Bull Trout flies (and techniques)

[Lorney]

I tie rainbow trout and cutthroat trout looking patterns. I tie with quite a bit of weight to make sure it gets down in the current. Have had fairly good success and really enjoy fishing for them. Some fish take longer to catch but if your persistent sometimes just one more pass through the run can be the one that triggers the bull to bite.

 

[RyRy82]

Di

I tie rainbow trout and cutthroat trout looking patterns. I tie with quite a bit of weight to make sure it gets down in the current. Have had fairly good success and really enjoy fishing for them. Some fish take longer to catch but if your persistent sometimes just one more pass through the run can be the one that triggers the bull to bite.
View attachment 5318

Dinosaur!

 

[Dr. Magill]

I tie rainbow trout and cutthroat trout looking patterns. I tie with quite a bit of weight to make sure it gets down in the current. Have had fairly good success and really enjoy fishing for them. Some fish take longer to catch but if your persistent sometimes just one more pass through the run can be the one that triggers the bull to bite.
View attachment 5318

Awesome
Can we have a peek at some of your ties??

 

[Lorney]

Will try to remember to dig some out when I get home and post some pics. Fairly simple ties with white belly, green on top and pink flash down the side. Put some light orange in the belly sometimes like a cutthroat. I put dumbbell eyes on and wrap some wire on the shank. I just find the weight helps me to get down to where they are sitting when you have heavy current or back eddies. Full sinking lines can help but the fly can still ride high in the water if it’s unweighted. I have more success when I can get the fly right down near bottom.

 

[Lorney]

Di

Dinosaur!

Yes the big old ones have so much character. Scars and battle wounds. Have to respect a fish that can get that size in that type of environment.

 

[Dr. Magill]

Have you ever used this fly with success?

 

[Lorney]

Have you ever used this fly with success?

View attachment 5348

I have but not for Bull trout. Most of the flies I fish for bulls are 4-6” in length. Not necessary but that’s what I use. I know guys that catch them on nymphs. I have caught a small about 16” on a dry mosquito that came out from under a foam line. Lots of different things work but I find the big guys don’t move much for small meals. Just my experience with them.

 

[Matt B]

I have but not for Bull trout. Most of the flies I fish for bulls are 4-6” in length. Not necessary but that’s what I use. I know guys that catch them on nymphs. I have caught a small about 16” on a dry mosquito that came out from under a foam line. Lots of different things work but I find the big guys don’t move much for small meals. Just my experience with them.

Do you mostly fish the Columbia drainage or coastal drainage(s)? It seems like there are some strong behavioral, life history, and even phenotypic differences between those two general groups of bull trout.

 

[Lorney]

I mostly fish for them in the mountain streams of Alberta. I have fished for them on the Columbia north of the border. I can imagine there would be big behavioural differences between fish in small mountain streams and those in big rivers. In small mountain streams you can usually see the fish, monitor their behaviour and switch up tactics based on what they are doing. In the Columbia I was swinging big streamers near small creek inflows and log structure. I did fairly well but it is much different fishing than watching the fish in small crystal clear rivers.

 

[QuickreleaseEN]

I always fish flies with a lot of white in them. Bull trout are super reactionary predators... white looks like any baitfish that swims and can be seen in any water condition. Olive over white, black over white, tan over white. Or just plain white.

4.5" of olive and white is my go-to for coastal fish. Fish mid water column and give er' action. Speed is usually your friend, bulls don't really ever become sluggish even in the dead of winter.

 

[FindingFly]

I don't know much at all about bull trout.... but when I moved to Oregon a decade ago I had a buddy point me in the direction of his favorite steelhead run..... 51 riffle. About half way through, swinging a black leech I connected with my very first fish of any type on the deschutes. On the bite I just assumed it was a steelhead, but turned out to be about a 16 inch bull trout. 10 years of fishing that river quite a lot for both trout and steelhead and I've never seen another one, or talked to anyone who has ever caught one on the lower D. Weird

 

[Matt B]

I mostly fish for them in the mountain streams of Alberta. I have fished for them on the Columbia north of the border. I can imagine there would be big behavioural differences between fish in small mountain streams and those in big rivers. In small mountain streams you can usually see the fish, monitor their behaviour and switch up tactics based on what they are doing. In the Columbia I was swinging big streamers near small creek inflows and log structure. I did fairly well but it is much different fishing than watching the fish in small crystal clear rivers.

They looked more interior to me. More olive, and a bit toothier. But that’s a huge generalization for a species with an amazing amount of intraspecific diversity.
I used to think bigger flies were better for our coastal bulls and I still think 4”+ flies have their place but I sure like casting smaller flies better, and much of the time I feel they are every bit as effective as a dolly llama that casts like a wet gym sock (but admittedly moves and fishes great).

 

[Grandpa Jim]

Swung one up with metal this last week while looking for steelhead. I occasionally run into them swinging flies for steelhead but this is first on hardware.

 

[Smalma]

I find bull trout (at least in north Puget Sound) to be as adaptable and with as diverse behaviors as any of salmonids in the area. I'm not surprised that folks are seeing differences in both coloration and behaviors between those found in the smaller tributaries than what often is seen on our north sound streams. In those smaller streams the larger fish are returning to their natal streams for spawning which is a much difference situation from where the fish are either recovering from spawning and/or are looking for forage opportunities.

For flies I don't use any weighted flies and tie with materials that don't hold much water (no rabbit strips, marabou, etc.). By avoiding the weight and waterlogged flies I find I can fish tackle more suitable for the size of fish normally encountered. Most of the tackle used to target steelheads overwhelms most bulls. In my nearly 50 years of targeting our native char with flies I have found them to be the most interesting of the fish in our rivers that have seriously challenged my fly tying and presentation games. I like to think success with bull trout has been with an improvement in my game.

Curt

 

[Bob Rankin]

I’ve swung up a few with this guy, including a small king on the Yakima with a 4wt spey.

 

[Chris Johnson]

I know of a few mid depth buckets, that with something a few inches long in white almost always brings a Bull out. I lost probably my biggest one last year. Never put eyes on it, but it was HEAVY!

I hooked one years ago on river X that straightened my hook, it flopped on the surface a couple times before it hit the fast water, double digits easy.

 

[Smalma]

One of the aspects of fishing for bull trout that I enjoy is just do not know when that "stud" of fish will take our flies. Experience has taught us that we encounter such fish at a rate far below their relative abundance in the population.

curt

 

[mtskibum16]

I have very limited experience with bulls, but have had success with this fly in purple and black. White is probably the way to go though. Single hook and casts fine on a 6wt. I caught them swinging and stripping and just dead drifting through a fast narrow runs.

 

[mcswny]

I have very limited experience with bulls, but have had success with this fly in purple and black. White is probably the way to go though. Single hook and casts fine on a 6wt. I caught them swinging and stripping and just dead drifting through a fast narrow runs.

View attachment 6911

Thats a cool fly. Your creation? recipe?

 

[mtskibum16]

Thats a cool fly. Your creation? recipe?

I couldn’t remember so I dug around at the old site to find what I said about it originally. It’s heavily influenced by Gunner Brammer’s Trout Nugget. But sized down and lead eyes. Here are a couple color variations. Looks like I did do white. The bigger one is a by the book Trout Nugget I think. I'll quote myself from the old tying threat.

"I am using the stacked SF blend belly Gunnar Brammer uses in the "trout nugget." I tie in the eyes, then make a thread bump at the hook bend (to stop the bunny later), few strands of flash, stacked belly, collar, rubber legs (on some). Then poke the bunny strip on and pull until it hits the thread bump. Stretch and tie off right behind the eyes. Single dubbing stack in front of eyes. It's actually pretty quick and easy after tying a few."