Fallfishing

Fish Sticks said:
Its a fish that can give you an entire fishery all to your self to enjoy that jumps, fights very hard, attains large size, and eats dries, wets, nymphs and streamers. Just have to forget the socially learned behavior of somehow ignoring all those fun aspects because their not trout. Give me hard fighting fall fish over dead rubber brick of a hatchery trout all day.
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Well said!
 
A fish is a fish. Sometimes they are more selective than trout or are visually impaired.... not sure.

Initial fight is good but burn out quickly. Found best fight right around 60 degree water temperature.

On slow day, I'll fish to them but am disappointed usually when I hook one. They do hit a streamer pretty hard though.
 
krayfish2 said:
A fish is a fish. Sometimes they are more selective than trout or are visually impaired.... not sure.

Initial fight is good but burn out quickly. Found best fight right around 60 degree water temperature.

On slow day, I'll fish to them but am disappointed usually when I hook one. They do hit a streamer pretty hard though.
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I don't think their eyesight is very good.
 
I've said in the past on here that I don't agree with claims they fight harder than or as hard as trout, but still have respect for them as they're a native fish that is more than willing to cooperate on fly tackle. I've actually found them to be somewhat rare in the DC area which has made me appreciate them more. It seems like there is a limit to how much abuse to the habitat fallfish can tolerate, but when I was younger I viewed them as a fish that you could find in big numbers just about everywhere and I didn't appreciate them at all.
 
people target fallfish?

I catch a good number of teen-sized fish in the main stem Delaware above Zane Grey, where I do alot of smallie fishing in my backyard. They're fun, but nothing like catching a smallie on the fly. They eat pretty much everything that I throw for smallies, only problem is when fishing topwater with poppers (boogle bugs are my popper of choice generally) they tend to 'gulp them which results in a difficult fly extraction. I actually found a recipe for fallfish cakes for those fish that I unfortunately can't save.
 
I absolutely love to go out once a year and find some fallfish, they fight hard as hell and are just a fun fish to catch. When I trout fish I mostly nymph in fast water so I dont have any problems with accidentally catching them. My brother caught an absolute unit from Letort once, I'll find a picture and post it up, we thought for sure he had an amazing brown. This is a nice fish I caught in april of this year.
IMG 6953
 
Nice fish. The one on the bottom is definitely a sucker though. Fallfish do no exhibit brown on their bodies. They have a black "top" and silver on the sides. Still both great catches.
 
Spookintrout said:
I absolutely love to go out once a year and find some fallfish, they fight hard as hell and are just a fun fish to catch. When I trout fish I mostly nymph in fast water so I dont have any problems with accidentally catching them. My brother caught an absolute unit from Letort once, I'll find a picture and post it up, we thought for sure he had an amazing brown. This is a nice fish I caught in april of this year.
View attachment 1641227599
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Looks like a golden redhorse sucker.
 
sarce said:
Looks like a golden redhorse sucker.
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Both pictures appear to be suckers but they are awesome fish as well. They can grow very large and i am happy to catch them when i do its usually nymphing tight to bottom.

The term or idea that there are “trash fish” is an old outdated one and one fisheries scientists routinely mention on the fisheries podcast that they hate because some of them or subspecies labeled as such actually have high conservation need in some cases.

Sweet pics and nice catch
 
Fish Sticks said:
Both pictures appear to be suckers but they are awesome fish as well. They can grow very large and i am happy to catch them when i do its usually nymphing tight to bottom.

The term or idea that there are “trash fish” is an old outdated one and one fisheries scientists routinely mention on the fisheries podcast that they hate because some of them or subspecies labeled as such actually have high conservation need in some cases.

Sweet pics and nice catch
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I am curious as to what role these fish play. With suckers in particular is their role to consume microorganisms thus playing a part in the food chain?

I won't call these fish trash fish as they can be fun to catch. As I said before I targeting fallfish exclusively on one of the creeks I fish. Suckers can save the day on the Tully. I remember being bummed when I lost a 2+ footer there. I don't even consider grass/common carp to be trash fish. They are hard to fool and they can really fight. I don't even think common/grass carp are bad for the environment, though I know silver carp are.
 
Silent Ocelot said:
I am curious as to what role these fish play. With suckers in particular is their role to consume microorganisms thus playing a part in the food chain?

I won't call these fish trash fish as they can be fun to catch. As I said before I targeting fallfish exclusively on one of the creeks I fish. Suckers can save the day on the Tully. I remember being bummed when I lost a 2+ footer there. I don't even consider grass/common carp to be trash fish. They are hard to fool and they can really fight. I don't even think common/grass carp are bad for the environment, though I know silver carp are.
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Fall fish play a very important role in streams. They build those incredible pebble mounds to lay their eggs in. Those mounds become nesting areas for lots of other smaller minnow and darter species. They are very important to the ecosystem.
 
When i night fish spring creek in state college I always see what was sitting where i was fishing and I see 20” ginormous white suckers in shallow riffles I never see out in the day. I can’t imagine their eyesight is great and always imagine their feeling their way along the bottom with that inferiorly oriented mouth in the dark for food but don’t know.
 
One sucker or carp and your hands are ripe for two days. Those critters stank.
 
The problem with fallfish and chubs is that what I thought was a beautiful trout on the line turns out to be a stinking, croaking, horny chub. So disappointing.
 
I have caught real units while smallie fishing on Penns below Glen Iron. Like 18-20 inches. They fight like hell and I usually get them swinging a streamer. I don't target them specifically, but certainly don't mind catching ones like that.
 
KennettSteve said:
I have caught real units while smallie fishing on Penns below Glen Iron. Like 18-20 inches. They fight like hell and I usually get them swinging a streamer. I don't target them specifically, but certainly don't mind catching ones like that.
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I always figured lower penns had some freak sized fall fish. The west branch of the susky below curwensville is another place i have suspected and would like to investigate for them
 
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