|
My fishing buddy and I were talking about fishing (what else?).
The discussion revolved around the trout diet. His wife heard
the words trout diet and asked "Oh, is that
something new? I've tried the Bermuda diet, the Hollywood diet,
the grapefruit diet, the Atkin's diet, and the banana diet."
No trout
Giggling,
she said "Now, I'm on the seafood diet. You know the one.
I see food I eat it."
"
Sorry, but we were talking about what trout eat, not eating trout."
"
Well, that's good it's not about eating trout, because when he
goes fishing he never brings any home."
"
That's because I catch and release all the trout."
"
Yes dear, I'm sure that is the reason" as she smiled and headed
out the door.
Flies
After a good laugh we settled back to the more serious business
of figuring out what a trout's diet consists of. Understanding
what trout eat, identifying the food items, using flies that
imitate the food, and finally presenting that fly so the fly truly
looks
and moves the way the natural does, is the key to consistent
success.
What they want
Trout are quite opportunistic and eat
a variety of foods. However, at times they will be extremely selective
and
if
you don’t'
have what they want you are wasting your time. A cardinal rule
for fly fishing trout says you should give them what they want,
not what you want to give them. In a way it is similar to feeding
your kids. It's easier to give them what they want and a frustrating
long process to do otherwise. Instead of saying the trout weren't
biting we could more correctly state that they didn't want what
I was offering at the time I was there.
Stomach pump
How do you give the trout what they prefer at the
exact time you are there? By checking the stomach contents with
a stomach
pump.
The stomach pump looks like a small turkey baster. Carefully
inserted into the throat of the fish with the bulb depressed and
slowly
withdrawn it will suction out the recently eaten contents. The
fish can then be released with no harm to fight another day.
The stomach contents can now be checked. Recently eaten items tend
to float and will be intact. You may notice insects around and
assume that is what the trout are feeding on. Examination of
stomach
contents may show an insect you didn't notice.
Variety
In the lakes, trout dine on chironomids, caddis, mayflies,
mosquito larva, dragon and damselfly nymphs, leeches, scuds,
snails, water
boatman and minnows. .Being able to identify the food, selecting a fly of the right
color and size, and very important, presenting the fly at the proper
depth and retrieve almost assures tight lines.
(All previous issues are stored in the ARCHIVE for
your convenience)
|
Chironomids
Chironomids are the most prolific early hatch. Chironomids
look like a mosquito but thankfully don't have the biting parts.
Under
optimum conditions a square meter of lake bottom can contain
20,000 chironomids. They can be from 2-25mm in length and are mainly
brown,
green, black or red. The larvae live in burrows in the mud water
interface but mostly become available to the trout when they
pupate and slowly rise to the surface.
Shrimp
Scuds, often called fresh water shrimp, are eaten by trout year
round. Scuds have high caloric value and are responsible for
up to 50% of a trout's intake. Scuds are especially important for
the fast growing rainbow trout in some of our lakes. Scuds can
grow up to 25mm in length and are usually colored gray, brown,
tan, olive or cream.
Caddis
Caddis, at certain times of the year especially late spring
and early summer, can really turn the fish on. Caddis larvae
resemble a maggot with a dark head and legs. The larvae build a
house
of available material and drag it around with them. When the caddis
pupate they can rise very quickly to the surface. Trout know
this,
and attack caddis with ferocity, before they can break out of
the nymphal shuck and escape. Often the caddis, sometimes called
sedges,
can not become airborne immediately and skim along the surface.
Those skittering caddis bring savage strikes from trout, and
we dream of being there on the hatch.
Dragonflies
Dragonflies are the full meal deal for a trout. They are huge.
Dragonflies are a voracious predator and will eat anything they
can grasp. They are an ambush feeder and become available to
the trout when the dragon migrates to shore in late spring, early
summer
to hatch into the adult.
Damsels
Damselflies look like smaller, slimmer delicate dragons.
Trout feed on damsels as they swim their way to shore before
emerging. As with dragons, trout will feed exclusively on these
when the hatch
is on. One day last year, the examination of a cutthroat's stomach
contents showed what appeared to be a green Cuban cigar. It was
many hundreds of unlucky damsels.
Mayflies
Mayflies are numerous in our lakes, available year round, and
taken both as nymphs and adults. There are many varieties and colors
in this species. Trout tend to be very particular when a hatch
is on and prefer the exact color and size, Matching the hatch is
at times the most frustrating part of the learning curve in lake
fishing.
More next week...
Want to learn more? Read Randall Kaufmann's 'Lake Fishing
With A Fly' or Morris and Chan 'Fly Fish the Trout Lakes.'
On the Internet, go to Goggle.com and enter 'trout food.' Browse the sites. A
wealth
of
info.
|
Check for new photos on the Photo
page
|
.gif){kind=spacer}
