Anything different about catching a golden trout?

[bigslackwater]

Went out for little fishing this morning and caught a brookie and brown right away on a green weenie. Then I saw a golden trout. He wouldn't take the weenie, then I saw him rise to something so I threw on a royal wulff. He woudn't take either and I presented these flies to him a bunch of times! The fish did not seem spooked at all and very active, but just ignored my flies... This happens to me quite often but I'm wondering if there are any flies that a golden trout finds irresistible, or are they no different, they're just golden?

 

[WildTigerTrout]

If you presented the fly properly and he got a good look at it and did'nt take it, then change flies. Don't waste your time presenting the same fly over and over. I caught a nice golden rainbow last july that had been in the water for awhile and that's the tactic I used on him. I got him to take my offering after changing flies about a half dozen times. IMO they are no different than any other stocked rainbow trout with one exception, they get ALOT more pressure because they are so easy to see. Chances are that fish had everything you could think of thrown at him.

 

[dryflyguy]

Golden trout seem very reluctant to rise in my experience.
That said, I have caught at least 1 or 2 of them per season the last couple years. And when they do want to rise, they take the flies that I normally use for all other trout.
Usually though, when I spot one, it seems to have lockjaw - for dry flys anyway - and I quickly move on to other fish

 

[bigslackwater]

thanks! I've never caught one so I plan to go back and try again.

 

[MKern]

Egg patterns.

Although, most of mine I have caught on dries.

 

[pcray1231]

I'll second the egg patterns notion. Rainbows, and especially stocky rainbows in general love eggs, but goldens especially so in my experiences.

Also, this is probably true of regular bows too, but it's so easy to see with goldens. When you cast, if they start acting all crazy like, you're eventually going to catch that fish. They may chase, then turn around, move, ignore the next cast, then chase again, like they have ADHD or something. That's an active fish. If he starts to ignore it after 4 or 5 casts, change colors on him, and he'll usually get active again. Keep at him.

If instead he's sullen looking, and every movement looks slow, deliberate, and leisurely, then the fish is gonna be real tough. So, if he completely ignores your offering like it doesn't exist, or leisurely moves out the way to let it pass, or is simply sitting tight and won't move for anything. Come get him some other day.

 

[beeber2]

Streamers. I fished for one in the little lehigh. Wouldn't take a dry or a nymph. First cast with a with a streamer was slam bam thank you mam.

 

[caveman]

I was gonna say a streamer also. I caught one once that was stocked in a pond and had everything thrown at it also. some even by me, but when I tied on a clouser minnow he slammed it.

 

[WildTigerTrout]

I have hooked four and caught three different Golden Rainbows. The first I caught on a black/red goldbead Wooly Bugger. The second I caught on a Copper John nymph and the last one took a San Juan worm. The Golden I lost took a Copper John also. I can understand why someone who has not caught one would try to get one. I did the same thing. Now I use them more for locator fish. Good luck to you fellas that are after your first.

 

[Chaz]

It's been a while since I've caught a golden rainbow, but I know I've caught one on a Pearl Jam, one on a rusty spinner and a couple of then on a green and red bunny. They seen to nymph a lot. So mush so that I watched one all summer one year, and every time I saw it, it was feeding sub-surface.

 

[Pittflyguy]

I truly don't think the golden's behave any differently than bow's. To WTT's point, I think he is spot on. Those poor fish get the crap hammered out of them because you can see them through murky water from a quarter mile away. Every angler.... fly or other throws at them so they see a ton of hardware and become pretty wary pretty quick.... IMHO

 

[pcray1231]

Agreed, to Chaz's point, yes, you typically see them feeding subsurface a lot. But that kind of reinforces the point. Most fish feed subsurface a lot, they're just not so easy to see when they do it. And that's especially true of bigger fish, and most goldens are stocked pretty big.

 

[stevehalupka]

Golden's love the color yellow and flies that are non-traditional.

swing yellow buggers right in front of their face; irresistible.