The Mountain Whitefish, aka Short Fin Grayling thread

[mcswny]

One of the best days of fishing in my entire life involved nothing but whitefish. My good friend and I fished a tributary of the Big Hole over 4th of July 2019. Green drakes and yellow sallies were everywhere. I missed quite a few fish on the drake pattern, thinking these were large brook trout. Once a #14 yellow Sally with no hackle was on my line, the dry fly action was non-stop. Between me and my buddy, we caught about 50 fish that day, before a thunderstorm chased us back to the car. The beer at the bar in Wise River tasted great that evening.
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Damn. I’ve never had the please of catching a whitey on a dry. 2023 goals?

 

[PhilR]

Someone should talk to Whitefish Ed in Boise.

“Freshwater Bonefish Forever”

 

[Greg Armstrong]

I caught my biggest whitefish on a bass popper. It was already tied on my leader after a six hour drive to the river when I saw rises in the moonlight. I pulled over, grabbed the rod, tossed it out there too strung out from the hours on the road to retie, and bam!
Thought I had the biggest Brown of my fishing career,but what a relief when I realized it was that big beautiful native instead.

 

[Jim F.]

I fished a tributary of the Big Hole over 4th of July 2019.

Back in my old stomping grounds!

 

[Capt Insano Emeritis]

Last winter instead of chasing steelhead I decided I would target whitefish. I had read about them so had some book learning, but in all my fishing I can't ever recall catching them. I figured winter would be a good time to target them as they tend to school and spawn in late fall and are known to hold together in large groups during the winter. In February I got my first two in the same pool. In my last couple outings I have been fortunate to catch a few. The other day I caught redbands, whitefish and a bull (by-catch and not to be pursed on purpose) all about the same size. I find the whitefish to be a fine fighter, cool looking in it's own way, and worthy to pursue, so as per the other conversation I'll get something started.
When I have found them, now fall and winter, it has been in large pools with structure like boulders.
I have to be deep at the bottom, otherwise I seem to get a trout, usually smaller.
I've been using a traditional 6 wt, mostly casting the weighted nymphs upstream and dead drifting, or swinging them into a soft spot and holding them there.
So far I have caught them on a beadhead hares ear, beadhead prince nymph, and one on a copper john.
I got some on size 8 hooks, but it looks so big in the fishes mouth. I downsized to 12, but that looks a bit big. A 10 prince nymph and 14 copper john worked. So I think I need smaller flies?, but how to get down, sink tip, drop shot rig (gross)? I saw a couple noses so I tied on a size 18 Griffiths gnat hopefully, but that fly seems so damn small! It did find tiny trout.
I have no clue where they are all summer?
I could really use some help from our knowledgeable group in my pursuit, and maybe some others will try it as well. Lets give the whitefish some love and respect it as the fine gamefish it is.
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Prominent reference them in drawings from published Lewis and Clark diaries. As a kid of 10-12 i fished with my foster brother Harvey in the Camas slough. This would have been 1963-65 when the water clarity was good enough to see pods of fish underthe log rafts. We caught a lot of white fish and ate them. Also fished the Muddy and eagle cliffs above The Lewis’ Swift reservoir. Lots of large whitefish that were aggressive biters. The crooked is loaded with whiefish

 

[M_D]

I joined the whitefish club yesterday .

The regs changed this year on a stretch of my local river so I took it as an opportunity to try sumpin’ new and fish for whities.

I rarely use an indicator so it was kind of a clustertruck for a while but after tying some impressive knots with my double fly rig and mastering some new curses I happened upon a set up that worked with my poor casting skills

Crummy pics but I ended up with one fiesty whitey and one little bull.

Neither fish were monsters by any means but they sure made me smile and what a hoot they were on my 5wt.

can’t wait to give it another ‘go’ next week

 

[clarkman]

Blue hand group...

 

[Tom Butler]

Blue man group...

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Beautiful fish.

 

[clarkman]

Beautiful fish.

thanks....I've got a bit of a grip on it....lol

 

[Blue Lines]

After reading this thread I’ll have to change my attitude toward whitefish. I’ve only caught a couple in the past, both times on a nymph when targeting larger redsides. In my experience the whitefish didn’t fight much, but rather felt like reeling in a deflated football.
Maybe I’ve just been unlucky? I’m sure it’ll feel different on a lighter rig.

 

[Tom Butler]

Was smelling that skunk, when I found the whitefish to save the day. Better than that, a personal best and maybe the best fish this winter. Whoooo.

 

[Capt Insano Emeritis]

Whitefish have earned respect… indigenous species that are still here

 

[mcswny]

Whitefish have earned respect

They’ve ALWAYS had my respect

 

[clarkman]

Whitefish have earned respect… indigenous species that are still here

not to mention an indicator species....

see what I did there?

 

[Shad]

Whiteys are cool. I seem to have a certain magnetism with them, because I have caught some absolute trophies while targeting trout in locations of lore. I must admit to being a bit disappointed when I find what I think is a big trout is a whitefish, but upon reflection, I'm not sure why.

Last year, I had two very different days on the same, small stretch of the Madison. First day, going upstream on one bank, I did very well on 18-20" rainbows and browns on a salmonfly nymph (hatch wasn't on yet, but the nymphs were definitely on the menu). Next day, I came upon a soft seam that extended about 70 feet and just HAD to have nice fish in it. Second cast through, I hooked what I figured to be a nice brown (it fought like one), but when it came to the bank, it was about a 22" whitey. I was genuinely pleased with that one... a cool surprise. Two casts later, I hooked its twin. I left after that to find trout, but with hindsight, I should have stayed; I probably could have caught several more in that spot.

Never caught one on a dry. That is probably a lot of fun, because with whiteys, if you can catch one, you can probably catch more. Good dry fly fishing is just fun, no matter what flavor the quarry.

 

[mcswny]

Whiteys are cool. I seem to have a certain magnetism with them, because I have caught some absolute trophies while targeting trout in locations of lore. I must admit to being a bit disappointed when I find what I think is a big trout is a whitefish, but upon reflection, I'm not sure why.

Last year, I had two very different days on the same, small stretch of the Madison. First day, going upstream on one bank, I did very well on 18-20" rainbows and browns on a salmonfly nymph (hatch wasn't on yet, but the nymphs were definitely on the menu). Next day, I came upon a soft seam that extended about 70 feet and just HAD to have nice fish in it. Second cast through, I hooked what I figured to be a nice brown (it fought like one), but when it came to the bank, it was about a 22" whitey. I was genuinely pleased with that one... a cool surprise. Two casts later, I hooked its twin. I left after that to find trout, but with hindsight, I should have stayed; I probably could have caught several more in that spot.

Never caught one on a dry. That is probably a lot of fun, because with whiteys, if you can catch one, you can probably catch more. Good dry fly fishing is just fun, no matter what flavor the quarry.

Just imagine that tiny little mouth sipping mayflies

 

[Matt B]

Just imagine that tiny little mouth sipping mayflies

Talk about sipping…Once on the Big Hole in early July in a good water year I came across a large school of steadily rising whitefish, in a nice well defined deep, slowish run. Their rises definitely had a sipping look to them. There was no discernible hatch of adult flying insects and I didn’t do any seining. I’ll never know what they were on, if anything, or how to explain the behavior, because I tried a few flies with no success, then switched back to a size 10 stimmy trailed by a 16 caddis, moved on, and got back to catching brown trout out of little pockets.

 

[mcswny]

size 10 stimmy trailed by a 16 caddis, moved on, and got back to catching brown trout out of little pockets

Sounds pretty good to me.

 

[Stonedfish]

Not the Mountain type, but an impressive Lake type.
SF

Zag Lands New WA Record Lake Whitefish At Roosevelt -

An Eastern Washington college student targeting walleye at Lake Roosevelt caught a new state record lake whitefish last weekend, a 7.86-pounder that also highlights an emerging fishery for an abundant species.

nwsportsmanmag.com

 

[Brute]

Not the Mountain type, but an impressive Lake type.
SF

Zag Lands New WA Record Lake Whitefish At Roosevelt -

An Eastern Washington college student targeting walleye at Lake Roosevelt caught a new state record lake whitefish last weekend, a 7.86-pounder that also highlights an emerging fishery for an abundant species.

nwsportsmanmag.com

Holy Whitefish Batman!...