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June 29, 2009
Multi-Method Anglers Have More Fun
We continued our new-to-us trout river explorations over the weekend, this time traveling to a better-known stream in the western Adirondack mountains of New York. We caught fewer trout, but they were larger--a happy trade-off. Yesterday morning, I put down the fly rod for a while and fished with an ultralight spinning rig. The reel was spooled with 4# FireLine (a so-called superline), the fine diameter of which allowed very long casts with very small lures. One result was this brown trout that ate a little Yo-Zuri Pin’s Minnow.
That kind of tackle makes it easy to cover lots of water fairly quickly, much more so than with fly gear. This might or might not be a good thing, depending on your particular preferences or prejudices as to fishing method ...
Personally, I’m comfortable and happy with either one. Sometimes flies work better than lures. Our largest trout of the trip was an 18-incher my wife took on a hare’s ear nymph, for example. But the spinning-gear brown I’ve shown here came from a pool that she’d fly fished for more than an hour without getting a tug.
I’ve often thought that multi-method anglers have more fun. They will almost always catch more fish. Maybe if we stopped looking down our noses at other anglers who happen to fish differently than we do--by whatever legal method--we’d all learn more about fishing and be a lot better off --JM
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Comments (12)
I love fishing for trout with panther martins and rooster tails. These are the best all around baits for trout. Fly gear is just fine for small streams, but for big rivers and lakes, these spinners work hands down.
There's nothing wrong with being a switch hitter, or throwing ultra lite spinners on an 8 wt fly rod....
Your subject has good timing. I'm leaving for California in a couple weeks to fish with some old buddies. Were hitting the small trout streams way up in the hills that are hard to reach and rarely fished. I was requested to leave my fly rod at home? They wanted to use ultra lights with spinners. Something I haven't done for trout since I was a kid. With me being a guest I agreed whole heartedly without hesitation. I thought it would also be fun to mix things up a little.
I fish SE AK quite a bit. I hang out for a couple of months. It can rain quite a lot in that country and many visiters don't get to experiance good fishing because they are wedded to their fly rods. I fish with the spinning rod when the water is up, and grab the fly rod when conditions permit. I love catching big silvers on the fly rod, but a man needs to be able to adapt to the conditions. Some runs that hold alot of fish are not fly rod friendly places to fish.
Those ADK trout like worms too :)
Speakin' the truth!
I love Yo-Zuris. Always doubted them, figured Rapala wins and they aren't worth one penny more. Then I was able to buy a lot of them for a little, and wow, they catch fish.
I agree. I don't fly-fish personally, but I don't frown on them at all. I'd actually love to learn how some day.
Shhot I've known this for years. Just took up striper fishing with a fly-rod recently. EXCITING ! ! !
I fish to catch fish, not to try and impress the tourists....Just went up the Lochsa Sunday to chase wild cutthroat, had my 2 fly rods, along with several spinning rigs. I start a hole with a fly rod, then go to a spinning rod with a water filled casting bubble and fly to reach the holes I can't with the fly rod, then finish the hole with a deep running spinner........why only fish part of the water, my barbless hooks on the spinning rig don't do any more damage to a fish than a fly rod setup....
I'm mostly a worm/grub fisherman when it comes to trout, but I also like to use spinners, jigs, rapalas, spoons, and artificials like that but lately, I've been trying to fly fish and the only thing I caught ALL season were 2 small brown trout. I'm honestly about to stop trying because it is the most frustrating thing I know of (other than missing a big gobbler or buck).
The more your know about different ways to fish, the better off you are going to be. Fish sometimes presented with a bait in a certain way too many times to actually be dumb enough and bite... so switch it up!
Excellent article John....
want to see more like this.
Len *spinner* Harris
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I love fishing for trout with panther martins and rooster tails. These are the best all around baits for trout. Fly gear is just fine for small streams, but for big rivers and lakes, these spinners work hands down.
There's nothing wrong with being a switch hitter, or throwing ultra lite spinners on an 8 wt fly rod....
Your subject has good timing. I'm leaving for California in a couple weeks to fish with some old buddies. Were hitting the small trout streams way up in the hills that are hard to reach and rarely fished. I was requested to leave my fly rod at home? They wanted to use ultra lights with spinners. Something I haven't done for trout since I was a kid. With me being a guest I agreed whole heartedly without hesitation. I thought it would also be fun to mix things up a little.
I fish SE AK quite a bit. I hang out for a couple of months. It can rain quite a lot in that country and many visiters don't get to experiance good fishing because they are wedded to their fly rods. I fish with the spinning rod when the water is up, and grab the fly rod when conditions permit. I love catching big silvers on the fly rod, but a man needs to be able to adapt to the conditions. Some runs that hold alot of fish are not fly rod friendly places to fish.
Those ADK trout like worms too :)
Speakin' the truth!
I love Yo-Zuris. Always doubted them, figured Rapala wins and they aren't worth one penny more. Then I was able to buy a lot of them for a little, and wow, they catch fish.
I agree. I don't fly-fish personally, but I don't frown on them at all. I'd actually love to learn how some day.
Shhot I've known this for years. Just took up striper fishing with a fly-rod recently. EXCITING ! ! !
I fish to catch fish, not to try and impress the tourists....Just went up the Lochsa Sunday to chase wild cutthroat, had my 2 fly rods, along with several spinning rigs. I start a hole with a fly rod, then go to a spinning rod with a water filled casting bubble and fly to reach the holes I can't with the fly rod, then finish the hole with a deep running spinner........why only fish part of the water, my barbless hooks on the spinning rig don't do any more damage to a fish than a fly rod setup....
I'm mostly a worm/grub fisherman when it comes to trout, but I also like to use spinners, jigs, rapalas, spoons, and artificials like that but lately, I've been trying to fly fish and the only thing I caught ALL season were 2 small brown trout. I'm honestly about to stop trying because it is the most frustrating thing I know of (other than missing a big gobbler or buck).
The more your know about different ways to fish, the better off you are going to be. Fish sometimes presented with a bait in a certain way too many times to actually be dumb enough and bite... so switch it up!
Excellent article John....
want to see more like this.
Len *spinner* Harris
Post a Comment