On Mar 17, 4:34*pm, David LaCourse wrote:
On 2010-03-17 17:15:31 -0400, "Bill Grey" said:







"David LaCourse" wrote in message
news:2010031618312175249-dplacourse@aolcom...
Went to my local fly shop today to get a line put on my 5 weight reel.
Asked the fellow behind the desk while the other guy was putting on my
line what the local trout have been hitting. *He cryptically said "egg
patterns." *Egg patterns? *Huh. *What fish spawn this time of the year in
these streams? *Suckers? *To early. *What? *Nothing spawns in these waters
this time of the year.

Hmmm. *No spawn and yet the fish are hitting egg patterns? *Sounds fishy
to me.

This afternoon Joanne and I were out shopping and stopped by this one
place. *I noticed fish pellet machines - plop in a quarter and you get a
handfull of fish food to throw at the fish. *They love it (both the
tourists and the fish). *Hmmmmm. *The pellets look like.......... wait for
it................ egg patterns.

Well, duh! *Match the hatch, eh? *Chances are they are hatchery fish to
boot. *I guess the tourist fly fishermen must be appeased.

Dave

Last year, *the local club stocked the river with brown trout. Just after
the stocking, while walking my dog, I tossed a smallpiece of dog food about
the sice of a baked been into the river only to see it instantly snatched by
a stockie which was probably conditioned to be fed by being thrown pellets
at the fishery. *I rose several fish by lobbing in the dog food pellets and
one of the local kids even tried tying a deer hair pattern to copy the food.

I don't suppose the fish you're talking about are stocked, but that could be
one reason.

Bill, it wouldn't matter whether they were stocked or not. *They have
been conditioned by the tourists throwing the fish food bought for a
quarter out of the vending machine.

A few years back I was fishing a pond near my home. *It is heavily
stocked in the spring and lots of bait fisherman go there to collect
their limit and put food on the table. *They weren't having very much
luck, while I was wacking them on every cast using a small pt nymph. *
They asked for each fish I caught, but I threw them back. *However, I
collected a handful of pepples on the beach and told them to cast their
bait into the pattern I would make when I threw the pebbles. *Two of
them did, and caught a fish. When I left, they were looking for more
pepples to throw.

Noblesse oblige.

Hey, food is food.

Ya got that right, chum.

g.