Bob wrote:
On Sep 20, 8:36 pm, Todd wrote:
Hi All,

In October our Brown's spawn. I would love your opinion on
the following. But first some data on my stream.

There is only about a half a mile open to the public.
At the top of it is a broken down dam that is a barrier
to migration (unless they can jump ~ 40 feet straight up).
Below the dam are lots of spots with sand and gravel.

Below the half mile, there is about five miles of downstream
that is private that you can not get to for wild ones to
migrate from. I have verified from several source that
this stretch does have a healthy Brown population.

Questions:

1) do Brown migrate upstream to spawn? If no, don't
bother with the rest of these questions.

2) To get them to strike, am I
a) trying to feed them, and/or
b) trying to **** them off?

3) do they leave after they spawn? If so, is
it immediate, or do I have a bit of time to
get at them?

4) are their spawning revs close to feeding lies?
Or should I abandon my know lies and go for the gravel?
If gravel, what should I target?

5) what flies would you use under these circumstances?

Many thanks,
-T

Although, I do not believe in fishing for fish on their redds, that is
a personal decision that I don't try to foist on others. If its legal
and you have no qualms about fishing for spawning fish go for it.

1.& 4. Browns will migrate to good spawning habitat whether that is
upstream or downstream, and it is not linked to feeding lies. Ideal
spawning habitat has a bed of clean gravel from pea sized to ping pong
ball size - with little sand present, a depth of ~1-4', and a flow
speed about as fast as a brisk walking pace. The redds will be
recognizable by being dish shape (to slightly eliptical) depressions
in the gravel from ~1 1/2 - 5' in dia that are much lighter in color
than the surrounding gravel and with a slight berm on the downstream
side.

2. & 5. Browns will aggressively defend their redds and will attack
any fish,crayfish or predatory insect that encroaches. Thus a streamer
( a Wooley bugger would likely be a good choice) that is stripped
through or hung into an occupied redd would probably draw a vicious
strike.

3. They will leave fairly soon after spawning, but not all fish spawn
at the same time. In many areas spawning stretches well into
November.

Rainbows will hang below spawning Browns to pick up any stray eggs and
to pick up any nymphs that are dislodged while the Browns build their
redds, so fishing for these Bows (if present in the stream) is a good
alternative to fishing for spawners.

If you do decide to fish over spawning fish, please take care not to
wade through redds since you may crush eggs that are present.

Bob Weinberger (now residing in DuPont,WA)

Bob,

Wow! Thank you!

I would not worry too much about me catching spawning
trout. I am really not that good at it. And, I usually
let them go, unless they bleed out on me. Then
it's the dinner table.

I also prefer to fish from the bank and seldom wade.
(In this river, except at the low water point in the
fall, you'd probably get killed if you attempted to
wade it.) I prefer to target the rapids and the tops
of the pools and the hydrolic cushins at the backs of
the pools. The pools themselve are usually fished out
by the bait fisherman.

I have always thought, maybe incorrectly, that spawning
fish are not entirely interested in eating. So, I
am thinking I should target the bows. Any thoughts on
that subject?

-T
p.s. you are an excellent writer.