Nebraskaland Magazine
Some of you may recall a blog post I made about a year and a half ago about fishing with Doug Stange and filming a couple of segments for In-Fisherman TV, http://magazine.outdoornebraska.gov/2011/10/pinch/ . I know many folks have seen those segments on In-Fisherman TV, http://www.in-fisherman.com/in-fisherman-tv/ , but if you have not, I recently discovered that they are posted on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/). If you have not seen them yet, here they are:
Those still are not the complete, full segments, almost the entire segments, but not quite. A person could see the whole thing, and a whole lot more on their DVD’s. I have been watching for the Season 37, 2012 In-Fisherman TV DVD’s, but still have not seen them listed, https://store.intermediaoutdoors.com/categories.php?category=DVDs/Television-DVDs ?
Let me make a few comments about the presentations we used in those video segments. I have tossed crankbaits, spoons, spinners and drifted baits below floats on a variety of trout waters in a variety of places, even some in states other than Nebraska. I can tell you that those presentations work wherever trout are found, stocked trout, wild trout, lakes, rivers, streams, rainbows, browns, brooks, cutthroats, etc., etc. I know lots of folks are anticipating spring and the spring trout stockings ( http://magazine.outdoornebraska.gov/2013/03/spring-trout-stocking/ ); the presentations highlighted in those video segments also will flat out work for those put & take trout this spring too!
Trout, especially stocked rainbows, can and do feed on a wide variety of prey. It never hurts to experiment with different baits and presentations because no presentation nor bait will be the best all the time. After stocking, even trout that have been reared on artificial feed for their entire lives, will learn to feed on natural prey. In many waters natural trout prey will include a wide variety of aquatic insects. Any hardcore fly angler will tell you that trout under certain conditions can become very selective and at times will only feed on certain aquatic insects. At those times, fly-fishing is often the most effective presentation to imitate the exact insects the trout are feeding on, but, and I said all of that to say this. . . the float fishing presentation in that first video segment can also be used to fish a variety of flies. In fact, I often refer to that presentation technique as “fly-fishing without the fly rod”, and use it to present a variety of small nymph imitations. In a pinch, a person can use the same spinning rod and float presentation to fish dry flies as well. I will admit that the fly rod will usually present flies more effectively, but not everyone has learned to fly-fish, and some days the wind gets to blowing around here and the spinning rod and float set up will be less frustrating than a fly rod for many anglers.
Anyway, if you have not seen those video segments you might be interested in them. By the way, the rainbow trout fishery at Lake Ogallala and associated waters is still as good as any in the country. And, those are some trout fishing techniques and presentations that you might want to try.
