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[font "Poor Richard"][green][size 3][cool][/size][/green][/font][font "Poor Richard"][size 3][green]Earlier this year I attended a few seminars on fly fishing. One fly pro moderator would advocate that small flies can catch big fish while in another room the moderator would state small flies small fish large flies large fish. I guess to each his own. But thinking about the feeding habits of the trout species isn’t it a fact that trout eat a wide variety of organisms. Young trout eat small items, such as plankton, crustaceans and insects. Older trout eat snails, salamanders, frogs, snakes, small mammals and fish, as well as smaller food items. Then wouldn’t it stand to reason that older trout need a diet of larger food to sustain their growth? I guess that I opened a kettle of fish so to say. LOL Okay what is your take on this scenario? By the way don’t kill the messenger. LMAO[/green][/size][/font]
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They both are right ..... in the right locations and times.
Big fish have less inititive to chase small food due to shear size and the engery required to chase down something small.
But fish are very opportunistic as they say. If they can stay in place and it comes directly to them on a conveyor belt then they are going to eat it, big or small. On most tailwaters midges are very prolific in numbers. So big fish will lay where they can expend little energy and have lots of little tidbits come their way on the conveyor belt. Also where the midges are very prolific the other bugs tend to be smaller in size but higher in number. But that by no means is a hard rule.
Big flys will tend to get the attention of big fish. I understand that brown trout are a lot more likely to chase down a large fly at night than they are in the day. Also at night large flies are easier for the fish to locate.
In the winter time trout motablism is slower so they are a lot less like to move for any food and the bigger the fish the more likely it will not move.
So the water remains merky about big flys or little flies for big trout.
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Well put, Scruffy_Fly.
One other thing. Larger flies are much more difficult to present in a natural presentation. I will use a large fly like a Streamer, San Juan Worm or Leach and trail a small nymph in size 18 to 22 behind it.
Most Trout will take the nymph over the larger fly. Even the bigger fish.
That holds true for me on the Green River, Madison, and most smaller Northern Utah waters.
Now lakes are very different.
Large streamers rule on Strawberry and other lakes.
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speaking of strawberry. I read an article on the internet that 5 bodies were recently found in Strawberry using a special sonar system. two bodies were from a recent boating accident but 3 where from two different mishaps from a number of years ago.
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]I agree with the boys also. Different situations. We have talked on Henry's Lake Cutts on the ID site. They don't eat minnows. You all have seen the size fish I caught, (well they have checked the big fish up there and have found very little signs that they eat fish)[/size][/black][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]So, the big fish up there can and are caught on small flies. I know some have caught the big boy fish on spinners and such, but I truly believe they are bouncing right off their noses.[/size][/black][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]Strawberry on the other hand, I will throw out size 2's and get the big uns (of course I have caught my share on nymphs also)[/size][/black][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]I think in total confusion, different strokes for different fish[laugh][/size][/black][/font]
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