Fishing during the spawn

[jjensen35]

Guys,

I'm not that experienced and need some advice. I usually don't get a chance to fish during the Fall, but I got out on Spring Creek this last week. Tough fishing for me and most everyone I talked to for understandable reasons since I found that the spawn was on. I was careful to not disturb them or their beds as much as possible. Can sure understand why this isn't the best time to fish since they've got other things on their minds. Caught just a couple on a black zebra midge. Read a lot of commentary about this time frame being a good time to just leave them alone and can sure understand that, but I don't get that many opportunities to fish and need some suggestions on tactics and patterns that would be respectful of letting them spawn, but also give me a chance to catch those not on the beds or perhaps the Rainbows who aren't spawning.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Fishidiot]

Hi jjensen,
Your conscientious outlook is commendable. If you check out the general forum there is some discussion of the issue of fishing wild trout streams during the spawn. My advice would be to leave browns alone that are on redds or in areas where there are a lot of redds (this includes very obvious parts of Spring Creek). Focus your efforts in "fishy" water where you don't see redds. Also watch for risers. Rising trout probably aren't spawning and can be ethically targeted (IMO). Slower, deeper, pools on Spring Creek usually have rising fish year round. Midges and small terrestrials are usually dependable on this risers. Egg flies work well in the fall. Trout, both browns and rainbows, eat eggs when they're available. Sometimes, in the fall, if I see browns spawning, I'll check a few feet below them - you'll often see a rainbow waiting for eggs or bugs kicked out by the raucous browns. Show that 'bow an egg and you should hook up. Just keep that egg away from the browns on the redds as they will eat them too.

 

[jjensen35]

Thanks. That's kind of what I thought, but great to get confirmation that I was thinking along the correct lines.

 

[jjensen35]

Just a couple more rookie questions......

Why do they call the beds redds?

and...

Maybe this relates to the answer to the first, but what imitation egg colors would you suggest? Can't say that I've ever seen trout eggs.

Thanks

 

[JackM]

jjensen35 wrote:

Why do they call the beds redds?

You aren't from Picksberg, I guess. When you tidy up, you "redd up." Derived from the Scottish reden "to clear," originally in reference to a plot of land.

 

[jjensen35]

Ah Ha! Interesting. Thank you.

 

[Fishidiot]

jjensen35 wrote:
what imitation egg colors would you suggest?

Most fish eggs in trout streams are about the size of a BB and usually various "hot" shades of the color spectrum - yellow to orange/reddish. Most of my egg flies are a bit bigger than this (about the size of a small pea) and orange color.

 

[pcray1231]

Eggs change color depending on a host of factors. Age, whether or not they're fertile, water chemistry, etc.

The most typical color for natural trout eggs would be a pale orange. Cream, orange, and pink (salmon) are common colors, as is a pale chartreuse. In general, these seem to work best for me on the imitations. I like a mix of these colors too, for instance a "scrambed eggs" is typically a combination of at least 2 of the above colors marbled together. An egg selection should be based on these base colors.

Sometimes, in the nature of trout fishing, something a little more out there seems to work. Hotter, fully opague colors, like blood red, aren't unusual, and in great lakes fisheries are often favored in colored water as they show up better. Also, paler colored flies with some hot colors in them (blood dots), get some use. Some get a little shiny, either with reflective material (estaz and the like) or putting beadheads on the egg flies. And often off the wall colors like blue and purple work. Have a smattering of this kind of thing.

Start with the base. If it ain't working, change up the colors often, and observe what is happening that day.

Size matters, but like colors, it ain't always logical. Real eggs are about the size of a bb. But often clumped together as skein. Vary sizes like you do colors. Often, I go smaller in clear, spooky fish situations, and bigger in high or off color water, or when dealing with very agressive fish.

 

[SBecker]

DaveS and I fished Spring on Black Friday. We did ok. I am pretty sure we picked up all our fish except one on Blood's Dot egg. I picked up 4-5 wild bows in the lower river and could not touch a brown. We moved upstream and all we picked up were browns. We saw a few redds and made sure we stayed away. The egg color was white cream with an orange center.

 

[Chaz]

Redd is a Celtic word, other than that I don't know why they re called redds.