Butter Worm

[jayL]

LRSABecker wrote:
Osprey, Butterworms come from South America.

You're like the gary lafontaine of bait fishing.

 

[osprey]

OK I get it.......I think , the butterworm is like a wax worm or meal worm not really an aquatic insect? Or do you mean it is an aquatic just not a local? I'm pretty sure what we call Waterworms are Cranefly larva and the thing is they DO get as big as hellgramites and are kind of the same color , as hellgramites , a little lighter and a little drab green in there.

 

[SBecker]

jayL wrote:

LRSABecker wrote:
Osprey, Butterworms come from South America.

You're like the gary lafontaine of bait fishing.

HAha, when you spend so much on the little bastards you start investigating why they cost so much and see if you can get them cheaper. The actually come from Chile. I thought about trying to raise them myself, but I learned they spray them before shipping. This stops their ability to reproduce.


Osprey...They are grubs that live on land. They are not water insects.

 

[jayL]

You could always plant corn in the yard...

The butterworm broke onto the scene toward the end of my bait fishing days. I used them a few times, and they were absolutely killer.

 

[SBecker]

Nothing works as good as a butterworm for trout. Well everybody has their favorite bait, But I would annihilate fish with them so I say they are the best.

 

[jayL]

I always did best on single kernels of corn or small balls of bread (occasionally with a little vanilla extract) on a size 14 hook. No split shot when possible.

About half my time with the spinning rod back then was spent throwing niti-1 trout killers. These days, 100% of my one day/year with the UL spinning rod is spent throwing the killer because none of my fly tying hooks are "baitholder", and I'm too lazy to buy some.

 

[SBecker]

Yea, Luckily every year I would buy hooks before the first day only to find out that I had a bunch left from the year before. So, I have a nice collection of baithooks. I never used corn. I mean I would carry it, but just never seemed to need it. Same with bread. I would always carry it, but just could not pull myself away from spinning minnows or drifting butters. I would almost never use lures on stocked creeks. I would use them on the Lehigh alot more.

 

[jayL]

All of my bait 50+ fish days came on corn or the trout killer. If you still spin/bait fish a lot, give it a shot.

I have used the killer with great success on wild trout streams too, but I would much rather fly fish them. Also, I can't get the things to swim correctly when I replace the treble hook with a single. If I can figure that part out, I'm going to go franktroutangler on the spring creek trout and go for 100 in a day.

 

[SBecker]

I highly doubt I will bait fish much anymore. Sure the first couple days of the season I might, but after that I think I will be done. Can't believe I actually just said that.

 

[osprey]

Sandfly..........I kinda feel like I've been Jackaloped. Or was it a snipe hunt?

 

[sandfly]

Osprey the crane fly larva do get big on the larger crane flies. I have seen small sz.18 and lg. sz. 12 insects. The water worm I can't find my old pics will have to do some searching. They breath through what I think you mean is the mouth which actually is the butt. Living close to shore they are able to raise it up to the surface for air. I have most in slow moving water, You wonder why the olive bugger works so good???

here ya go !

 

[PatriotFly26]

Sandfly, in Upstate New York, I have yet to find a cream, or yellow cranefly. In my area they are all dark to light green, or brown. They are large, much large than most of the hellgremites. I wish I had a photo of one of ours I could post.

I'll have to find one, but with most of our streams are running with ice cold water by now, I don't know how much rock flipping I'll do for them any time soon.

 

[sandfly]

patriotfly26,
All depends on species and mineral content of water. They have results found that insects will have a different colorization sometimes as a result of the minerals in the water, IE; spring creek vs. free stone streams. I have seen in flies like the crane flies, and B.W.O.'s.
Are you seeing Hellgramites or Alder fly larva ??
hellgies are a lot larger than Alder fly's.
some streams have more of one species and less of the other. competition for food. They are very close in shape and form but hellgies are larger. One reason to know some entomology basics to be able to match the insects that the fish are feeding on.

 

[osprey]

SandFly.........I've seen what they call Crane Flies here that are 2" long in the larval stage and the adult stage , there is one on Clarks Creek that gets that big that drives those trout nuts , they follow them and try and jump and catch them , It's wild to watch.

 

[sandfly]

The giant crane fly size 12+. check out Jason's (troutnut.com) he has some good pics of them.

The water beetle pic I posted is as fat as your pinkie and 3-4" long. have it preserved in a bottle.

 

[osprey]

jayL........the niti1 was invented out west here in St. Michael Pa by Mr. Pcola who has passed on but his kids still make the lure , my uncle used to fish the niti1 on a fly rod and kill 'em on Yellow creek and some of the tribs. The small black one with the red stripe seems to be the one that works best , I don't use them anymore but when I did the smallmouth loved 'em too. Can I ask how you got into the niti1 out there in the east?

 

[SBecker]

Osprey, we have them out here in the LV area as well.

 

[jayL]

osprey wrote:
jayL........the niti1 was invented out west here in St. Michael Pa by Mr. Pcola who has passed on but his kids still make the lure , my uncle used to fish the niti1 on a fly rod and kill 'em on Yellow creek and some of the tribs. The small black one with the red stripe seems to be the one that works best , I don't use them anymore but when I did the smallmouth loved 'em too. Can I ask how you got into the niti1 out there in the east?

Mail order straight from the manufacturer. I probably still have a stack of order forms somewhere at my dad's house.

I think I first encountered the lure at the harrisburg outdoor show. I was skeptical, but bought a half dozen. My dad got me two dozen every christmas for the next 7-8 years (and of course managed to steal 10 of them over the year for his own use). I even sold one to a guy for $10 once after I used one to legally catch a large trout that he had snagged and lost a number of times that day. He was shocked that it ate the lure.

I had exactly one left this year, so I decided to head out on opening day and use it. I got snagged and lost it around 2pm, having caught 60+ trout with it that day. I was satisfied and went home. I might order one for next year.

To this day, 3 out of my 5 largest trout have come on that lure.

 

[sandfly]

Snaggers !

 

[jayL]

I always preferred michigan crickets for snagging pellet pigs. Too hard to snag them with the killer... they were too busy chasing it.