Baiting flys

[Fish For Life 0]

When your in a location that allows you to legally, do you ever add scent or bait to your flys? Im not sure if this is done much or not. Times get get hard and the fish sometimes will refuse your fly no matter what you give them, do you ever get desperate and add bait? Or do you ever start out the day with a fly and bait to hopefully improve your catch rate? Or would you rather just stick with a fly, even if the fish are refusing it? Im curious what peoples opinions are on this.

 

Thanks

[mikechell 0]

When I was younger (Much younger) and going to carp in the Wabash River, I would often use bait on a small hook. But then, after casting it out like a fly, I'd be fishing with live bait ... wait for the fish to come find the bait.

I haven't baited a hook in a decade or so.

 

I have used scents on bass lures with conventional gear ... but I haven't with flies. No reason, really, except I am not as concerned with "catching" as I once was.

[FlaFly 0]

There was a thread a while back on the subject of scents. There are lots of scent sprays sold in some fishing tackle stores... probably the most common one is anise (licorice smell). We used to bait our minnow traps with corn meal and a few drops of anise oil, so I can vouch for its effectiveness.... minnows literally flocked to the trap. But I'm with Mike on using bait........... haven't used bait even on conventional gear for decades. I kinda like thinking I'm giving the fish a sporting chance, and using only my skill at tying and presenting to catch them.

[JSzymczyk 0]

do a search on this topic.. heard of opening a can of worms? this is a 50,000 gallon storage tank of worms.

[Crackaig 0]

There is an old traditional way of fishing a worm upstream on fly gear that was used in Northern England when the rivers were too high for North Country Flies to be effective. In some areas Gadger fishing was practised. That was fishing a stone fly nymph on fly gear. Both these have fallen out of use now.

 

There is only one fly I know of that was specifically used with bait. The Secret Weapon, which has now come to mean any fly that has a flying treble attached. It was specifically a body of hare's ear or rabbit dubbing, ribbed with gold wire, with a hackle of red game cock, and a wing of bronze mallard. All tied on a single hook with a flying treble attached. This was used for sea trout (sea run browns). When it was fished it was normal to add a couple of maggots to the single hook. Again this seems to have fallen out of use. I have never seen or heard of anyone doing it in all my years of fishing. I know of it from references in old books.

 

Cheers,

C.

[sandflyx 0]

using bait with or adding a scent is defeating the use of fly fishing. if you are going to do that then just use bait... if you are not getting on the fly sit down and figure why you are not ?? color, size, wrong fly, wrong presentation, no fish in that particular spot, fish have fed and are full up, it goes on and on . there's days I can go through a few dozen flies before I hit one that works, and it might not work on the next fish.

[RickZieger 0]

I have not used a scents. If the fish are not biting I rub some dirt around the edge of the pond of the fly.

Then rinse it off and try the fly. Has worked several times for me.

Not sure if it is the scent of the dirt on the fly or masks something that was on the fly.

Most often a change in the fly used will work for me.

Rick

[mikechell 0]

do a search on this topic.. heard of opening a can of worms? this is a 50,000 gallon storage tank of worms.

Bob's response below is the can opener of Joel's storage tank. There are those that believe mixing two forms of fishing is taboooooo !!!!

 

using bait with or adding a scent is defeating the use of fly fishing. if you are going to do that then just use bait.

 

 

If you want to bait fish with a fly rod, go for it. Delivering a single maggot to a sunfish 40 feet away can be accomplished this way. It's also a fun way to get carp to hit. If "catching" is more fun (or important) to you than "fishing", then live bait will usually get you some fish.

Having said that, I have been able to out fish bait anglers. I believe the reason for this is covering more water. While bait anglers wait for something to come to the bait, those who use artificial lures, flies or conventional, are searching for a fish.

[tidewaterfly 0]

 

 

When your in a location that allows you to legally, do you ever add scent or bait to your flys? Im not sure if this is done much or not. Times get get hard and the fish sometimes will refuse your fly no matter what you give them, do you ever get desperate and add bait? Or do you ever start out the day with a fly and bait to hopefully improve your catch rate? Or would you rather just stick with a fly, even if the fish are refusing it? Im curious what peoples opinions are on this.

 

As has been said, this has been discussed in the past. Hopefully no one will be sending you hate mail!

 

However, I'll add my 2 cents here too!

 

I have used scents & bait in the past with a fly rod. Did so quite a bit with baits as a kid. Catching the baits was almost as much fun as fishing back then. IMO, it could be a good way to introduce young kids to fly fishing. Although it's not technically fishing with flies, it's still bait fishing, the fact they may be catching something & using the fly rod, could keep their interest. Since I was self taught as I had no one around who could teach me, I learned how to cast the fly line by lobbing such things as grasshoppers & crickets at Bluegill & Pumpkinseed Sunfish nests in the spring & early summer. For older kids or young adults, teach them the casting mechanics & give them flies to fish with first. That would be best IMO. But, if that's not working some bait might let them better understand what they need to be doing with the flies. Just don't use the bait as a crutch for not catching with flies!

 

 

I've only tried scents on flies such as anise or garlic for chasing carp. Didn't find they helped me much as I still didn't catch them & it was messy to deal with.

 

The only scent I use now with conventional tackle is a product called "Smelly Jelly", which I only sometimes use on jigs for bass fishing & frankly I use it more so because it's slick feeling & I think the fish hold on longer. I don't feel it attracts them! It's messy too!

 

If "times get hard", like I got to catch fish to survive type hard, I would have no issue using bait with a fly rod. That's not a matter of sport or being out there to enjoy it. Different scenario.

 

At this point in my life, fishing times never get hard, & I don't get desperate to catch a fish because like others have said "catching" is not the only reason I fish. I concentrate on catching fish, but should I not, I'm fine with it. Besides, I can usually catch something with a fly. My last fly rod bass fishing I did this year I only hooked 3 fish, and landed two for an all day trip. My only disappointment was that I got the line snagged on something in my Gheenoe when I hooked the "biggest" fish of the day & while attempting to clear the line It got off. I would have released it anyway, but I still fooled it into taking the fly. I have complete confidence in my abilities now that I don't need to add scents or bait to fool fish into taking a fly.

 

IF, I'm only interested in catching, which for me means I want to put fish on the table to eat, I have other gear I'll use besides my fly tackle, and even then doesn't mean I won't be using artificial lures. I still fish some with bait, primarily for catfish, just not as much as I did when I was much younger.

[FlaFly 0]

If you have to fish to survive, a well-placed grenade is the trick.

[mikechell 0]

If you have to fish to survive, a well-placed grenade is the trick.

Grenades are hard to buy ... especially these days. Also, they kill everything within the shock distance.

Go to any electrical supply house and buy a hand crank A/C generator, two copper rods about 6 feet long, some styrofoam, and a set of jumper cables.

Secure the styrofoam to the copper tube to float them ... you do not want them touching bottom.

Attach the jumper cables to the copper rods and the generator and start cranking.

Oh, if you're in an aluminum boat, don't do this with bare or wet feet.

Net the fish that float to the surface.

 

If you want to get fish from a larger area, use a gas-powered, portable generator.

 

If you get caught following these directions, I am writing this under duress ... a giant otter is standing behind me with a flipper to my throat.

[throwinflys 0]

 

If you have to fish to survive, a well-placed grenade is the trick.

Grenades are hard to buy ... especially these days. Also, they kill everything within the shock distance.

Go to any electrical supply house and buy a hand crank A/C generator, two copper rods about 6 feet long, some styrofoam, and a set of jumper cables.

Secure the styrofoam to the copper tube to float them ... you do not want them touching bottom.

Attach the jumper cables to the copper rods and the generator and start cranking.

Oh, if you're in an aluminum boat, don't do this with bare or wet feet.

Net the fish that float to the surface.

 

If you want to get fish from a larger area, use a gas-powered, portable generator.

 

If you get caught following these directions, I am writing this under duress ... a giant otter is standing behind me with a flipper to my throat.

 

AWESOME!

why bait fish when you can electro-shock!? hahahahahahaha

[tidewaterfly 0]

 

 

If you have to fish to survive, a well-placed grenade is the trick.

As Mike said grenades are hard to come by for most of us, plus they make a lot of noise & attract too much attention. I'm not too thrilled about Mike's suggestion either, even though I agree it could work. IMO, the rod & line, and perhaps some bait is much lighter to carry & chances are in a survival situation I doubt any of us might have that other gear sitting around. When I need to eat, I don't want to be going out & getting generators.

[Knuckledragger 0]

Burlap bag full of green hickory nut husks is much quieter than a grenade, and less incriminating than the crank telephones.

[mikechell 0]

Burlap bag full of green hickory nut husks ...

??? I've heard of that, or walnut husks, for getting worms to come to the surface ... but not for fishing. Or are you talking about getting worms for bait fishing?