Small things that add up to a big difference.

[wwelz]

The first time I did a guided trip with Aaron he was freaked out by my wading staff having a metal tip and the noise it made when it hit the bottom of the river . I did not know Aaron that well at the time so I took it with a grain of salt but eventually I did put a rubber cap on the bottom of my wading staff. Since then Aaron has pointed out a number of small things that add up to a big difference. Every time I make one of these small changes I improve my catch rate. I have added a few myself. Here is my list - add others if you like .

1. Be stealthy - dampen all noise including noisy wading staff and stumbling on loose rocks.
2. Use good leader material ( the price of fluro flex sucks but it makes a difference)
3. Treat your leader with snake river mud or a similar product
4. Keep your vest free of items that may tangle your line.
5. Organize your flies- I have mine organized by type size and weight.
6. have a patch or similar item on your vest to keep flies readily available that you are using throughout the day.
7. Use good knots and practice them so you can tie them fast.
8. Keep your fly boxes on zingers so you don't loose them
9. Organize your vest or pack - put items back in the same place all the time so you can quickly find them. Put the most used items where they are easy to reach.
10 Barbless hooks are better for the fish an enable a quicker release so you can get back to fishing.
11. Before you enter a pool make a few quick casts from shore - You never know.
12. when your leader twists - replace it - it will continue to drive you nuts .
13 Carry a pair of polarized sunglasses in your vest. They help spot fish ,bottom structure and improve the visibility of your sighter.
14. Check your gear before you hit the water- it is easier to fix or replace or replenish things at home.

[frankm205]

Great list Mr. Welz, I would also add to wear neutral or camo colors instead of loud bright colors. If fish can see a small midge i'm sure they can see us!!

[Troutastic]

Always approach a section of water you plan to fish from behind. You won't spook the fish and can find them in some interesting places where you wouldn't think they'd be holding if you're stealthy enough.

Also, observation has been the key to my success. When I first started fly fishing I bought some flies from the local shop and when I got to the water I immediately started trouncing around and casting flies blindly hoping to get a strike. I spend much more time observing the water before I even begin to make casts. Check for flashes on the bottom, bugs along the edge of the river, types of rise forms, etc. Find out where the fish are and get an idea of what they're eating. You can save a lot of time and headache if you just take some time to read to the water and your surroundings.

More on the observation idea, recently I purchased a stomach pump for the fish I've been catching. This has been bumped up to one of my top tools on the water essential to my success. Hopefully I'm right on this, but I'm told that pumping the fish's stomach is painless to them, and can provide invaluable information as for matching the hatch. Investigating the contents can tell you size, color, species, and which bugs the fish are keying on at that point in time. Seeing these bugs and taking mental pictures has allowed me to develop some modifications to existing patterns that have greatly increased my catch rate. I highly suggest spending the $11 on this item.

[frankm205]

Troutastic,

How exactly does the stomach pump work?

[Troutastic]

Basically it looks like a small turkey baster with a tapered end. You squeeze some water into it (amount depends on size of fish), GENTLY put it down the fish's gullet and squeeze the water out, which it turn sucks out the contents of the stomach. Squirt the contents into your hand and instantly see the different bugs/stages that the trout are actively feeding on. The smaller the fish the less water/squeezing you do, I would try to steer away from fish smaller than 12". Like I said, it has been invaluable as of late.

For those other people using this tool, I would like to get a second opinion on the usage of these. From what I'm told it's no more harmful to the fish than hooking/playing/releasing a fish is.

Oh and here's a link to the device http://www.flyriteinc.com/gear.htm

[SherpaB]

Oh shit...if Aaron comes out this way I will be banished from fishing with him,,,,kidding...all those little tidbits definitely add up...Ive been getting lazy...I do need to clean up my vest a little bit..speaking of which does anyone have any ideas on leader storage...the leader wallet i had is bulky and a pain to get leaders into when fishing...Ive been using ziplock bags and stuffing them in my vest but it ends up being a tangled mess after switching out a leader... perhaps i dont need a dry leader and a nymph leader and a wet leader but they are all different and i like the way they work so im sticking with them..i do tye my euro leaders onstream with my big giant spool of P-line in my wader pocket..

[Silver Creek]

Actually a "stomach pump" is a throat pump. I've used one since the late 1970's when I read about them in a chapter titled What Trout Eat in the The Complete Guide to Fishing with a Fly Rod published by Fly Fisherman Magazine, ISBN: 0-87165-013-4. Carl Richards writes, "If fish are feeding underwater, two methods can be used to discover what they are feeding on. The best way is to catch a fish (usually one dummy can be taken using an attractor, fished wet, such as a Coachman) and pump his stomach with a simple stomach pump. A stomach designed for trout is an effective way of discovering what the fish are feeding on without harming it."

Currently the opinion is that you are actually sampling what is in the throat. This is safe because unlike humans, fish do not have a valve between the esophagus and the stomach. So you will not damage the esophagus unless you purposely force the tube down the fish.

Having said that, you do need to do it properly. The first thing is to net the fish. This allows allows you to keep the fish in the water. Turn the fish upside down. This disorients the fish and will serve to keep it still.

Most important is to not use the pump on a fish that is too small. Fill the pump completely water and then push out 1/2 of the water by compressing the bulb. Insert the tube gently into the throat and release the bulb so the remaining 1/2 of the bulb re-expands sucking up the food into the plastic stem. If nothing comes out, then without pulling out the tube, compress the bulb gently push in some of the water and then suck it back but don't suck material back into the bulb. Now release the trout.

The material in the tube should come out in the order that the fish ate it with the last item out being the one the fish ate last. You should not suck the items into the bulb or else they will get mixed up and you won't know for sure what was eaten last. If you did suck material into the bulb, examine the food and the freshest item was probably eaten last.

I rarely pump now since I usually know what the fish are eating. However, for the beginning fly fisher it is a wonderful educational tool. A portable sampling net and the stomach pump forms the two best methods of learning what the fish are eating.

Like many techniques in fly fishing, I believe using a stomach pump is what could be termed a fairness issue. Some fly fishers feel that nymphing is somehow unfair and some nymphers think nymphing with strike indicators is less fair than fishing without. So if you don't want to use a stomach pump, don't.

But stomach pumps are not a resource issue.

Regarding fish survival and population density, for a health fishery there is an average annual mortality of at least 30% and up 60% from natural causes. That is why C & R fishing does not impact a healthy fishery despite a mortality rate of about 3% for released fish. I doubt the usage of stomach pumps has any population impact, because they are used on occasion, whereas the 3% mortality applies to every fish caught.

The greatest unnecessary killers of C & R fisheries, I believe, is poor release technique and overplaying fish. Compared to these two, stomach pumps aren't even on the radar.

I personally believe the act of catching and releasing is more harmful than the act of pumping. Of course you need to catch a fish to pump it so the effects are additive. But we were to be given the choice of having our throats sampled or having a hook put in our jaw and dragged around, most of us would choose the pump.

I believe that properly performed, sampling via a stomach pump is no more injurious than a properly performed C & R. When done incorrectly it can kill but so can C & R, and I suspect that there are hundreds of fish C & R'd for every fish pumped. I pumped two fish total last year and that was to show a beginner what the fish were feeding on.

Early in my fishing while on the San Juan, I've taken sequential samples that have shown the fish as they moved from eating nymphs to emergers to adults. It is one thing to read about such things and another to actually sample and see it happen experimentally.

Here's a sample I took on the Madison River back in 2008:



The two green caddis pupae were still alive.

[Troutastic]

Thanks for the info SC, I appreciate it. More or less I'm using the pump as a tool to tie up accurate depictions of the animals I'm finding underwater/in the stomachs of the fish. Generally speaking I know what they're feeding on coming to the river.

Being a novice tyer though I like to try and mimic these bugs in my own way or modify existing patterns to suit my needs, as the bugs change slightly from river to river and I like experimenting with my own flies.

[frankm205]

Silver that's awsome finding live bugs in the fish!

[Troutastic]

[quote author=Frankm205 link=topic=4424.msg34793#msg34793 date=1273530182]
Silver that's awsome finding live bugs in the fish!
[/quote]

Yep, I've seen live bugs in the gullet as well. Pumped the stomach and found some squirming midges and an emerging caddis, its pretty awesome what you find...