I'll give that I try, I like fishing that way.
The Mountain Whitefish, aka Short Fin Grayling thread
- Thread starter Tom Butler
- Start date
With or without a maggot sweetener?
I find that whitefish will eat anything. The main issue is getting down to their level. In my experience, you want the fly to be literally scraping the bottom. I have never caught one on a bobber. I have caught more than I ever wanted to, while euro nymphing.
In the old Stan Jones WA State guide book that was a tip to improve your odds.
I catch lots on both...but I also use really little bobbers....maybe it's easier to get it drag free throughout the drift, I dunno.
Sometimes they really are a sucker for that vertical swing (under bobber or euro).
I mostly have grip photos....this is one of the times I fished with somebody who was nice enough to take a photo...I'm still not great at the hold that implies the greatest size....
@PhilR photo cred
I'll try to get some fresh photos tomorrow....
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I mostly have grip photos....this is one of the times I fished with somebody who was nice enough to take a photo...I'm still not great at the hold that implies the greatest size....
I'll try to get some fresh photos tomorrow....
Lift that tail, extend your arms, 45 degrees to the camera and show us that beautiful mug.
I've got a good one for the sucker thread....once someone starts it.
cedarslug
Steelhead
I've had some real good luck catching them whitefish in eddys, and rough foamlines where fast flows crashes into slow stretches of water. Ditto on removing the indicator, and tightlining or drop shotting will help a lot.
I know that some people roll their eyes at catching whitefish, but I don't. They don't always fight aggressively, but they sure are stubborn to bring to hand. Aren't they native to most of the western states?
I know that some people roll their eyes at catching whitefish, but I don't. They don't always fight aggressively, but they sure are stubborn to bring to hand. Aren't they native to most of the western states?
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Maggot if possible, worked best . But caught many without their use..
By the way. For you that enjoy eating fish. Winter caught Whitefish are delicious and are my number one favorite smoked fish, even tastier than salmon...
Agree. Not quite as good as lake whitefish in my opinion but very tasty.
Smoked whitefish on a cracker with cream cheese and a cold beer is hard to beat.
SF
I had a redneck salmon gear dude cuss me out (in a friendly way) from the far bank for releasing a good size whitey once because he love smoked whitefish so much. He though I was a damn fool for putting it back.
For rigging tightline line with whitefish in mind, which I plan to do with my ESN rod for a bit now, do you prefer one heavy fly, a heavy point with a lighter nymph on a dropper above, or the heavy fly up top and the smaller lighter fly, maybe even an egg pattern, on the point?
I also stopped at the sportsmans yesterday to get some bigger nontoxic shot and tungstem putty to try deepening/slowing a drift with a dropshot rig too.
Tom, I rig both the same. If I'm really wanting whitefish between late October and late March, I'm fishing a double egg. The first is tied on a jig hook with a 4.6mm tungsten bead and the second is tied off the eye of the jig hook with a size down in tippet. The second is always completely unweighted and never more than 9" from the tool egg fly. Often as close as 6". Once you get more than 12" off the weighted fly with a completely unweighted, then strike detection be ones an issue. I never use split shot with this setup and I have a pretty specific leader setup with a bobber.
I think your prince nymph would be money any other time of year.
Oh, if you want to figure out color preference, it probably goes without saying to go with different colors.
The smallest airlock will hold this up and itas easily castable on a monorig if you use 30lb as your mainline.
My egg rig is usually a drop shot rig. Big piece of shot on the bottom 6" up my first 6" tag with an unweighted egg then 12-18" up another 6" tag with another unweighted egg.
I understand the top tag is slightly less natural as it's not bopping around the bottom, but it still gets ate a lot.
I understand the top tag is slightly less natural as it's not bopping around the bottom, but it still gets ate a lot.
