I Can't Catch Trout at the Local Lake!

[mojo]

How deep is your pond? And have you tried chironomids under a indicator yet?

[FrankB2]

The depth varies quite a bit, but the main section is 15-20 feet deep. Most
of the trout I've caught there in the past couple years have been in 3-8 feet
of water. I've used chronomids as droppers, by themselves, with indicators,
and on long leaders. It's just been a tough start for anyone not using those
maggot looking worms and powerbait.

The good news is the crappie and LMB fishing there has been fantastic!
This two species have become our target now, and the crappie are a blast:

That's an 8'6" rod with Ross Rhythm #2, and most of the crappie have been
that size.

We cast out further on occassion to hit last year's trout hot spots, but go
back to the sure thing pretty fast. We'll take the canoe out this weekend,
and see where those trout are.....

I should mention that grew up near that lake, and never liked the idea of
fishing for stocked trout. In fact, I made a point of staying away until the
corn and bobber crowd cleaned the stocked fish out (only took a few weeks
back then). Shooting fish in a barrel was never my bag, unless they're in a
stream .

[crittergetter]

Congrats on the Crappie... They eat better than trout also..

[swirlchaser]

Crappie are a blast to catch and the big ones fight pretty hard. I think they have a big fish stuck in a small body complex...

[Tracker12]

I fish a pond similar to yours. Guys kill them with power bait and it is very tuff to catch them on anything else. There is one guy that I noticed catching them on a fly. He uses a glo egg type pattern that is the color of brown dog food. He uses a float application to keep it on top. I have also watched him chum them up to the top using fish pond food.

[Bigfly]

I like taking the game to them. Care taking a local lake taught me most fishermen are one (or two) trick ponies. If they didn't catch'em on dries or under a bobber, they complained. One dryfly guy who used a clicker to count fish was the most vocal. One day I lined up a 300gr. line and in a rare in your face moment I caught 4 fine trout over 5 pounds in less than an hour. I still feel a little bad about it, but some guys are slow.........learners. Streamers baby! Big fish like big meals.
Just use a large enough rod for the job. Tell'em bigfly sent you.

[Bigfly]

Don't lower the bar on life, work it out. They're just fish, they evolve under pressure, you have to change it up and think like a fish. It works on panfish, bass, trout, steelies ect. Now I'm going fishing instead of ranting.

[Troutwhisperer]

Hey frankb2,

trout are easy to catch in ponds you describe, once you figure out what fly's they like. i fish one just like it because its the closest body of water i have and have caught some good ones, the ones the worm drowners havn't already caught or killed.

Just keep using small adam's and parachute adams. #16-20's work best for me. maybe if you have a belly or a pontoon boat troll a wolly bugger or streamer behind it. that seems to work good also.

[FrankB2]

Hey guys,
I had great success on this lake in 2007-2008, but this spring was tough.
Like I said, I threw everything in my arsenal at them. I fished the banks,
all the coves, canoed out into the center of the lake, etc. Wooly Buggers
were the stuff in the last couple years, but that proved worthless (unless
you count the 24" LMB I caught on April 7 !!!) That made
catching little stockers seem silly anyway..........

[FrankB2]

Originally Posted by Bigfly

Don't lower the bar on life, work it out. They're just fish, they evolve under pressure, you have to change it up and think like a fish. It works on panfish, bass, trout, steelies ect. Now I'm going fishing instead of ranting.

Why would you be "ranting"? You mentioned people that complain, but I'm not complaining. In fact, I was disappointed to hook into
one of the anemic stockers while fishing for crappie a month ago...LOL! I avoided that lake for years during stocked trout season, preferring
to fish for non-aquarium-raised species.