Big Trout, Dry Flies vs Nymphs/Streamers

[drumat26]

That sounds like a great time. But I have an obligation at the DCAC tomorrow for the youth trout rodeo. Can I attend for just Saturday night or even just Sunday morning. I don't know how burnt ill be after the rodeo Saturday.

 

[albatross]

I'll echo what DryFlyGuy said. Fish water where big fish are more frequent. I've caught trout over 20 inches with dry flies on the Delaware and the Yough.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

IMO you question is watershed specific and species specific. I've caught big trout all over the state, including streams less than 5 foot wide.

1) Fish streams that are known to have large trout.

2) streams like the letort, while you can catch a big fish on top, you are better served fishing sub surface.

3) streams like the Lackawanna,penns, etc..., while you can catch a big fish subsurface, you are better served fishing dries during a hatch.
Big river trout will rise during a hatch.

4) fish marginal,in transitional areas, with big stuff during mild season changes ie (winter into spring summer into fall). Big fish migrate around in these waters but be prepared for days with no trout too.

5) study the area very hard. Learn your watershed. It pays big dividends.

6) fish for large browns at night.


All that said I prefer large, articulated streamers for big trout. Unless I see them rise

 

[wbranch]

I fish dry flies 90% of the time and have been fortunate to have been able to fish great trout water in Montana and New York for over fifty years.

While I guess if is possible to catch a stocked trout of 20" - 22" it is going to be far more likely to catch a really big trout on waters where there are no stocked trout and only wild fish. You want to fish rivers with very good insect populations and good water flow and temperature.

I only have marginal experience with PA streams and rivers but extensive experience with the main stem Delaware, EB & WB Delaware and the Beaverkill. The main stem Delaware and the WB are, as far as I know, 100% wild fish. The EB has a mix of stocked and wild fish and I'm quite sure the holdover fish breed with the wild fish.

While the Beaverkill does not support a lot of wild trout it is heavily stocked and many fish in the No Kill sections hold over and grow to large sizes.

I saw a post from a gentleman talking about the Clarion having big fish. I've read that numerous times so if that river is closer to you than the Delaware then that is a river you should start to fish and learn as much about it as you can.

Big fish don't get big by being stupid and unless you are fortunate enough to fish for the pellet fed hogs on Spruce Creek where it is quite easy to catch a big trout on a dry fly you are going to have to work to get your big dry fly fish.

Not fishing the big hatches is not the way to catch big fish on top. You need to get out there for those blanket sulfur emergences, the Green Drake, the Brown Drake, the Iso's, big flies that will entice big fish to surface feed.

Both of those browns are dry fly fish. The first on a #14 Invaria on the Delaware and the bigger of the two on a #18 CDC caddis in Montana.

 

[dryflyguy]

wbranch -

I'm the guy who mentioned the clarion river - and I've been fishing it for 30+ years. I have caught my share of big fish there.
However, it is nowhere near the bug factory that the delaware river is - thus making dry fly fishing there quite dicey and challenging.
I think you might have misunderstood my post.

 

[wbranch]

I think you might have misunderstood my post.

I guess so. I have never fished it and just assumed, obviously incorrectly, that it was on a par with the Delaware. Thanks for setting me on the right track. The Delaware system is still a good place for big trout on dry flies but it has become so freaking crowded in the last eight years that it is now difficult to consistently find big, unpressured, wild trout.

 

[bigslackwater]

In my opinion, if you want to catch big trout, do it all. These days I am constantly switching it up between dries, nymphs, swinging soft hackles, big streamers, little streamers etc... Try it all. You may have to spend a lot more time and effort rigging your line but it's worth it. It's easy to get lazy and decide to stick with something that isn't working, then chalk it up as a day the fish just weren't hitting. Keep changing it up until you find the hot ticket. To be honest my three largest trout that I have landed were on a sz. 14 green weenie under an indicator.

 

[henrydavid]

Interesting topic, I assumed the responses would be more toward dries than sub-surface. I've caught my biggest trout in the evening hours during hatches when the bigger trout become preoccupied sipping the insects.

However this weekend I landed my largest trout of the season, a 20 inch brown, on a dry fly around 2pm in the afternoon. I covered a couple miles of river and found him rising adjacent to a big boulder. So along with the advice already given "big rivers that hold big trout" I would also add: try to find those out of the way spots, you never know what might be lurking there.

 

[greenghost]

After 35 years of doing this I've found that outside of special circumstances -- like a large mayfly hatch (Green Drake) -- big fish are most consistently taken on nymphs and streamers. No contest.

 

[JeffK]

One dry fly that can bring up the largest fish most anywhere - a big mouse pattern fished at night. Not classic, but even big fish outside the bug factories will nail them. All sorts of bass and panfish poppers and bugs will suffice as well in the dark. I think it is the commotion more than the pattern that attracts big fish. It is pretty exciting to see (or maybe hear) a giant trout slam your bug in the dark. Don't go below 2X or 3X when fishing these and don't forget the shallows where the bigger trout hunt at night.

 

[fishngun]

If you're fishing mice patterns at night, I honestly wouldn't step below 0x tippet. I'd fish them with a bass bug type leader. It'll turn the fly over better and you'll have much more confidence when you're rod starts bending further into the butt than you may be used to.
If you're fishing at night, it can't be stated enough to know your water fairly well beforehand. It's quite easy to get jammed up on the water in the dark and most likely there won't be anyone around to help. That can make for scary situation or worse. Plan to fish slower and be more methodical and cautious when you wade. Let your eyes get accustomed to no light and once they are, do everything you can to not turn on a light. If you must use a red or green lens.

 

[JeffK]

I agree about the knowing your area for night fishing. I try to go to spots where I don't have to wade at all or can be in ankle deep water for casting sake. Fortunately, big fish come shallow and close to shore at night so you can find spots where wading can be minimized.

Hint: When wading shallows in the day and you see some shallows with tons of minnows in them, try them at night. Same goes for smallie rivers. Maybe a pencil popper is called for, but mice and bugs work as well.

 

[barbless]

17 year madness

 

[salmonoid]

fishngun wrote:
If you're fishing mice patterns at night, I honestly wouldn't step below 0x tippet. I'd fish them with a bass bug type leader. It'll turn the fly over better and you'll have much more confidence when you're rod starts bending further into the butt than you may be used to.
If you're fishing at night, it can't be stated enough to know your water fairly well beforehand. It's quite easy to get jammed up on the water in the dark and most likely there won't be anyone around to help. That can make for scary situation or worse. Plan to fish slower and be more methodical and cautious when you wade. Let your eyes get accustomed to no light and once they are, do everything you can to not turn on a light. If you must use a red or green lens.

I use 0x, 1x or 2x - mostly depends on what I forgot to throw in the chest pack for the night and how whittled down my leader is. I think in certain regions of the world, fish do key on mice, like they key on bugs here during certain hatches. But I believe in PA, it is the mere suggestion that something larger is alive on the water that makes a fish take the offering at night. I started out night fishing with the biggest fly I had on me, which was a #10 hopper and fished that my first few outings. Then I remembered I had tied up during a class a deer hair mouse that I never used and that became my night time fly, until it was sacrificed to the tree gods. I've used other mice patterns since, as well as Gurglers, and hoppers; they all catch fish and I think I actually do better with smaller hoppers and gurglers, hookup ratio wise. But I believe that is because it is often smaller fish striking. My largest fish at night have all come on mice, including one bruiser who had a mouth large enough for me to put my fist in; he engulfed the mouse and it was embedded firmly inside his mouth.

That being said, the key to any night fly is that it moves water. You want a surface fly that makes a nice big visible wake and hopefully sends some sound waves through the water. Or you want something that is subsurface and that displaces water and creates sound. Trout have good night vision but they are initially going to key in on your offering by sensing vibration through their ears and lateral lines, and then potentially hone in for the kill once they get close based on the visual aspect of whatever you are throwing. I'm partial to surface night flies, so my numbers are stacked in that direction but you can do just as well if not better subsurface.

My largest fish during the day have all come subsurface - nymphs and streamers. But I generally don't fish famous hatches on famous streams, so there's probably a bias in the way I fish that determines which method generates more fish.

 

[fishngun]

If I'm fishing at night, generally speaking, my leader basically consists of a length of 25, 20, 15 and is max about 4-6 feet long. I don't mess around with anything lighter.

 

[maffetaj]

Big fish =big meals imo

 

[3wt7X]

I've been lucky enough to catch big brown over 20 inches on all three methods. I greatly think that it is fishery based i.e. famous big bug streams like the Delaware bring big fish to the top. Limestone Browns can be a mix of sculpin eaters, or you can get them on random days when they are out plowing into the weed beds and sucking up cress and sow bugs (pretty awsome site to witness.)

An interesting observation though on my last big brown (20+ incher from Penns) from very marginal water miles below the special regs area. I would assume that the fish was primarily a piscavour (fish/crayfish eater) for the vast majority of the year. I was fishing that stretch on the backside of the green drake hatch, as it was several days upstream, and I caught about 8 suckers out of the run that I was fishing on smaller nymphs Size 14/16 green weenies, prince nymphs and pheasant tails. I switched over to a green drake nymph and the second cast I hook that large brown, which I initially thought was another sucker. Thinking about it afterwards, I wonder if that fish, being primarily a fish eater, was keyed in on the large green drake nymphs for the short period that they are available. It could have been luck that he ate at that point, but I literally had to run my other nymphs by him over a dozen times given the location. Any thoughts???

 

[Smokeypro]

Big fish eat well presented options...

 

[Hook_Jaw]

No doubt catch the biggest trout on big streamers when the water is coming up and off color.

 

[Coughlin]

"Big fish can be taken on dries, but it requires special situations. Namely a large hatch, or more often spinner fall."(pcray)

...and then there's luck. Managed a 20" rainbow in the middle of the day from an undercut bank on a #16 Royal Wulff. Must have landed that fly right on his nose!