek Chub, the not so pretty chub almost 2 feet long and very well fed as well. That fish beat the heck outta catching nothing and I remember it as if it were just last Christmas.

 

[spm]

This is a good question to post. I grew up fishing mostly for bass, crappie, and bluegill; any pan-fish, and we fished to eat them.

I was 30 years old before I fished for trout. I remember the first trout I caught on a fly rod, with a fly I had tied. They were more difficult to catch, or so I was told (Still seems that way, sometimes). So, I guess for me, it's the challenge of catching a trout. It doesn't have to be a trophy, or even a big one. I just like to see a trout on the end of my line, even a little one.

But again, why trout? Maybe it's because I actually had it in mind when I tied the fly. Maybe because I've always believed they were harder to catch, again the challenge. Maybe because fly fishing for trout really is an elitist activity, as was asked in an earlier post, and we all like to think we have a higher calling. Maybe because the history of fly fishing for trout goes back into antiquity. I really don't know if I can answer that question, but I will certainly continue to think about it.

Good post, rfb. And no, it doesn't make you a bad person.
Thanks,
steve

 

[runningfish]

Why trout? Because a guy told me that bass didn't count on his boat.
However, I appreciated any species that are kind enough ignore my poor casting and presentation and hit the fly.

 

[Unknownflyman]

I've loved catching them all on a fly rod, have I been disappointed if my target species has not ended up on the end of the line? Sure but I've also enjoyed some surprises as well. What is it! What a fighter! Eel pout! Damn, catfish! damn
Sucker, carp. It happens once and awhile.

I like to bass fish with flies and pike it's a great summer fly fishing persuit when my favorite species isn't around or biting or the warm weather will kill the fish.

If I only persued my favorite species I'd only have a month in the spring and a month or so in the fall.

Primarily I fly fish for trout, I'm lucky to have so many good rivers and streams to fish now year round.

My absolute favorite species are steelhead and salmon, after landing one I was hooked and it was hard to go back to little Brookies after landing big steelhead and kings. I also feel lucky that I live realitivly close to rivers with mostly wild fish and some stockers for the grill.

Now after spey casting the I'm afraid I've went down the rabbit hole even further in my persuits of Steelhead and Salmon.

It took a few years for me to enjoy stream trout fishing again after steelhead and salmon fly fishing and I tended to only fish for trophy Brook trout and brown trout.

After that phase after targeting selective fish and trophy fish what else was there?

I found myself just fishing, hiking, exploring and easing up on fishing like a man possessed. Caught a couple of small browns one beautiful day as I was hiking out at dark I remember how I felt. Really good!

I actually had a smile, I appreciated the depth and the beauty, I was lighter in step, and felt a bit younger in spirit, I felt calm relaxed.

At this point in the not so distant past, I realized I just love to fish, I'm just as proud of a 8" brookie as a 10 pound steelhead as a big beautiful bronzeback.

While there are times I challenge myself to use my skills to hook and land a beast and refine my craft, I realize I just want to fly fish, relax and bask in the glory of the wilderness, I don't want to miss any detail and I want to enjoy being connected to the earth in a way that I don't fully understand, yet it is there, a real tangible force. And I'm still feeling good after a good skunking it happens once and awhile.

While I'm after fish and practicing my craft, catching the fish are less important in recent years, in a lot of ways I'm glad the fish are there at all anymore. Grateful for the hard work of so many preserving and building on what we have.

I just want to fly fish.

 

[r reese]

Ok hear I go. I'm a simple guy. Its all about fooling the fish for me. I don't care if its 2inches or 10 feet long. If I have presented something appealing and make a fish bite I'm satisfied. I have even caught 2 birds. Both of them on tiny tiny fish as I was reeling them in.

 

[vaheelsfan]

For me, the thing with fallfish and chubs is that there is really not much of a challenge in catching them. They'll eat almost anything and they are not demanding about presentation. I used to hate catching them but don't really care now. Around where I live, they're mostly in stocked streams. I can only think of a handful of brookie streams I've caught them out of.

 

[wjc]

I guess it all depends on the reason why you're catchng them and if what you catch is what you are after - assuming you are after a certain specie or a certain size fish.

Sometimes I have felt like waterboarding then disembowling the fish I caught and throwing it to sharks after it snatched the fly cast to a fish I was after which was lit up and actively coming after it to eat it.

The fish was far worse than not worth catching. It was worth grinding up for chum after considerable waterboarding and other tortures. I didn't do that only because I didn't need any chum. That was a very lucky bullet head to have messed with such a nilce guy as me.

But that's fishing.

 

[stenacron]

But every time I see its not a trout, I'm a little disappointed. Why is that? The fights about the same. I have to present my fly in the same manner to catch them. So why is a trout just so much more desirable?

This sounds like a you problem.

Any fish that takes my fly is worth catching in my book.

 

[rangerrich99]

Back about ten years ago when I first started fly fishing I caught this little stocker trout out of this dinky little stream and it had part of a $100 bill stuck in its throat.

Ten years later, I'm still trying to catch the fish that has the other part of that $100 in its mouth. That one will definitely, without question, be worth catching. Everything in between is just icing.

Peace.

 

[plecain]

Any fish that takes my fly is worth catching in my book.

That pretty much says it for me.

 

[texastroutbum]

For me fly fishing is an excellent excuse to visit beautiful streams. I fish there and usually catch trouts.

 

[jbcissell]

It's the beautiful landscapes and clear cold running water for me. And I think trout are really pretty fish. Particularly browns. I live in Mississippi and I do like bass fishing but there are no mountains and the water is generally pretty muddy. Just doesn't compare.

Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk

 

[nevadanstig]

If it has fins and is in the water, I'll get enjoyment from catching it. It really is that simple for me.

 

[Vulpes]

Creek chub or any fish, if it lives in the waters I fish. Its more than worth of my praise. I fish very fast water thats pretty hard to fish. Lots of pockets and short drifts. Its not about the fish to me, its about the destination and the fact that something exists that i cant see in a world I couldnt live in.

 

[deceiverbob]

Down here one of the funnest fish to catch is one that no one wants to catch. Ladyfish jump like crazy, make long runs into the backing, and are usually willing biters. They also poop all over the boat. and their jaws are very abrasive, so if a bite tippet isn't used you can lose flies or lures very quickly.