Okay guys, don't kill me but...

[gunner1]

What the heck is the big deal about trout anyway??? Whenever someone mentions this fish, it's like it's being put on a pedastal. I know alot of fishermen persue this fish, many here on this board as well, and it always seems to be looked at in an almost spiritual light. Maybe I just don't get it, but it seems that if anything could posssibly negatively affect the trout population in a given body of water, people will take up arms to right the wrong. Come on people, a fish is a fish and one doesn't out rank another. This is very similar to hunters who say they don't care if "assault weapons" are banned because they don't use them or like them. If the antis divide us as sportsmen, then they conquer us as sportsmen and we won't be fishing for ANYTHING.

[outdoorsman]

I love to fish for stripers, and I love to flyfish for trout...I get upset equally when either one is in trouble.

I agree, we all need to unite.  Fishermen of all kinds, and also fishermen uniting with hunters.  There are more and more anti's out there...they seem to be waaaay too organized and have waaaay too much money.

[gunner1]

I love to fish for stripers, and I love to flyfish for trout...I get upset off equally when either one is in trouble.

I agree, we all need to unite.  Fishermen of all kinds, and also fishermen uniting with hunters.  There are more and more anti's out there...they seem to be waaaay too organized and have waaaay too much money.

 Unfortunately, it seems like we are our own worse enemies.

[archbishop]

Unfortunately, it seems like we are our own worse enemies

well said gunner it seems the antis just say something stupid and then along comes 100 sportsmen defending the sportall with different views and them they start arguing amongst themselves and the anti-sportsmen just sit back and laugh

[Hood]

I think its the whole aura that surrounds trout. Catching them can be tougher than other fish as they can occupy the deepest darkest holes of lakes and rivers, the flip side of that could be finding the magic oxygen zone in dead summer and pulling them in, also is the ability to match a fly to rising fish that is finnicky enough to ignore a size 14 and take a 16(not to mention color), also the places we find trout....long hikes into remote ponds and hours wading through pristine water in natural settings. Then theres the fish themselves, far more colorful than many others, theres nothing like landing a native brookie all lit up. Maybe its the way a large male will grow fat and his jaw will begin to hook. It can be a great release from big lakes and motor boats and noise and such, I have nothing against other fish, I fish pike all winter and love it, in the spring I catch Smallies mixed in with trout and salmon, they are all great species. The bottom line about trout, I believe, is that they are glorified as a "purists" fish and are portrayed that way all over, expecially on TV shows every day.

[Jdawg67]

Well said Hood.  I have goosebumps.  Like you said it's about the pursuit.  It's about walking so carefully through a stream, so you don't spook the fish.  Sneaking up on that next whole because the way it looks, it has to hold the mamouth you have been waiting for all morning.  Youget within range and have to make that perfect cast, and when you do you know it.  The fish has to be there.  Then seconds later a fish electrifies the rod and dances across the shallow water.  It can be a 10" brown, but it still hits like it is a 40lb king.  You walk all day and each hole looks better than the last.  I live to fish, but nothing, and I mean nothing hold as much prestige for me as naitive small stream trout.    About 92 hours till it opens. 

JDawg

[d_balm24]

Well said Hood.  I have goosebumps.  Like you said it's about the pursuit.  It's about walking so carefully through a stream, so you don't spook the fish.  Sneaking up on that next whole because the way it looks, it has to hold the mamouth you have been waiting for all morning.  Youget within range and have to make that perfect cast, and when you do you know it.  The fish has to be there.  Then seconds later a fish electrifies the rod and dances across the shallow water.  It can be a 10" brown, but it still hits like it is a 40lb king.  You walk all day and each hole looks better than the last.  I live to fish, but nothing, and I mean nothing hold as much prestige for me as naitive small stream trout.    About 92 hours till it opens. 

JDawg

Well put jdwag nothin beats bustin your butt all day for a perfect cast and a great trout in a serene enviroment. Even if the trout really isn't that big.Still well worth it in my eyes

[Pasquatch]

Gunner1, my guess is that the thread that you are mainly referring to when you say

Maybe I just don't get it, but it seems that if anything could possibly negatively affect the trout population in a given body of water, people will take up arms to right the wrong.

is the one on the jigging forum where TFB, Mackdaddy, and I are talking about the elite flyfishermen that are trying to lobby the Colorado government to make waters cater to their whims. If this is true, the reason that we are so upset is that it seems to get harder all the time to go fish with bait, either due to new regulations against natural bait, or dealing with snobby elitist flyfishermen who talk down to you for fishing with bait.
If anyone wishes to read more on my problems with certain flyfishermen, here's the link:

Why do I love fishing for trout, both with flies and worms? Its a whole bunch of reasons. Part is simply that it is the first openwater fishing that is available to me, I love it when April 1st comes after waiting for that long time period when the ice is crappy, but no water is open or legal to fish. I love it because it lets me get out in some of the most beautiful scenery I know. I have spent the last three days scouting one little stream that I don't fish much but is very close to my house. I've found some beautiful holes, each better than the last. Who knows if any actually hold fish, but they're all beautiful.

Trout fishing isn't like any other kind of fishing. It takes more patience, realization of your surroundings, and you must remain quiet. It isn't mindless casting and retrieving like all the other fishing I love, its about stalking up to the perfect hole, making the perfect cast, having just the right weight so the worm bounces with the current right past that laydown or undercut bank, or having just the right pattern to match the forage du jour while maintaining no drag. Some holes hold fish, some don't. Some fish will bite, some won't. But if and when that little fish taps your bait, its like nothing else. The fight might not be that long, but when if you do manage to get the trout to your feet, you feel like you're on top of the world. If its a monster 19 inch brown or a 7 inch native brookie, it doesn't really matter, its just being able to get so close to some of the greatest things this world has to offer.

One fish doesn't outrank another? Sorry, but I think you're wrong. I love bass, pike, walleye, catfish, and all the others, but trout from a small stream, well, nothing can compare to it. Maybe not even better, that certainly could be argued, but its definitely a whole different game, one that someone really has no say in until they have experienced years of both.

Hate to sound "spiritual" or anything, but if you've ever fished for trout like I do, I think you know what I'm talking about.

[Chainsaw]

     I have almost sixty years of fishing experience, fishing for virtually any fin that swims, from the Louisiana Bayous, to Alaska, and Maine, and the importance of the Trout/Salmonid family is most often overlooked by those unlucky enough not to have them in their geographical areas, and/or, those ignorant enough about fishing and water health not to realize that they are the fish that aprise us, and the world, that the water quality that they must have in order to survive also means that the water quality that WE must have to survive, is in jeopardy.
     I most often find that the non-Trout folks have/use, little or no sense about such things as these often because they usually think of the 'Trout' fishermen as elitist snobs who think they are better/richer than themselves, as indeed a few of the Trout folks feel they are.
     On examination of this 'Discrepancy', I find that the Trout people are often more cognizant of the problems of water purity than say, the Bass fisherfolk, or the Catfish 'Juggers', or the Carp catchers, right on down to the kids fishing for 'Sunnies' or Bullheads. Mainly because those species of fish can live anywhere, regardless of the amount, or type of polutants in any body of water. Ergo: They are easier and cheaper to catch in a quantity commensurate with the target weight many non-Trout folks normally go fishing for. For example; A 40lb Catfish on a .05cent worm is cheaper than an 8oz Trout on a $2.00 fly, and so on ad infinitem.
      Thus the issue of water quality is often lost on the non-Trout people. We absolutely HAVE to have top quality water for Trout, and when we find that Trout can no longer survive in their native waters because of polutants then we have to begin to worry that our own water, for consumption and other human needs, is being degraded as well.
       Trout, and Trout habitat, define the quality of water all the way down the line, keeping in mind that while Carp can live, and thrive, in Trout waters, Trout seldom, if ever, live in the waters that have deteriorated to the point that only Carp can live there. I would rather drink the water, untreated, from a lake that is capable of supporting Trout, than from ANY waters that can only support Carp.
        What it boils down to is that introducing non-native predator fish into a lake with a barely sustainable Trout population will eventually see the Trout eaten out of the lake and our general ability to monitor the lake quality diminished to an acceptance of lower quality waters, for the fish, and in the end, for us and our children.
         THAT'S why Trout lakes should be kept Trout lakes instead of Bass ponds, not just because 'Special' people fish there. Let's not cut off our noses to spite our faces here folks. Educate, Educate, Educate. I may have oversimplified here somewhat but hopefully the idea comes through. We want, and need, clean water, and Trout are the easiest fish to use to monitor water quality. Thank You.

[hayfieldheller]

i would have to agree with you guys, nothing is better than a day at your favorite stream, casting and searching for that monster rainbow or brooky you just know is in there somewhere, and you are willing to fish into the night if you have to just to catch another fish or get "one more cast"as many of us like to say but never stick to.

[Pasquatch]

    I have almost sixty years of fishing experience, fishing for virtually any fin that swims, from the Louisiana Bayous, to Alaska, and Maine, and the importance of the Trout/Salmonid family is most often overlooked by those unlucky enough not to have them in their geographical areas, and/or, those ignorant enough about fishing and water health not to realize that they are the fish that aprise us, and the world, that the water quality that they must have in order to survive also means that the water quality that WE must have to survive, is in jeopardy.
     I most often find that the non-Trout folks have/use, little or no sense about such things as these often because they usually think of the 'Trout' fishermen as elitist snobs who think they are better/richer than themselves, as indeed a few of the Trout folks feel they are.
     On examination of this 'Discrepancy', I find that the Trout people are often more cognizant of the problems of water purity than say, the Bass fisherfolk, or the Catfish 'Juggers', or the Carp catchers, right on down to the kids fishing for 'Sunnies' or Bullheads. Mainly because those species of fish can live anywhere, regardless of the amount, or type of polutants in any body of water. Ergo: They are easier and cheaper to catch in a quantity commensurate with the target weight many non-Trout folks normally go fishing for. For example; A 40lb Catfish on a .05cent worm is cheaper than an 8oz Trout on a $2.00 fly, and so on ad infinitem.
      Thus the issue of water quality is often lost on the non-Trout people. We absolutely HAVE to have top quality water for Trout, and when we find that Trout can no longer survive in their native waters because of polutants then we have to begin to worry that our own water, for consumption and other human needs, is being degraded as well.
       Trout, and Trout habitat, define the quality of water all the way down the line, keeping in mind that while Carp can live, and thrive, in Trout waters, Trout seldom, if ever, live in the waters that have deteriorated to the point that only Carp can live there. I would rather drink the water, untreated, from a lake that is capable of supporting Trout, than from ANY waters that can only support Carp.
        What it boils down to is that introducing non-native predator fish into a lake with a barely sustainable Trout population will eventually see the Trout eaten out of the lake and our general ability to monitor the lake quality diminished to an acceptance of lower quality waters, for the fish, and in the end, for us and our children.
         THAT'S why Trout lakes should be kept Trout lakes instead of Bass ponds, not just because 'Special' people fish there. Let's not cut off our noses to spite our faces here folks. Educate, Educate, Educate. I may have oversimplified here somewhat but hopefully the idea comes through. We want, and need, clean water, and Trout are the easiest fish to use to monitor water quality. Thank You.

d**n, Chainsaw, that's hell of a post, you're first one nonetheless! Good to see you found it over here, welcome, and I have to say, I agree wholeheartedly with  your reasoning for the importance of  trout, that's probably the best I've seen.

[roverowner]

I don't know, but when I bing fish home, the only ones my wife goes crazy over are trout.  She'll oooh and aaah for 10 minutes over the marking and coloring on a 12 inch trout, but when I bring home a couple nice perch or crappies, all she says is "I'm not cleaning them".

It is indeed a mystery

Rover

[archbishop]

wes are you sure of your age your a smart youngster i totally agree with your post but could never have put it that way thanks for posting what was on my mind i whole heartedly agree with you and chainsaw off the ice trout are all thats on my mind

[camo_fish]

You can though just about anything at bass, catfish, panfish, etc. but for trout, you got to be sneaky and match what they are eatting to get good trout catches.
Trout fishing is indeed a special breed of fisherman, got to have all the little secret baits, ultra-lite tackle, and boy they are one squirmy little fish. I think they are one of the harder species to catch and it's more down and dirty with mother nature.
I would rather be on a nice trout stream over a boat on a lake.
Yea, sure you can get them with a simple worm, hook, and split shot. but to consistently catch trout thru-out the year you got to know a thing or too about them.
I can't wait to hit the trout streams next week.
Good luck to all who are going the same.
Trout on!

[Pasquatch]

wes are you sure of your age your a smart youngster i totally agree with your post but could never have put it that way thanks for posting what was on my mind i whole heartedly agree with you and chainsaw off the ice trout are all thats on my mind

Let me go look for the birth certificate...