Fellers, I needs me some hep

[adblouky]

Local dialect aside, this is what I’m talking about. Here in Louisville, as the weather turns colder the local lakes are stocked with trout. I’ve gone to one lake about a week after stocking. I can see the trout surfacing and attacking something. I cannot catch one to save my soul. I’ve tried woolies, mudlers, zonkers, clousers, even a little red puffy thing on a strike indicator. Nothing. I’ve had some half-hearted strikes at the wooly and the puffy thing, but I’ve not been able to land anything. Any words of advice?

 

[flyminded]

Could be taking midges, either in the film or on top ....depending on rise pattern.

 

[weiliwen]

Try a midge larva, emerger, or smallish soft hackle, all just under the surface.

 

[kentuckysteve]

Try rs2's or zebra midges in size 20/22.They are working in Wolfe Creek and the Cumberland right now.That is where your stocked trout came from.Also try the black gnat patterns.

 

[sparsegraystubble]

I think these guys are right on the mark. Often when trout are feeding on something just under the surface, the momentum of the take cause them to break the water's surface on the follow through.

Fly guys often interpret that as surface strikes, but a small fly fished just under the surface and very slowly will do the trick. I have also been fooled by similar splashes when fish are feeding on migrating damsel fly nymphs just under the surface, but that is unlikely this time of year.

A small (14 or 16) unweighted leech can also work in these situations. Or something like a Klinkhammer Special that sits on the surface, but has the abdomen submerged.

And if there are weed beds right under the feeding fish, they could also be taking scuds. But the best bet would be midges or soft hackled wets just under the surface.

Don

 

[adblouky]

Thanks everybody. I see a quick trip to the Quest Fly Shop in my future.

 

[adblouky]

There are no stupid questions, only dumb askers, but anyway...

Are there any role for poppers, boogle bugs and such in fishing for trout?

 

[kentuckysteve]

I have heard of trout hitting poppers but have never fished them for trout.If they will hit cicadas,hoppers,chernobyl ants and mice i would think they would love poppers.
They would probably work great at night because of the noise to attract the fish.

The guys spin fishing in Wolfe Creek are using small rooster tails.The stocked trout love them.Last year i got a couple small baitfish flies from Jerry (Hairwing) and they are similar to the rooster tails without the spinner blade.The trout in my local lake love them.I don't have a photo of the flies but they look close to this one i found on google.

 

[mjkirshner]

So what happened?

 

[346xp]

sounds like you need to toss a set of nymphs under that indicator.
use 6x tippet, a couple chromatids and maybe a flash back PY or something under them.
Use small flies 16 PT and 20 for he top two.
Be very delicate with your casts and try to not splash the area.

 

[mudduck]

Ive been using a size 12 simulator with a size 18 beadhead red zebra midge dropped 6 inches or so and an AP nymph about three feet under. When that water activity starts near me I cast to it and they seem to favor the AP as its sinking. If its sat out there for a while, they will take the midge.

 

[kevind62]

If you can see fish top feeding but can't find anything they will hit I'd suggest switching to a cast net.

Just kidding! (Just want to see if corn fed fins will pipe in. It's always fun to see him faint.) ound:

Local dialect aside, this is what I’m talking about. Here in Louisville, as the weather turns colder the local lakes are stocked with trout. I’ve gone to one lake about a week after stocking. I can see the trout surfacing and attacking something. I cannot catch one to save my soul. I’ve tried woolies, mudlers, zonkers, clousers, even a little red puffy thing on a strike indicator. Nothing. I’ve had some half-hearted strikes at the wooly and the puffy thing, but I’ve not been able to land anything. Any words of advice?

 

[Lewis Chessman]

Can I ask, what kind of fly line are you using, i.e. Floating, Intermediate, Slow Sink, Sink Tip, etc.?

If you are seeing fish movements on the surface then I'd use a floating line and two or three flies - a dry fly at the top and nymphs below. Cast and leave or twitch sporadically to give the bob fly (top dropper) a little 'kick' to give it life - the nymphs, of course, will follow suit out of view.
Remember, none of these imitated insects move fast through the water so you can afford to cast and wait a minute as the nymphs sink and search deeper water. Then tickle in a few feet - this will draw the nymphs up towards the surface - and let them sink awhile again.
If there's a hatch on and a bit of wind try a large, single dry fly with floatant and strip it back across the waves with a bit of speed to make a small wake. In this case pattern isn't as important as silhouette , disturbance and speed of retrieve as you are appealing to a trout's attack instinct rather than seducing a selectively feeding, even fixated fish.

If you want to identify the 'flies of the day' walk to the windward shore and look amongst the rocks at the water's edge. If there's a good hatch on you may see hundreds of spent or drowned insects - look closely and pick a fly from your box to 'match the hatch'.

Gently lift a few stones from the edge and look underneath for any nymphs or crustaceans. This can help give an idea of likely trout food when you can't see insects on the surface. I'll always do this when fishing new water.
Hope there's something useful for you there.

 

[bumble54]

This situation crops up occasionally, three such I recall, On one occasion no one could figure it out, after a lot of pattern swapping, success, it was a minute brown fly lying spent in the surface film, on or under the surface failed, it had to be tiny and in the surface film.
On the second occasion it turned out to be snails, for some reason there were large numbers of small snails floating foot up under the surface. I didn't figure that one, it was a fellow angler that hit on the answer.
The third infuriating case turned out to be Corixa nymphs, they don't need to take air from the surface as adult Corixa do, why they were there in such numbers I never understood but 12 trout in 2 hours on an imitation kinda proved the case.
Strange how trout can be so picky sometimes.