How do you like to catch fish?

[Simon Lidster 0]

Moving on from the things that bug me topic, how do people like to fish?

 

I'm confident I can catch trout on our local river with 'normal' patterns. I've kind of got to the stage where I'd prefer to catch fish on very realistic flies behaving like the naturals, i.e. drag-free drift most of the time. I've got some semi-realistic nymph patterns, so it's just a case of getting them down to where the trout are feeding. Dries are another thing!

 

It's not just about catching fish! If that was the prime aim I'd probably fish streamers all the time!

 

As time goes by, I feel that catching numbers of fish is less important than catching them how I want to. Having said that, the hunting instinct still overtakes me sometimes!

 

So what's your favourite method? Have you changed how you fish to make it more difficult?

 

Simon

[riffleriversteelheadslayer 0]

I love dry fly fishing for brook trout its just great times in beautiful surroundings

[Piker20 0]

I found in fresh water I stopped chasing numbers and started setting out to catch on a specific bait or in a specific style. Now im doing more salt fishing im very much just in the catch anything any how mode. As I start to feel im cracking it ill start to set myself aims like only use poppers, only use a 6# rod (though that might end in tears) etc. For this season my trout aim is to fish into the dark and fish big. Might endure lots of blanks but might just hit a monster.

[SilverCreek 0]

I love dry fly fishing for brook trout its just great times in beautiful surroundings

 

 

Me too

 

[shoebop 0]

With flies (wet & dry) and nymphs for trout in rivers is my favorite. I eschew methods that are not strictly fly fishing in origins. That means I don't really like throwing heavily weighted "lures" and such. No judgments here...I'm just sayin...

[Trouser Trout 0]

I like catching anything on topwater. Dry flies are by far my favorite method, but watching a bass strike a top water lure with a spinning rod isn't below my standards by any means. I normally don't care whether I catch 50 or 2, all I want is what everyone else is looking for - just a tug on the end of your line.

[Nate 0]

The tug is the drug...

With that said I too am a big fan of our small stream mountain brook trout....and rainbows...and even the occasional brown on dry flies. This summer will be my first forays into the world of carping but I am pretty sure that my 3 weight will not go unused. Those mountains call loudly when it starts getting too hot.

[rsimino 0]

Small streams, small dry flies, minimal tackle for brook trout is the best, but alas I live in Missouri

so the best locally is river small mouth on rubber legged poppers, what a hoot!

[switch10 0]

I really enjoy nymphing. I seem to catch much larger fish, more often, 365 days a year in any weather/water conditions. I fish a few places that you can sight set just like you do with a dry.

 

Now don't get me wrong, dry fly fishing is awesome when it's good, and getting a tight line hit while stripping a streamer is really fun too.

 

I've already seen one big caddis hatch on one of my local rivers this year. I was all set today to fish some deer hair caddis, but it was a bit too cold and there was no hatch. I nailed an 18 inch rainbow on a tungsten psycho instead

[mikechell 0]

I started fishing with dynamite. But I quickly depleted the fish in our local pond ... and the cops were starting to figure things out.

So I moved on to a harder way of fishing, I got the generator from an old phone and started shocking the fish. While this method worked fairly well, I had two problems. When I was boating, an aluminum john boat is NOT and insulator. After a few hours of shocking fish, and myself, I'd be wound up like a tornado, and running around like a bull in a china shop. I tried wading ... well, I don't have to describe the smell that issued from my waders after that experiment, do I?

So, I moved on to a harder way of fishing, I got a gigging pole. I guess my problem here was not understanding the relationship between a spear, a tether (to keep from losing the spear), a kneeling position on the front of a john boat and a 25 pound carp swimming away at top speed. I thought the spear would kill the fish dead ... but after about 30 minutes getting drug through the brush and sticks of a creek ... I realized that ain't the way it works.

So, I moved on to a harder way of fishing, I tried "noodling". This didn't last long ... did you know that snapping turtles sometimes visit the same holes that catfish do? Need I say more?

So, I moved on to a harder way of fishing, I bought a fly fishing rod, reel, line and some little buggy looking things that the guy at the store said would entice a fish in the freezer to bite. I was eager to try this style out, and hit the water bright and early the next Saturday morning. Let's just say, I realized I was gonna need some lessons ... I got out of the hospital about 2 that afternoon. They were even able to save some of the fly line after unwinding from my head and neck. From the rope burn marks, it looks like I tried to hang myself. They said the broken blood vessels and bloodshot eye look will vanish within a few weeks. I will get some lesson before I move on to any harder ways of fishing.

[shoebop 0]

I started fishing with dynamite. But I quickly depleted the fish in our local pond ... and the cops were starting to figure things out.

So I moved on to a harder way of fishing, I got the generator from an old phone and started shocking the fish....

 

 

You Goof!

[Hoyt archery 0]

Here in Kansas, I prefer to sight fish. I often fish local sandpits, which are extremely clear water. Whether bass or bluegill being able to see the reaction to the fly. Actually sight fishing is what lead me to fly fishing. Obviously, top water action is a blast. But watching a fish strike your fly, well that will keep you coming back time after time.

[pop-n-bug 0]

Love to catch bass and bream on poppers and foam ants. Love to see a fish hit a topwater bug.

[JSzymczyk 0]

Have you changed how you fish to make it more difficult?

 

Simon

 

Simon, intentionally making things more difficult is the job of my wife, kid, and managers at work. When I am fly fishing, (or any type of fishing) I want the opposite of that.

[keep_lookingup 0]

My absolute favorite and pretty much the only way I fish is Nymphing with size 18 or smaller on 6x or 7x. Here in Western Colorado it is the most successful and I love the challenge of tiny subsurface flies.