Image by James River Association via Flickr

Where are the Brook Trout?

Brook trout are looking for oxygen and water that is at least 53 degrees or colder. The stronger the current, or the more rapids there are, the more oxygen will be created in the water. As the seasons change, the these trout follow the cooler water.

Spring time, with fast flowing and cooler water, is a great time for catching brook trout. However, as summer comes and the water becomes warmer, the trout will migrate to cooler waters. Here is where you need to understand the waters where you fish.

As warmer surface water flows from the lakes to the rivers, the water becomes too warm for the brook trout. Typically they will migrate downstream where they find rocks as well as natural springs running into the river. Both of these cool the water. However, if the head water of a creek is fed by a spring fed lake, the trout will head up street to cooler waters. In the summer time, you will need to determine which way the cooler water is – upstream or downstream. That is where you will find your trout you are looking for.

What to Use for Bait and Lures?

Brook Trout will hit worms and natural insects They like grasshoppers and mayflies. They also like any artificial flies that mimic the natural bait.

A good bait to use is one that you can roll up into a round ball that resembles a salmon egg. Put this on your hook and see what you can catch. This type of bait comes in a small jar and molds just like Silly Putty, which makes it very convenient.

A 6 or 4 pound test line with small hooks is best for brook trout fishing.

Why can’t I catch Any Brook Trout?

One of the most difficult times to catch one is when the suckers are spawning. The Trout love to gorge themselves on these eggs. That means they will not be interested in what you have to offer them. If this is the case, you will need to go further up or down stream to find some Brook Trout that are hungry.

All trout are very sensitive to sound and smell. They can actually smell you, so leave your smell good stuff at home. They also scare easily, so if you go traipsing through the water making lots of noise and splash, they will hide from you. If you offend their senses, they will swim away to their favorite hiding places.

One more reason Brook Trout may be difficult for you to catch is because they often are at the base of a waterfall or rapids area. They like deep pools and bubbles but they may be in areas that are too deep for you to wade in thereby making them very difficult for you to reach.

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I spent my childhood years in Ontario, back in the 1960s and was led to believe that walleye were called pickerel. It wasn’t until I was 30 and had moved to New Brunswick that I caught my first pickerel and learned they are not even the same species. What was that all about?

Pickerel also go by “federation pickerel” and in southeastern U.S. they are nicknamed “southern pike”.

Caught My First Chain Pickerel on The Fly

I feel lucky having hooked my first chain pickerel on the flyrod. Because it was a happy accident. A friend and I were actually fishing for brook trout on the fly.

Fishing A Flooded Forest on The Fly Rod

It seems like a very long time ago I had been visiting a flyfishing friend. Wayne was going to show me a little spot he wants to keep quiet about. He told me we would land some large brook trout on the fly.

When we arrived I could hardly believe that he expected me to actually use a fly fishing rod in there. The place was a stand of trees that had been flooded a couple of years before after busy beavers had blocked the flow of water and flooded a large patch of woods.

Wayne told me there were 16″ brookies living there. I didn’t call him a liar nevertheless I’d been considering it. However I became a believer soon after he landed the first 16″ brookie.

Fishing in trees was a brand new experience. I’d fished rivers and lakes for brookies using my fly rod, had even learned to deal with trees behind me but not a forest all about me.

I spent most of my time avoiding trees but did get some brookies. As usual when it comes time to leave I always have to get a few more casts. The second I lifted the fly off the surface for my final cast a pencil like 10 inch fish came flying out of the water and grabbed that dry fly.

I couldn’t imagine how intense that tiny fish was. That is the day I discovered the difference between a walleye and a pickerel.

Today I fish pickerel any chance I can. My personal best continues to grow from that first 10″ chain pickerel to 25 inches.

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When I started fly fishing more than 30 years ago the sport of fly fishing seemed to be all about catching salmon and trout.

Today the list of fish to fly fish for has become almost endless, whether it’s casting those artificial flies for fresh water fly fishing or saltwater.

Now fly fishing for smallmouth and largemuth bass has become extremely popular all over the world. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the quality of the fight a bass gives you.

I have fought bass on the fly that fought harder than salmon double their size. Bass just think they are bigger than they are. It’s a great sport and releasing them back into their home makes for better fishing in the future, so our kids will thank us.

I think because the bass body is more flat on the sides than round they have a lot of drag in the water and really hold their own.

Smallmouth Bass Fly Fishing Technique

Smallmouth bass are found in rivers and streams. With fishing rivers and streams, quite often there are trees and bush lining the river or stream, and therefore not enough room behind you to make a full overhead cast. Therefore learning to roll cast is recommended. Take a look at the following fly fishing casting techniques introduction for more information on roll casting. Another option is wading deep into the stream or river which would provide you with sufficient room for overhead casting.

When fly fishing rivers and streams its also important to know how to mend the line. The different speeds of the various currents within a river or stream may push the fly line ahead of the fly, or may push the fly ahead of the line. A bass may detect this unnatural drift of the line, and may be scared away. The process of lifting and moving a part of the line to re-align it with the drift of the fly is called mending. Smallmouth bass mostly sit and wait for prey in the small pools in the river which are formed by submerged rocks, trees, or other objects. Target these pools when casting for smallmouth bass. With smallmouth bass fly fishing, using streamers that look like crayfish or small baitfish often produce good results.

Largemouth Bass Fly Fishing Technique

Largemouth bass are found mostly in ponds and lakes. Flies used for largemouth bass fly fishing tend to be quite large. Poppers are commonly used, and deer hair flies are extremely popular. Terrestrial flies (flies which resemble land based insects that land on the water by accident) are also quite effective. When casting dry flies for largemouth bass, its a good idea to land your fly near to weeds, rocks, lilies or other underwater objects where largemouth bass love to hide when stalking prey. Let the dry fly float on top of the water for a few minutes after casting. Make the fly twitch on the water, then slowly retrieve the line. Often the bass will strike the fly as it hits the water.

Bass Fly Fishing Equipment

You can use the same equipment for bass fly fishing that you would use for trout fly fishing. With bass fly fishing a 6 to 9 weight fly fishing rod is normally used, along with a fly line with a matching weight. It’s not necessary to have an expensive rod and reel for bass fly fishing, and a good fly rod for someone starting out in the sport of bass fly fishing is the fairly priced St Croix Triumph Fly Fishing Rod. You can use the same double-tapered line used for trout fly fishing, but its recommended that you use a weight-forward line for bass fly fishing. Although you can catch bass with normal trout flies, you will have more success with bass specific flies.

Additional flt fishing information, tips, techniques, and fly fishing equipment reviews can be found at the Feedage.com Fly Fishing Elite news feed.

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When I walk into a fly fishing shop here in New Brunswick it’s usually all about the Atlantic salmon and the selection just blows me away. I can spend hours just staring at them.

I have a few books on tying artificial flies but the selection is limited and most are trout flies. Not really what I am looking for when Atlantic salmon fishing, although I have caught some nice salmon on tiny trout flies.

Mickey Finn Streamers For Spring Salmon

I like using streamers in the early spring when the black salmon are moving, right up until the fresh run salmon move into the system and then I change flies.

My brother-in-law introduced me to the Mickey Finn streamer and I would have to say the Mickey Finn is the fly I use the most during the spring.

I guess that’s because it’s the one that produces the most salmon for me, otherwise I would have ditched that fly years ago.

Yellow Winged Red Butt Butterflies

Almost any time of year I get out my butterflies, especially those with a red butt, they just seem to work better for me.

Just a few weeks ago I took a friend Atlantic salmon fishing on the Caines and in less than an hour I had a salmon landed and it was on a yellow winged red butt butterfly.

It’s a fly I have great confidence in and the salmon love to slam it with all the power they have.

The two flies I mentioned above have caught a lot of salmon over the years and that’s just two flies. Imagine what you could do with 4 flies?

Fly fishing is one of the most recognized and distinct methods of catching fish or angling. There is nothing quite like casting your fly out on the water and have it explode immediately.

This method has been popularly used to catch trout and salmon but I also fly fish for smallmouth bass and chain pickerel. What a blast.

There is no limit to the species of fish you can catch fly fishing.

There is different equipment used to make the process a success. One of the most important are the artificial flies you use while fly fishing.

The fly rod and fly reel you use isn’t all that important as I have used inexpensive rods and reels for years but I do buy good fly line and leader. It really sucks to lose a good fish, even if you practice catch and release.

An Overview On Fly Fishing Flies

Artificial fly fishing flies are commonly used. There are many companies that make them. This is to say that they are widely available in the market all over the world.  The following is just an overview of what goes into making these fishing flies. They come in great varieties with respect to size, shape and even colour. Fur, feathers, hairs and other materials are used in the making of fly fishing flies. These materials can either be natural or synthetic. A fly fishing lesson will reveal some of these aspects of flies. The flies are created by tying the materials onto a thread and hook.

Fly fishing flies are made with the aquatic appearance of local fish and insects in mind. This is because there must be a match that will be attractive and similar for success in angling to be achieved. They are also customized with regard to colour, and patterns to create fly fishing flies that are suitable. Creating the fly flies is an art and in different places in the world, experts who are gifted and skilled are employed to create flies that suit different specifications. It is a pleasurable and exciting art that continues to prevail. Synthetic materials are more popular when it comes to creating flies.

For many, fly fishing is a sport that employs the use of different varieties of fly fishing flies. To produce the variety, many companies have emerged to create or make fishing flies. These are a few most popular kinds of fly fishing flies. There are dry flies, wet, trout, nymph and UK trout flies. These are some of the most recognized. However, different cultures or communities will have their very own flies which have been in their society for a long time. This is the case for many angling communities.

I really didn’t know what to expect. I had never even heard of this lake. The good thing was that if you didn’t have a 4-wheel drive you weren’t getting to this lake without a long long walk.

My little Susuki Samaria was up for the task as we drove through water holds that came up past the bottom of the doors. It’s was really cool because to this point I had not taken my little Samaria into anything this deep and muddy.

It took us a few trips to get the canoes and all the equipment in to the lake but well worth it.

We got to the lake and were totally surprised to find a cottage on the lake. The owners were home but they hadn’t fished the lake yet at the time we were there.

Now what was really strange was as we paddled our canoes up the lake to where we planned to pitch our tent we saw a canoe just floating around.

At first we figured it was the people from the cottage. We took the canoe in tow and were going to take it back down the lake after we were set up and maybe had a few hours of fishing.

Only a minute or two after we found the canoe we heard voices. As we came around this small island there were two guys sitting on a big rock in the middle of this icy cold lake. They were about as loaded as any two guys I had seen in a while and they had lost their canoe.

Man what would they have done if we hadn’t come along. I am sure that as the sun went down and they sobered up the people in the cottage might have heard them screaming for help.

We gave them their canoe back. They barely were able to climb in it, but they did and off they went. I am one that firmly believes in NOT mixing alchohol and water.

Nothing much happened that day other than meeting a couple of drunks. We fished hard and moved a lot but nothing much until it got dusk.

The wind stopped and it got calm like I love it so I grabbed my fly rod and started chasing rings in the water as the trout started coming to the surface.

I was in my canoe alone so I moved around and was catching 13 inch brook trout one after the other. Unfortunately my two buddies couldn’t agree on whether to continue fishing spinner baits or to switch to dry fly and follow the rings.

Well I continued fly fishing and catching while they stayed only the edges of the islands and catch little 8 inch brookies.

That night we had a huge thunder and lightening storm that lit up the forest like it was a bright sunny day. We sat in our warm dry tent and watched it for hours, while we drank and laughed ourselves to sleep.

I plan to take a trip like that this year and can hardly wait. I think I will get my fly rod and equipment ready now. It’s only about 4 months before I can get in there.

Ahhhhh memories of fishing with friends.

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Choosing Fly Fishing Flies by Michelle Bery

Throughout the longstanding history of fly fishing, fisherman who practiced it – or anglers, as they are known – have always understood the importance of bringing skill, technique, and grace to the sport. But successful anglers have equally understood the comparable importance of superior equipment in order to be their most effective. And when it comes to fly fishing, some of the most important equipment is fly fishing flies – those small but significant items for which the sport is named.

The selection of fly fishing flies is extensive and is often broken down by wet and dry fly fishing. Fly fishing is considered ?dry? when the fly is cast over the water. The angler works to make the fly dance above the water, hoping to attract the attention of the fish below it. Such fly fishing flies are designed to replicate mosquitoes and other insects to which the particular fish may be attracted.

Fly fishing is considered ?wet? when the fly fishing flies are actually submerged under the water – where their design allows them to sink to the bottom if necessary – in order to entice fish beneath the surface. The wet fly fishing flies are made with the use of soft hackling which gives them mobility below the water?s surface. In the case of wet fly fishing, often the angler will use multiple fly fishing flies at once in order to improve their chance of success.

Some anglers choose to design and construct their own fly fishing flies – using a variety of materials of natural and synthetic origins. But still others choose to purchase their flies in accordance with the type of fish they are looking to retrieve. Fly fishing flies can be purchased at any number of different locations. For skilled, knowledgeable guidance regarding a choice of fly fishing flies, it is best to visit a retailer that is focused solely on fly fishing. There are also a number of Internet resources where anglers can browse and purchase their fly fishing flies online and have them shipped right to their door.

For easy to understand, in depth information about fly fishing flies visit our ezGuide 2 Fishing.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michelle_Bery http://EzineArticles.com/?Choosing-Fly-Fishing-Flies&id=619413

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I was doing a bit of research on fly fishing flies this morning and saw this article on EzineArticles.

Tying Fly Fishing Flies – The Frankenstein Fly
By Richard Chapo

You can buy flies for fly fishing, but you’?ll want to tie your own at some point. Undoubtedly, your first fly will be the Frankenstein Fly.

Of Flies?

There is a particular fly for every fish, location and situation. There are basic flies like the Woolly Bugger and millions of exotic ones. You can buy thousands of them, but it will set you back a pretty penny. So, it?s time to tie your own.

The first step in the fly process is getting some educated advice at the bookstore. You’ll need to browse the fishing section for the hundreds of books on the subject. You’ll see books like ‘Flies for Idiots’, ‘Be One With The Fly’ and other mythical titles. Pick the one that seems tailored to your needs, buy your tools and supplies and head home.

One of the first flies most people try to tie is the Woolly Bugger. It can be used for most situations and seems fairly simple to tie. Since this is your first time, you’ll actually be tying the Frankenstein Fly whether you realize it or not. This is true regardless of the specific fly you try to tie.

With the Woolly Bugger, you’ll use a jam knot, a fluffy piece of marabou, lead wire and so on. You’ll follow the directions in detail. You’ll wind. You?ll strip fuzz. You?ll wrap like you?ve never wrapped before. In the end, you will have followed every step in agonizing detail. As you finish the last step, whip finishing your fly, you’ll step back to admire the best Woolly Bugger.

At this point, you’ll look at the book and your masterpiece. Then you’ll jump on the Internet and pull up pictures of Woolly Bugger flies. Then the neighborhood will shake with a piercing scream. Yes, you’ve created something that faintly looks like a Woolly Bugger, but strikingly like Frankenstein.

Congratulations, you’ve tied a Frankenstein Fly. Welcome to the league of mad tie scientists.

Have Faith

Tying flies is definitely an art. You will almost never get it right the first time. Don’t be discouraged. Keep at it. Who knows, maybe the fish will find your Frankenstein Fly to be a tasty treat.

Rick Chapo is with http://www.nomadjournals.com – makers of  writing journals. fly fishing journals are great gifts. Visit http://www.nomadjournals.com/flyfishing.cfm to see journals for fly fishing trips and fly fishing vacations.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Richard_Chapo http://EzineArticles.com/?Tying-Fly-Fishing-Flies—The-Frankenstein-Fly&id=80632

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Image via Wikipedia

This morning I was going over an article that talks about using or creating flies that are way out there and it reminded me of some of the horrible looking things that have done well from time to time.

Over the years I have tied a lot of flies and caught a lot of fish. It’s a great hobby and few of my other hobbies have brought me so much joy. Well I would say maybe my guitar comes close.

While I am tying flies I sometimes get the urge to tie something that’s way out there.

For brook trout I usually stay with the artificial flies that have worked well for me in the past, the same with my Atlantic salmon flies but when it comes to smallmouth bass or chain pickerel, well that’s a different story.

Unfortunately I don’t have any of them left, well any of the ones that worked pretty well. But I have had fun with making up flies.

One particular day comes to mind.

I was fishing near Fredericton one very hot and still day. I was at a location that I had never fished but was given directions from my fishing buddy Kerry that lived in Fredericton.

I arrived ready to fish smallmouth bass but when I looked at the brook I was sure he meant I was going to be fishing trout.

The water didn’t look deep enough to use my float tube so I just walked the banks and fished for a while.

To my surprise my first cast landed me a cute little bass who thought he was much bigger that he actually was. I gave him a little kiss and dropped him back in the brook.

I followed the brook for a little ways and as a moved around a corner in the brook things opened up and I could see that I was able to get my float tube in so it was back to the car.

I relocated the car closer to the area I should have started in and what a day I had.

The bugs were unstoppable and I was glad I had plastered myself with bug spray, but as soon I as I got a way from the bank they died down enough that I almost forgot they were there.

The further around the bend I got the more I could see weeds and it was getting deeper. It was starting to look more like water I would find bass and pickerel in.

It was time to try one of my wacky flies. I had tied a few flies that were deer hair. They were fat flies, getting close to the size of a golf ball. Okay they were a little smaller but not much and they were hard to get that cast I wanted as they just wanted to float around in the sky.

I had a lot of action with those flies but didn’t catch much. The flies were just too big and round to get a hook set.

I had to use my nail clippers, as I didn’t have any scissors with me, to cut the deer hair back a bit at the bottom, but I didn’t want to cut it back so much that it would start getting hooked on the weeds.

Well I did mess up the fly. I started catching the bass but it wouldn’t go through the weeds after my hacking at it with my clippers.

I still had one of these really goofy looking balls of deer hair and so I put it on and spend most of the day just getting those explosive stricks that make your heart stop or explode.

I am going to try and duplicate that particular fly to use this year for pickerel. I will put a guard on it so that it should be pretty weedless.

We will see what happens. If they attract pickerel like they did bass I am sure we will have a blast.

For the bass I just left the flies brown but for the pickerel I think I am going to add a bit of red coloured deer hair. It seems that any thing I have thown at pickerel with red in it gets there attention.

I have even had soft plastic baits that they would hold on to even though they didn’t have a hook in them. Too much fun, can’t wait.

Image via Wikipedia

The most fun I had during the 2008 season was fishing pickerel with my fishing buddy Jamie. We only used our spinning rods so Jamie didn’t get the opportunity to experience what fly fishing for pickerel is like. Look out 2009.

I fish a lot from my float tube and pickerel is one of the most fun fish to catch on the fly here in New Brunswick. I know the Atlantic salmon can’t be beat but they sure come in a close second in my books.

I have had a few days fishing with friends from float tubes where we just had our arms pulled off all day long. It makes for one of those days that your face hurts from laughing and your throat hurts from yelling “FISH ON” all day long. Jamie is in for a treat he will never give up.

Fishing for pickerel almost always takes us to the weeds where it becomes important to have flies that are weedless or 95% of the time you will be hung up on the smallest of weeds. That tends to take a lot of the fun out of fighting pickerel as they fight a whole lot better than those darn weeds.

I am scouring the net for pike and pickerel flies for 2009 but I would appreciate it if you would take a minute and give me your opinion and best choice for artificial flies that catch pike and pickerel.