Posted by Jim E (24.116.99.140) on November 03, 2003 at 09:21:28:
In Reply to: Re: Tip of the week posted by Lance Martin Liles on November 02, 2003 at 22:31:49:
...sorry to take so long to respond to your question. Since you posted I haven't had time to sit down and post what will probably be a long response.
I figured you were speaking about rivers other than the LMF since its really not an issue there. Like Donny wrote, it's a rarity to ever see any pairs of trout trying to do their thing.
I usually try to plan a trip to either the White or Little Red in October because of the spawn. My hopes are to catch some of these fish "on their way up river to spawn". Belly Boat Bob and I fished the White around Rim Shoals last month. There were a few browns hanging out there. They weren't paired up and there were no signs of any redds. I believe they were just on their way upstream. I have fished there in November and there would be a few fish paired up and on redds. A great time to fish....to fish for the rainbows hanging out down stream of the pairs, waiting for an easy meal. I have also caught smaller browns doing the same thing. The pairs spend half of their time(especially the males) chasing away these opportunistic feeders that get too close. The last thing on the pairs mind is feeding.
Cow Shoals on the Little Red has a big problem with fisherman fishing the spawners. Again, I've been there right before any actual spawning starts to take place. I have fished for the browns that are staged off. They are staged off waiting for the right moment for them to move up and start building redds, pairing off and so on. Last year I went in mid late October and was too early even for the staging fish. All that was to be found were thousands of yearling browns 5-7 inches long. If you had a small fly on you couldn't get away from them. Biggest brown I caught that trip was around 17 inches. I usually like to fish Mossy Shoals. The last C&R area down river but my boat motor decided "no way". It doesn't really get any spawners there because they all prefer to go further upstream.
To answer your question, I don't have a problem fishing around the spawn and even spawning fish AS LONG AS a fisherman is knowledgable about the goings on of a spawn, can identify redds and STAY OFF OF THEM and doesn't try to "snag" the spawning fish, which is usually what happens if they are fishing to them. There are plenty of other fish to be caught. I for one wouldn't be proud at all of a large fish caught off of a redd. Just like back when I used to fish Lake Fork alot, I would see several fisherman that would use large shiners and fish them under a balloon, yes a balloon, trying to catch trophy bass. First off I would never fish that way and if I did fish that way and caught a fish of a lifetime I would be ashamed to tell anyone what I caught it on. That type of "fishing" is not for me. It has all the same problems that bait fishing does for trout, mainly being deeply hooked fish.
Well, I've rambled on long enough, again.
Good fishing,
Jim <*)))))))><