Originally Posted by
Troutfisher
In my opinion, anybody who uses a stomach pump is a belly robber! A trout worked very hard to accumulate the contents of its stomach--bit by bit--and to take the food away, after it expended all that energy gathering it, certainly isn't doing the fish any good. This is especially true when food is scarace and it might not be easily replaced in a timely manner. Then, too, not everyone is gentle enough to use a stomach pump. This requires a special "feel", especially when a fish is struggling. It is not easily used unless the fish is fought to complete exhaustion which lessens its chances of survival after release.
Additionally, the longer to food is in a trout's stomach the harder it is to identify. Stomach acids start breaking it down and it becomes discolored and all mixed together. The secret of stomach-pumping is not to go in too deeply and only sample the food most recently consumed. However, when there's not a lot of food available and the fish hasn't been feeding actively, this is easier said than done.
Like I said in a previous post, our angling literature is full of reference material from masters who have already done all the work for us. Fish those patterns properly and you'll catch plenty of fish without going through all the work of collecting and matching. Keep in mind that hatches often overlap and there are different age classes of nymphs present at the same time. Trout are opportunistic feeders because of this making presentation far more important than pattern. Just about any general nymph pattern will take fish most of the time if it's fished properly.
I'll finish by suggesting that anyone wanting to see full color photos of nymphs go to Troutnut.com. Once again, all the work has already been done for you. Keep in mind that there is often a variation in colors, another arguement for it not being necessary to exactly match colors with BCS color samples, etc.
