Pellet head flies

[alm21]

Being new to fly fishing, I want to practice by slinging some flies at the pellet head bows. Can anyone suggest some flies that would be good for targeting these from the bank when they have just been stocked (so not in the system long at all). I was thinking of using something under an indicator.

 

[Drew9870]

These are basically aquarium fish, nothing is natural to them, and they are used to being able to eat everything that falls through the water column.

Fact is, you can tie a florescent rainbow bugger with an orange hot bead and catch them, I tie only bright colored flies for stockers for one reason, so it can be seen from a longer distance, unless I am in crystal clear water, then I change to a black bugger with a black tail.

Think aquarium fish! What aquarium fish are picky after being hand fed for so long?

 

[troutdude]

Try these:

https://catalog.theflyshop.com/product_info.php?products_id=7703

 

[Mad dog]

Being new to fly fishing, I want to practice by slinging some flies at the pellet head bows. Can anyone suggest some flies that would be good for targeting these from the bank when they have just been stocked (so not in the system long at all). I was thinking of using something under an indicator.

Small dark nymphs with gold ribbing and a beadhead....Try a prince nymph....my boys used to hammer'em with beadhead prince nymphs when they were learning to flyfish. Just the right amount of flash in a small fly, hatchery trout may be raised in a cement tank but they do have instinct and they do learn fast what real food is!

 

[brandon4455]

chironomid pupa alsocalled snow cones. work them under and indicator in lakes and ponds. let it sit, or very very slow retrieve and pause.

 

[troutdude]

Just the right amount of flash in a small fly, hatchery trout may be raised in a cement tank but they do have instinct and they do learn fast what real food is!

I have read that it only takes a few short days, for them to re-acclimate to their natural instincts.

 

[alm21]

Thanks for the great tips guys. I'm supposed to take my daughter out tonight after school to get her into them. I slayed them with lures last night and she wasn't able to go (wished I had my fly rod). Ran to Orvis and grabbed these at lunch. What do you think? Doable?

 

[troutdude]

Yeah, that ought to do the trick! Good luck!

 

[alm21]

Cool, thanks again. I'll report back.

 

[halibuthitman]

the amount of time a fish is in a system, wether it be a stocker trout, steelhead.. or salmon really doesn't matter, hunger sets in almost instantly, the thing to try to key in on is the amount and nature of the food in the new enviroment, if its a muddy pond, a leech pattern is going to slay, if its a mountain lake at 3000 ft, most likely a san jaun worm or flying ant patterns gonna slay. Start with pink, if pink doesn't work the fish have begun to aclimate and switch over to natural feed, at this point emtomology starts to come into play. Hares ear beadheads and tiny prince nymphs rigged in a truck and trailer fashion behind a crystal bugger will almost always produce.

 

[brandon4455]

the bead head prince,pheasent tail,san juan worm and the shiny ones on the far bottom left look like they would do great to me.

 

[Mad dog]

Thanks for the great tips guys. I'm supposed to take my daughter out tonight after school to get her into them. I slayed them with lures last night and she wasn't able to go (wished I had my fly rod). Ran to Orvis and grabbed these at lunch. What do you think? Doable?

Those beadhead pheasant tails look particularly trouty too me! Fish one on a steady slow retrieve, real short stripping action....if the recent stockers don't jump all over them(Which they probably will!), i'm sure some acclimated trout would mistake them for mayfly nymphs or possibly a damselfly nymph! That fly would for sure hammer new stockers at East lake during the Callebaetis hatch....done it many times with that fly!

 

[FlyBum]

Well, that's a pretty good selection to begin with, Hatchery Tards will take those as well as the natives. The egg patterns and san juans don't always do it depending on the time of year as to what is spawning or what the entomology of the river is. It's a good bet with the scuds year round as well as the may fly (PT's) but attractors like the lightening bugs and princes are good flies to have too. Depending on the water type (speed and depth) you will want to get all these flies down and quick. Think about adding some shot or using bigger flies in a two nymph rig as a lead fly to get these down into the feeding lane.

Pellet flies don't always appeal to the stockers as mentioned above, as much as knowing what other "trout food" is in the river system. Attractor patterns are a good starter any where as a searching pattern regardless of what's in the river.

 

[OnTheFly]

hatchery trout may be raised in a cement tank but they do have instinct and they do learn fast what real food is!

I have read that it only takes a few short days, for them to re-acclimate to their natural instincts.

X2 on both of these posts. It takes only a few days and the stockers will hit dries and nymphs. Retrieve a Hares Ear slowly along the bottom or just above the weed beds. Strip and pause soft hackles and buggers roughly 10 feet below the surface. Match and change to dry flies when fish are hitting on top water. If the fish are there these methods will work.