Best Bait?

By Mark Larkin
Arizona

One of the great pleasures of keiryu style fishing (at least for me) is raising or catching the bait. Last summer I was fishing a small (less than .5cfs) remote stream in far northern Arizona for the wild trout hunkered under the rocks and the overhanging growth. I had caught a number of grasshoppers and the trout were feasting.

Unfortunately for me, the hoppers, though small, were so big that the fish would bite chunks off them and I often couldn't get good hook-set. I rummaged about under some rocks in the stream and came up with a few caddis larvae. They were too small to thread on to a #14 hook so I just hooked them through the head.

The trout hit them hard and I got good hook-set pretty much every time. I would be very happy to hear from others if they have a favorite bait (or baits) and for what species. My go-to for trout is still a red wiggler but I am enjoying the experimentation.

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"Be sure in casting, that your fly fall first into the water, for if the line fall first, it scares or frightens the fish..." -
Col. Robert Venables 1662

As age slows my pace, I will become more like the heron.

We've all had situations where seriously chewed up flies kept catching fish after fish after fish. It is no sin to tie flies that come off the vise looking seriously chewed up.

Warning:

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