11-20-2008, 06:47 PM
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When you think about it – why should stocked trout hit on a dry, nymph or a streamer? After all that is not what they are fed at the hatchery. However, I would think that after a few days in the river hunger would overcome them and they would eat anything in sight. To thrive in a hatchery, fish feed aggressively on the top of the water, where their food pellets are scattered. Perhaps that is why one catches [at least me] a lot of small fish [8 -10”] on a dry fly.[/size][/#008000][/font]
[font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4]In the wild, that sort of behavior will get a smolt eaten by a kingfisher. It wasn't until 1960, with the advent of pelletized feed made from fish meal that hatcheries had significant success in raising large numbers of fish to large fingerling size or even to the smolting stage, when the fish begin to adapt to salt water for their adult lives. Fish were not the only one that had to adapt to this changed food source. In Astoria (Oregon) the most common fish lure these days is fashioned to look like a tiny artificial food pellet (the Oregon Moist Pellet) rather than the traditional insect or egg. So what do you think?
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When you think about it – why should stocked trout hit on a dry, nymph or a streamer? After all that is not what they are fed at the hatchery. However, I would think that after a few days in the river hunger would overcome them and they would eat anything in sight. To thrive in a hatchery, fish feed aggressively on the top of the water, where their food pellets are scattered. Perhaps that is why one catches [at least me] a lot of small fish [8 -10”] on a dry fly.[/size][/#008000][/font][font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4]In the wild, that sort of behavior will get a smolt eaten by a kingfisher. It wasn't until 1960, with the advent of pelletized feed made from fish meal that hatcheries had significant success in raising large numbers of fish to large fingerling size or even to the smolting stage, when the fish begin to adapt to salt water for their adult lives. Fish were not the only one that had to adapt to this changed food source. In Astoria (Oregon) the most common fish lure these days is fashioned to look like a tiny artificial food pellet (the Oregon Moist Pellet) rather than the traditional insect or egg. So what do you think?
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