KEEP EM WET, KEEP EM IN THE NET AND WHEN NESS, LEAVE EM ALONE
Here at Hills Discount Flies we encourage ethical fishing in many ways. Flyfishing the numerous waters available here in the Eagle Valley (Eagle River, Colorado River, Gore Creek) and close by (Roaring Fork River, Colorado River, High Mountain Lakes) Hills Discount Flies can get you ready for any body of water.
The first two comments should make sense.
Keep em wet. Keep the fish in the water at all times. There is no need to hoist them up in the net and hang them at the side of the boat or place them on shore. This also brings up a good point. You should ALWAYS be using a net whether fishing from shore or a boat. And then, it should be a rubber line net that helps protect the slime waterproof coating that trout have on their bodies.
Keep ’em in the net. ALWAYS, Keep the fish in the net, in the water(Not out of the water) . If you have chosen to capture a picture of the fish, wait until everyone (Angler and cameraman) is completely ready.
- Wet your hands before touching the fish. They have a natural slime waterproofing. Ever seen a dead fish with a white foam hand print on it? It had been held with dry hands. Seeing people hug a fish to their dry clothing is a death sentence for trout
- Hold your breath while you have the fish out of the water
- Keep bringing the fish back into the water and raising him up for the picture – lifting a fish from the water and getting the drops falling in the pic isk sick!
That last part is a little tricky to understand: Leave em alone? Why would I do that? The simple answer is so that they can be caught another day. AKA, protecting our resources. The dog days of sumer have arrived early and what that means to most of our river fisheries the temperatures on many days can be lethal environments for our beloved trout. When temperatures start getting to the mid to upper 60’s the trout have an extremely hard time recovering after having been hooked, stressed out, exhausted fighting for their lives, landed and released. Here’s a way to think about it.
You’re sitting in a hot sauna. Someone barges in and immediately demands you play a game of tug-o-war! This goes on for longer than you wished, you’re completely exhausted and drained! Then, when the game is over, you need to jog in place, IN THE SAUNA, in an attempt to recover. Many humans would not survive that experience and neither do the fish we release. We see them swim off and look great, but their adrenaline (If fish have that) is pumping and the lactic acid has been built up from the fight. (Yes, fish get lactic acid build ups just like us.) Have you ever over exerted yourself and gotten a cramp? Then they return to their spot in the river and with the warm water, lactic acid build ups, having not gotten any nourishment from eating fur and feather and they are completely exhausted, they just cant make it and slowly lose their ability to stay in the current. So, when appropriate, leave em alone.
It would be diligent to keep a thermometer with you when summer fishing to test the waters and make ethical decisions when water temps get above 65 degrees.
These should be a lot of your every day practices
- Always carry a rubber lined net
- Always keep[ the fishing in the net in the water
- Always wet your hands before touching a trout.
- Most times touching a trout is not ness, just unhook your barbless flies with your hemostats and flip the net basket
- Carry a thermometer to test water temps in July and August
Even with the higher temps the fishing can still be fantastic. Hop online to Hills Discount Flies (LINK) today and stock up for your fishing!
HOT FLIES
- RS2 SIZE 18-20
- PARACHUTE ADAMS 16-20
- CADDIS DRIES 16-20
- PURPLE PERDIGON 14-16
- OLIVE SLUMP BUSTER
- ARTICULATED CRYSTAL BUGGER WITH OLIVE
Any questions, comments or you’d like to share a pic of your recent success send them our way! If we use your pic in a report we will send you a 1/2 dozen of our flies as a thanks!
alexmbeck@yahoo.com
alex@hillsdiscountflies.netgen.work
