Five Tips – Fly Fishing for Stocked Stillwater Trout

Illinois fall trout season begins annually on the traditional third Saturday of October. Trout will have been, stocked primarily in selected ponds and lakes throughout the state. Here are a few tips to help you catch stillwater trout.

In the hatchery, the first fish to the pellet wins. In the wild, carelessly racing to dine might well make the diner the dinner. That, among a number of other reasons, can make fishing for stocked a bit simpler. Here are five considerations to help you successfully fish Illinois’ stocked ponds and lakes.

Tip #1 – Flies

Stocked trout tend to be less selective about their diet. Flies with a variety of sizes, silhouettes, colors and actions will do. Among the more popular ones are wooly buggers, egg patterns, San Juan worms, soft hackle patterns, and foam grasshopper or beetle types. Natural, and flashy, colors offer more options. Hook sizes range from size 14 to 6.

Tip #2 – Rigging

Offering two flies at once, on a “hopper/dropper” rig, can really increase your catch rate. Use the larger foam flies noted above as a strike indicator, with a second, different type fly tied onto the bend of the first fly’s hook. This can be another dry fly or a sinking fly. Also try a second, usually smaller, fly tied onto the bend of a sinking fly as a “trailer.” Use a tippet the same size or smaller than your leader for the second fly.

Tip #3 – Basic Tackle

For most applications a 9 foot long, 5 or 6 weight rod is commonly ideal to deliver the flies. Stocked trout are initially less shy about lines, leaders and flies than more experienced, clearwater fish. With distance often being more import on stillwater than it is on many streams, a floating weight forward line is a good choice. A 7-foot 6-inch leader, with tippet added as needed, usually 3 or 4X, should be fine. A valuable second line would be an intermediate sinking line, or a sink tip line. Those will help deliver the fly and permit you to explore greater depths.

Tip #4 – When to Show Up

Trout tend to feed better a few days after their food is no longer being delivered. You won’t need to cast into the stream of fish coming out the delivery truck. The trout often are stocked a few days to a week in advance, so they are raring to go when the season opens. Early morning, and late afternoon to evening is prime time. With the winds often down, the fish are up and feeding. If you are looking for more solitude, try the “off” times, especially if it’s an overcast day. Light rain, too, helps to sort out the less sincere anglers, and often can prompt the fish to feed.

Tip #5 – If You are Releasing the Fish

Make sure all your barbs are pinched down. Barbless hooks go in and out of the fish, your clothes, and from my perspective, your guide, much easier. If a fish gets off prematurely, it wasn’t for the lack of a barb. Net the fish, preferably in an unknotted and damp net, contain it there, wet your hands, remove the hook, and allow the fish to recover then swim out of the net. If you need a photo of the fish, make sure your “photographer” is ready, stop breathing as you lift the fish (the fish is essentially doing the same), and return it to the water before you both run out of oxygen.

As you become more successful in these skills, take someone along to teach the tips you are perfecting, and to share the experiences of the day.

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Tom Yocom, fly casting instructor, guide and fly tying instructor who has fly fished for everything from bass to barracuda, from panfish to permit and trout to tarpon. His home waters are now the warm waters of Illinois, which he notes are different from Alaska’s or the Bahama’s. His two favorite things about fly fishing are “the grab,” when a fish hits the fly, and the moment “the lights come on” in his fly casting students’ eyes with their first good cast. A student in a Becoming an Outdoors-Woman illustrated this by exclaiming “I love this! It’s like archery, but you don’t have to chase the arrows!”