Along the lines of dampening noise, would it make sense to not wear studded wading boots, since the metals studs would hit the rocks and make noise in the water? Something I never even thought about until I read this thread.
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Along the lines of dampening noise, would it make sense to not wear studded wading boots, since the metals studs would hit the rocks and make noise in the water? Something I never even thought about until I read this thread.
[quote author=Garrett P. link=topic=4424.msg34818#msg34818 date=1273596496]
Along the lines of dampening noise, would it make sense to not wear studded wading boots, since the metals studs would hit the rocks and make noise in the water? Something I never evaen thought about until I read this thread.
[/quote]
I think it depends on the type of water. In riffles there is a lot of background noise so I doubt it makes much of a difference. In slow water, it probably will make a difference.
But you need to think about it a bit more. Studs make noise against hard surfaces ie, rocks and gravel. Where are there the greatest number of rocks and gravel that we wade on? - rapids, riffles and the faster waters, exactly where there is a lot of background noise. Where is there the least amount of rock and gravel and a lot of sand and silt? - slow waters where studs make very little noise.
So the speed of the water flow tends to hide the stud noise where it occurs most. It is almost self correcting. So yes, studs make noise, but they make the most noise where that noise is the most difficult to for the trout to hear.
I think personal wading safety always trumps anything else. A very famous fly fisher and strong wader, Ken Miyata, died from ignoring that major rule of safety first.
As a younger fly fisher I have been in some terrifying places. One time on the San Juan I thought for sure I was going to take a spill and that I might leave my two sons fatherless. I never took a risk like that again. So remember that fly fishing can be unforgiving in many ways and even the best of us sometimes forget that we need to stay safe even if that means we catch fewer fish.
SC, Thanks for the reply. It really made a lot of sense. I guess the extra noise from the fast water would cover up a lot of the noise made from the studs hitting the rocks.
[quote author=Troutastic link=topic=4424.msg34778#msg34778 date=1273511700]
Basically it looks like a small turkey baster with a tapered end.
[/quote]
Troutastic,
I don't know if you caught this, but in another reply I mentioned Ken Miyata, one of the best fly fishers and biologists of his time. Ken used a "stomach pump" to gain knowledge about trout and what they eat.
"Using a turkey baster, he might pump a trout’s stomach to learn what insects the fish had been eating that day."
http://harvardmagazine.com/2000/07/ken-miyata.html
You have discovered how valuable this tool is in becoming a more educated fly fisher. But, as you know, we have to be very careful that we don't use it on small fish.
Agreed. I steer away from pumping the stomachs of fish under 12". Most of the time I don't have a problem pulling fish out in that range and above, even if I don't exactly know what they're feeding on at the time. My go-to patterns are called those for a reason ;). Anyways, I also usually have a solid idea of what bugs are coming off going to the river in general, as I do a good bit of research before hitting new rivers or those I haven't fished in a while.
That being said, I'm really enjoying trying to mimic my findings of their stomach contents into my own patterns or modifications to existing ones, and its really starting to pay off.
That article you linked is pretty cool too, its nice to know that there are a handful of crazies out there who live, breath and die fly fishing like most of us on this forum ;D, even though I'm sure this guy was lightyears beyond us.
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