Imitators V.S. Attractors - And when to use them

Have you ever wondered what people are talking about when they call a fly and imitator or an attractor pattern? Well here is the answer, a imitator pattern does exactly what it sounds like it is a fly that imitates a real world insect they are usually neutral colors which most real flies are. an example of an imitator would be the egg sucking leech and it imitates just that a leech sucking on a trout or salmon egg. On the other end of the spectrum we have the attractor patterns and these are meant to be bright flashy and loud and not really imitating anything a good example of an attractor pattern would be the Alaskabou. So now that you know the difference between the two I'm sure your next question is when to use them? Well there are two answers to this question if your using a fly rod you are generally using only one fly at a time there for you have to use one or the other in this case you look at whats happening on the water if there is a hatch of mayflies for example i would use a mayfly imitator, if the water is slightly discolored or there is no hatch and no trout playing on the water i would try an attractor not only will it stand out more in discolored water but may also agitate resting fish that don't want this ugly thing coming around there turf so they will strike at it to scare it away. the second answer would be for people using a bobber and flies or plug and flies this setup is usually used on a spinning rod with a wooded bobber (or plug) at the end of the line with two dropper flies about a foot apart from each other and the bobber i will be posting this technique in a later post in more detail. if your using this kind of setup again look at the water first see if there is any hatches going on or if there are any trout playing on the water. if for example there is a big hatch of mayflies on the water i would put two imitators on, if there are trout playing but no sign of any hatches i will use one of each and if the pond or river is flat with no sign of trout anywhere i would try two attractors. my personal preference is to go 1 and 1 that way you have the best of both worlds. so there you have it Imitators V.S. attractors and when to use them, I hope you find this post helpful and keep checking back comments on this post or any other posts are more then welcome and are appreciated.

Trout Fishing - to move or not to move

This is a topic that all my searches for trout fishing information have never discussed. When is it time to move to a new spot or keep on fishing where you are. the easy answer is if your not hooking trout its time to move on. With that said how do you know if you fished a spot enough, here is my theory. once i have a spot that i want to fish i make 3 casts one at about 45 degrees to the left one straight out and one 45 degrees to the right. this gives you a quick run over your current location and pick up the easy hungry trout, usually the smaller guys then i double up 2 to the left 2 to the center and 2 to the right this entices the older more stubborn trout that will attack your lure or fly because it is being intrusive or bothersome these are generally the bigger trout. lastly i go over again 1 to the left, 1 center and 1 right. if i have not gotten a strike by the time all these casts are made i will move up the pond or river just far enough so that i am still covering water that i covered with my right or left casts from the spot before. If i am catching trout then obviously i will stick around till the trouting cools down.

The rainbow that never got away!

It was a lazy Monday afternoon in late July, i had just got off work and was waiting for my girlfriend Susan to get home. the past couple of days had been horrible fishing conditions the wind could not make up its mind and decide which way to blow. Some of my fishing know how could easily be passed off as superstitions or ramblings of a fisherman giving to much credit to the mind of A trout. but i firmly believe if you get 2+ days of the same direction wind, what ever pond you go to will produce trout, and like i said before this particular day was not a prime day as the winds would blow from the south in the morning then turn east by midday and die to flat calm by afternoon. but the conditions on this Monday were the best we had in about a week the wind was steady at about 30 km/hour from the north west all day and the forecast predicted it would stay that way till the next afternoon, the temp was roughly about 12-15 degrees and it was overcast. So with those tidbits of information i figured the best place to go would be Northeast pond in Portugal Cove, a short 15 min drive from my home in CBS, so off i went to gather my tools of the trade my chest waders, case of hooks, spinners and ever faithful flies and last but not least my Shimano rod and reel (which is in my picture that i use for my banner on top of the page). Just as i finished gearing up, Susan had pulled in the driveway perfect timing i thought, so as i exited the house Susan had left the car door open for me so with a quick hello and a kiss goodbye i was on my way. Thus far everything was going smoothly might not be a bad day after all. after about a 15 min drive and a 10 min walk i set my foot in the water of northeast, the conditions should have been perfect, but to my dismay there were no trout playing on the water which was not a good sign, seeing how it was July and the weeds and lilly pads had started to fill the pond my choices of tackle were limited to bobber and flies. Unless of course i wanted to lose about 25$ in spinners to the dreadful weeds. so flies it is, with a quick scan through my box i discovered that i only had two flies one which is my own creation that i call the "Bitch" and a size 6 muddler which was way to big for my liking and why it was still in the box unused. With flies on and ready to go off i went for a lap around the pond, north up the pond shore towards billy's rock. Cast after cast and no rises I was starting to lose hope on catching anything as the trout were just not feeding so as a last ditch effort i headed to the back of the pond where there is a river that runs in one of the many hot spots and also an exit path back to the car if the fishing didn't improve. Once i got to the river i had 2 casts with nothing even looking at my presentation, then on the third cast just as my bobber hit the water a silver rocket shot up and grabbed my fly right away i knew it was a rainbow as his mirror like finish flashed as he leaped about a foot out of the water after about three more spectacular jumps he had tired him self out and the battle had been won i landed him on shore and dispatched him as quickly as possible. The funny thing with northeast pond if the browns are feeding the rainbows are not and when everything seems useless there is a good chance to catch a rainbow. he weighed in at about 1 and a half pounds and with all the excitement of landing him on my last cast for the day extended my fishing trip for another hour but unfortunately he was the only one i caught that day. so after 4 hours of fishing and only one trout I'd have to say that it was time well spent.

First memory of troutin'

I will be the first one to say i have a horrible memory for names, but the first memory i have of trout fishing is as clear as if it happened yesterday. I don't remember the year but i do remember both me and my sister were not old enough to stay at home alone. I want to believe it was a Sunday so i will lie and say it was definitely a Sunday, I somehow must have overheard mom and dad planing a fishing trip for the day but to my surprise I was not included in the trip. Instead of going fishing with my parents both me and my sister were going to my grandparents for the day. So of course like any kid that wanted to go somewhere that they had no chance of going, i screamed bloody murder and tried every trick in the book to convince them other wise, but to no avail. So about an hour later both myself and my sister arrive at my pop's house, this was my last chance so i yelled, screamed and cried. while this did not get me included in the days fishing trip it did convince my father to set up a fishing rod for me, it was a Shakespeare combo with closed face reel, as for the hook it was a red devil spinner with the treble hook removed for my safety. Dad took me on the back of pop's where there is a small stream, at the time it seemed huge and would definitely hold a lot of fish for me to catch(when i go there now and look at the river it seems so small about 1 and a half feet across and maybe 3 inches deep). but none the less i was fishing and at last content for the day, i stayed out by the river all day casting a hook less spinner to trout that were never there but that day is one i hope i never forget.

What to say

well the time has come, i have bored my friends and family to the brink of insanity about trout fishing trips, new flies that i have tied, new places that i have fished and of coarse that one elusive monster that always seems to get away. So now i am going to share my trout fishing experiences with anyone who has the time to read them, some are old stories from my childhood and some will be as recent as my latest excursion. But i hope all will leave you with a glimpse of what trout fishing means to me.