Is it necessary to throw chicken sized flies for bullies to have great success or is there some small paterns 1"-4" that people would rather cast all day long? Im going in search of some summer bulls in the grande cache area and just packing the fly box as we speak. bringing an 8 weight single hand as well as my 400 metal detector spey.
Bulls will take just about anything thrown their way. have caught them on small caddis flies along with large streamers. have caught quite a few on woolly buggers and larger nymph patterns along with the huge streamers.
that being said if you are strictly going after bulls then chucking the big streamers is the way to go if you don't want to be catching a lot of smaller other fish also. with the smaller patterns you will catch probably a lot more other fish (especially grayling and whites if present) then bulls which is not all that bad considering.
the best lure i have found for catching bulls is a white or grayling that you have hooked and reeling in. have yet to land a bull this way, but it is pretty exciting to see them dart out of the depths to grab onto your hooked fish then spit it out once you get it close to hand. have had some monster bulls do this while fishing. still waiting to be quick enough with the net to land two with one hook.
Being new to the fly, I haven't really targeted bulls yet, so grain of salt required here. Of the 2 bulls I saw last year, one was caught on a dry (by a buddy, not by me) and the other I caught swinging a small'ish (sz 8 maybe?) white woolly bugger. Leads me to believe, as Mike suggested, that they are fairly indiscriminate.
When fishing bulls I find it has a lot to do with the action of the fly and depth. Be sure to tie a loop knot on your streamers, and when stripping in give it some good jerks with the rod tip down. I have fished these beauties for years when I lived in northern BC and most recently on the upper red deer river. Also, not to give too much away but put a little red in the fly if your tying your own. Good luck!
In my experience the small bulls will bite on just about any fly. I am sure there are exceptions but I have never caught one over 5 lbs with out using a streamer. I think the bigger ones will not bother taking the risk of burning more energy than the meal will provide them with.
That said a blue and white Lefty's deceiver is always in my vest for my go to bully streamer. Shorten the leader to about 30" and cast with a splash and a strip retrieve and hopefully a set.
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I've only caught bulls under 17" with traditional flies (dry, nymphs). I've done a lot better with bigger fish with 3" streamers. I have heard in Idaho people catching big bulls on egg sack flies since most of the streams where they live are salmon run waters.
What are people's takes on using sinking leaders or sinking lines for bulls.
It depends where you're fishing. I caught 6 really big bulls at lower K in one day using a 1-2 inch black pine squirrel leech.
There's no right or wrong. They love black leechs and white double bunnys. The leeches dont need to be huge though.
Bull trout Flies Big vs Small
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