Interesting or unusual fishing tactics

[tcorfey]

This weekend I was staying in a hotel in CT. The hotel happened to be right on a trout stream. I did not have any equipment with me but, I spent each morning on the hill overlooking the stream, sipping my coffee and watching for signs of life. On Sunday morning I spied a gentlemen coming through the woods on his way to fish the stream, so I thought to my self hmm, cool winters morning around 10am this guy must know something. So I watched and realized he had a spinning rod, well ok, then I noticed he put on a quarter size gob of bright green powerbait on his hook, then I got a little skeptical, He sits down at the top of the run and casts downstream, then sets his rod on a rock. Next thing I know he picks up a baseball sized rock and throws it into the stream towards his bait gob thing. WOW now I have seen everything! But wait, he sits there for a minute then he stands up and reels in and casts right where the rock landed. At which point I walked away and a few minutes later I saw him walking back in to the woods.

First time I ever saw someone fishing that way!

Regards,

Tim C.

 

[kevind62]

That wasn't fishing you witnessed. It was a scene being shot for a new Bond movie. The "gob" was an underwater microphone. After the guy left you should have went down and retrieved the rock. It had a top secret message taped to it. :secret: :shades:opcorn::lol2:

 

[philly]

I've done some weird things fishing before I took up fly fishing. This happen just when I started fly fishing. My sister has a place in south central Vermont. I took my nephew out to fish a stream that runs into a local lake. We sitting on a huge rock that overhangs the stream and drowning night crawlers, not having much luck. A couple rock bass, a smallmouth and a rainbow. A car driven by locals pulled up and asked how we were doing. Told him not great. Asked what we were using. Said night crawlers. Told me you need to use marshmallows. I figured he was pulling my leg, but after the guy left my nephew kept bugging me to get some marshmallows. So we drove to the general store in Plymouth Union and brought a bag of miniature marshmallows. Went back to the rock, I threaded a couple on his hook and he tossed the line into the water. Before I had a chance to thread a couple on my hook he had a fish on. A 14-15 inch rainbow. In the next half hour we landed 5 more including an 18 inch fish that made his day and lost as many. That was enough fish for dinner. As we left I tossed the remaining marshmallows into the stream and watched trout rise to them as they floated downstream. Since I was just beginning to fly fish and the concept of matching the hatch to catch fish had been pounded into me. I spent the drive back to the house pondering how one matches the marshmallow hatch.

 

[sparsegraystubble]

Fishing the Metolius River in Oregon during the summer when the campgrounds are often filled with kids it is not uncommon to have people feeding the fish with bread or popcorn.

I knew several fly guys who admitted tying a popcorn fly after seeing big trout and hatchery stockers both rising to popcorn.

I can tell you it is really frustrating to have fish stop rising to falling spinners because their attention has been diverted to popcorn thrown from the bridge.

Don

 

[rsagebrush]

I like to hook myself in the head to put the fish at ease and then I go slay them.

Concerning the rock thing though, that has been proposed in the past as rocking the fish to wake up the big ones. I never gave it much credence but I suppose there are some acolytes the the method.

 

[Ard]

I'm not going to play cop here but throwing rocks into the water while you are fishing is (I'm pretty sure) not legal in any state I ever fished for trout, steelhead or salmon in. Various F&G agencies call it different things from harassing wildlife to molesting fish. Jim Teeny made a video of him doing it back in the early 90's and when I saw his entire technique I thought he was lining fish and using the stone throwing to move them to a better place to do it. By the time I made that observation (purely my own) I had already quit lining fish but not before I had became very good at it. My own ability was what I based my opinion of the video on.

So, I said all that (some unneeded maybe) to let the new guys know that if a Fish Officer were to see you tossing rocks and then fishing the same area they can write you up. Over the years I've seen people so desperate to catch fish they'll do anything it seems.

 

[corn fed fins]

He wasn't fishing, he was conditioning. Before long every fish will run for cover when they see or smell power bait. LOL

 

[fr8dog]

I was on Ascension Island a couple times and had a few free hours to play. Steep beach, waves break in close so it's easy to throw over them. The place has a ring of small, voracious triggers everywhere. Little guys will destroy a fly and attack the line/leader knot. I could see some larger shapes darting around underneath them but couldn't get anything to sink fast enough to avoid the water rats.

I found that if I threw out far enough and stripped quickly the things would chase a skipping fly across the surface without grabbing it. (I'm talking hundreds of these things) I would get the ball of fish into the breaking wave, then make a quick cast back out to where the bigger fish were and I could let a clouser sink. The triggers were getting tumbled around in the surf and I could play with jacks before they were able to get back.

 

[plecain]

My father told me that during WWII in France, they'd just toss a hand grenade in a brook and gather up the fish downstream.
Sort of high-powered electroshock.

 

[Ard]

Seriously though, I think the way I have been fishing streamers since 1994 may qualify. I'd leave it up to you to decide if the technique or tactic is innteresting but I've not ran across anyone else who does it the same way.

I'd have to call these linked threads articles because they are somewhat in depth but they describe how I fish.

Getting It Down, Sinking The Fly;

Fishing / Controlling The Submerged Fly;

More About Knowing What The Fly Is Doing;

The tactics described are not just big water techniques, I fish the same waay regardless of mountain brook or wide rivers, it's all the same. I hope the addition of those pieces isn't too blatant, I have no need to self promote, rather a case of I wrote all of that in an effort to help others understand streamer fishing a little better. Mileage can vary with individual applications but I've stayed the course for 23 seasons with pretty good results. I'd be happy to hear your thoughts and you're welcome to post to any of those threads to voice them

 

[silver creek]

My father told me that during WWII in France, they'd just toss a hand grenade in a brook and gather up the fish downstream.
Sort of high-powered electroshock.

Or an RPG in Pakistan

 

[rc51sport]

Caught a few fish back in Florida when either a large bird or a boat would come by and spook the fish. Figured it was some type of panic reaction.

-Dan

 

[corn fed fins]

Or an RPG in Pakistan

Never used hand grenades or a RPG but an M-1000 will kick up a some bottom. lol

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[myt1]

This weekend I was staying in a hotel in CT. The hotel happened to be right on a trout stream. I did not have any equipment with me but, I spent each morning on the hill overlooking the stream, sipping my coffee and watching for signs of life. On Sunday morning I spied a gentlemen coming through the woods on his way to fish the stream, so I thought to my self hmm, cool winters morning around 10am this guy must know something. So I watched and realized he had a spinning rod, well ok, then I noticed he put on a quarter size gob of bright green powerbait on his hook, then I got a little skeptical, He sits down at the top of the run and casts downstream, then sets his rod on a rock. Next thing I know he picks up a baseball sized rock and throws it into the stream towards his bait gob thing. WOW now I have seen everything! But wait, he sits there for a minute then he stands up and reels in and casts right where the rock landed. At which point I walked away and a few minutes later I saw him walking back in to the woods.

First time I ever saw someone fishing that way!

Regards,

Tim C.

Forgive me if someone already mentioned this.

Gary LaFontaine, the famous fly fishing author, mentions the rock throwing technique in one of his classic books...I forget which one. It is supposed to wake up the fish and get them active.

 

[fr8dog]

Forgive me if someone already mentioned this.

Gary LaFontaine, the famous fly fishing author, mentions the rock throwing technique in one of his classic books...I forget which one. It is supposed to wake up the fish and get them active.

I was working a rip-rap bank on a local lake with a bike path/walking trail earlier this year. I was in my boat and some folks used the rock throw technique near me. (scare the sea kittens from the evil killer) I scooted over to the other side of the cove and popped a half dozen catfish on a bugger. I did release them. Coated with cornmeal into my fryer.

 

[swinginglass]

Around here I always hear about this fat guy who tries to catch trout in the trees...I've never seen him but it seams like he's always fishing the same areas at the same times I fish....


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[yikes]

 

[pnc]

Break from trout for a moment then back to.
Worked at beaches during summer and boat basin during winter, when I was a kid.
During the winter , there was an old gentleman. That would win the pool for biggest fish on whatever charter boat he went on. He would fish for fluke and go on boats doing so. Asked him one morning while he was gettting coffee, why ? Told me big bait, and put hand on six pack size cooler. I laughed (most coolers were carried on boats by two people) , said big bait ? He opened cooler and pulled out a 4lb beef liver. Said only need one piece. Told me little ones pecking makes for chum slick on bottem. And big fish would come to eat.
During summer , again an older gentleman. Would ask for hot dogs that had fallen into the grease pit at concession. These he would daisey chain on line then tie on balloon six feet up. When the wind was right. He let it blow the balloon out. Lock in reel. And within 15mins had blue shark on. Sold them to dinner in town.
Back to trout..... friend & neighbor, fishing bud. Had a lab that he took with him on annual fishing trips with buddies from Viet Nam. At days end when everyone was back in camp. Cleaning & cooking fish. Dog would take off, come back in 20 mins. And drop a bigger fish at his feet than was caught that day ! His buddies swear it happened 4 yrs in a row. Dogs gone now.

......... pc

 

[weiliwen]

Jim Teeny is famous, or infamous, for his video in which he sucks a rock across the stream to get a steelhead to move to a better position for Jim to cast to.

 

[Ard]

Jim Teeny is famous, or infamous, for his video in which he sucks a rock across the stream to get a steelhead to move to a better position for Jim to cast to.

That's the one I was referring to; when I first saw it the tactic just seemed unconventional. After more experience lining fish myself I realized what I had seen. I didn't stay the course with the lining technique for long. I catght a lot of fish that way, sometimes to the extent that people approached me and ask what I was using. When you are good not even an experienced F&G officer can identify what you are doing. Throughout that time I had an underlying feeling of guilt surrounding my 'catches'. I'd go as far to say that 90% of my fish were hooked in the mouth or just on the outside of the jaw but I knew what I was doing. I was the man. The guy who was catching fish when things were slow but what I was doing was not any different than being good at a Carnival game and I knew that. I can't say positively that anyone I ever saw in videos used the 'long leader and sight fishing trick', although sometimes what they were doing looked quite familiar to me