You're Not Using a Sculpin That is Too Big.

[Dave_W]

I love sculpins and am often on the lookout for them. Was poking around today and got this beast.

While I tend to like my sculpin flies on the smaller side, this dude was 4.75" and his head was greater than an inch across. :-o

 

[kobalt335]

Love fishing sculpin flies. Unfortunately I don't catch many fish,, but they are quality.

 

[riverwhy]

That is really a neat fish. Where did you catch him? I would guess a dark colored wooly bugger would be a fair representation. If so I have caught a ton on sculpins!

 

[jifigz]

One of my favorite brown trout streams has a lot of sculpins......and a lot of big wild browns. I fish lots of big streamers in that stream for that reason and it often pays off. I'm not scared there to throw a 2/0 4xl hook streamer that I tie. It measures about 5" long, has one hook, and definitely gets eaten even by 10" trout. Don't underestimate what small fish will take a crack at.

 

[Mwheaps32]

Dave that is a dandy. He wouldn't stand a chance around a hungry smallie

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Yup

 

[Dave_W]

riverwhy wrote:
That is really a neat fish. Where did you catch him?

Came from a rocky riffle in Falling Springs.

 

[Dave_W]

Mwheaps32 wrote:
Dave that is a dandy. He wouldn't stand a chance around a hungry smallie

No doubt. Any freshwater game fish would eat sculpins although I don't think they provide a major food source for SMBs around here. Sculpins are certainly in the rivers and WW creeks but I think crayfish and other small fishes probably provide a much larger percentage of diet for SMBs than sculpins.

For trout in the Cumberland Valley, however, sculpins are extremely abundant and provide a major food source. I think they just flourish in the colder, more alkaline waters as I see far more of them (sculpins) in limestone streams. My seining and rock rolling efforts on bass waters rarely produce any sculpins, although the amount of other macros and forage fishes is very dense.

I was just taken aback by the great size of this fellow.

Some things to note for the fly tier: the fish is very dark, almost black. This is common in larger, mature sculpins - they are usually much darker than the brownish/olive/banded appearance typical of average size sculpins. Also, note the orange edged dorsal fin - this is another characteristic common in large sculpins. I sometimes tie in a dash of orange overwing on my sculpin patterns to imitate this.

 

[gulfgreyhound]

Question: I read somewhere that they are fished as live bait with the hook from rear end to the mouth? If that makes sense? GG

 

[Dave_W]

gulfgreyhound wrote:
Question: I read somewhere that they are fished as live bait with the hook from rear end to the mouth? If that makes sense? GG

I've not heard that.

However, old-time minnie fishermen often "threaded" dead minnows as trout bait and I suppose sculpins fished that way - dead drift - would be effective for trout. There are species of saltwater sculpins and perhaps some folks fish 'em this way for reef fishes(?).

Thinking more broadley about sculpins as bait....
There are stories and rumors - more prevalent a generation ago - of PA spin/bait fishing sharpies using live sculpins for trout, mainly at nightime. These sculpins would be lip hooked like any other live minnow. In my years of trout fishing in PA, I have never seen a bait angler fishing sculpins (at least none that I can recall). To be sure, I think there are fewer serious bait anglers targeting trout than a generation ago, but it still seems a bit surpring to me.

By contrast, there are still a good number of river bass fishermen who fish with stonecats and go to great lengths to catch them. Compared to stonecats, sculpins are numerous and much easier to catch. Nevertheless, PA trout anglers don't seem to widely regard sculpins as baitfish.

Whatever the case, I think sculpins (and stonecats) are fascinating critters and I love tying flies to imitate them.

 

[Chaz]

I love using Sculpins, especially where I know where there are large brookies.

 

[LetortAngler]

About the only common wild fish to be found in the upper meadows as of late.