Bow River Maggots?

[Jayhad]

Hey everyone,
I don't bait fish and don't kill fish from the Bow (me and mercury don't mix) but I am wondering;
When fishing with maggots for whites do you get much trout by-catch?
Do you find more rainbows vs bruins?
Does anyone know why maggots are allowed compared to other baits?

I don't want this to become a bait bash, I'm just looking for info

[scel]

Good question. I have wondered the same thing.

On the Red Deer River, with a maggot tipped hare's ear, I catch 15 whitefish for every brown trout. I am not sure if this is because there are 15 times the whitefish or because the whites just prefer the maggot tipped hook.

However, on the last day on the Red Deer, I hooked into a 23" brown on a size 16 maggot tipped hare's ear. Easily the nicest fishing surprise I have ever had. The maggot clearly does not keep even the biggest browns from taking in an easy meal.

[BeeGuy]

Originally Posted by Jayhad

Hey everyone,
I don't bait fish and don't kill fish from the Bow (me and mercury don't mix) but I am wondering;
When fishing with maggots for whites do you get much trout by-catch?
Do you find more rainbows vs bruins?
Does anyone know why maggots are allowed compared to other baits?

I don't want this to become a bait bash, I'm just looking for info

I was fishing maggots on size 12 beadheads a lot in Sept. Mostly still fished them on a dropper.

I hooked and I witnessed others hook into browns, rainbows, and suckers as bycatch.

Rainbows will hit them when they are fished actively. Browns will hit them when they start to get active at dark. These are incidental catches and occured 50/50, but this could be influenced by changing technique or timing.

I think maggots are allowed because they are favoured by RMW's, and are unlikely to cause mortality beyond tradition presentations.

[BeeGuy]

Our by-catch rate was likely less than 1/15.

[ORVIS]

Originally Posted by BeeGuy

I was fishing maggots on size 12 beadheads a lot in Sept. Mostly still fished them on a dropper.

I hooked and I witnessed others hook into browns, rainbows, and suckers as bycatch.

Rainbows will hit them when they are fished actively. Browns will hit them when they start to get active at dark. These are incidental catches and occured 50/50, but this could be influenced by changing technique or timing.

I think maggots are allowed because they are favoured by RMW's, and are unlikely to cause mortality beyond tradition presentations.

i beg to differ brown trout are picking off nymphs left right and center on the bow stuffer, and on the RDR and when it becomes dusk the thing that wouldnt be on my line would be a nymph big browns are preditors just like pike around dusk and they feed during the day just as well

[BeeGuy]

Yup, was relaying my experience of catching trout while still-fishing whitefish.

We only hooked browns on our nymph rigs at dusk and later.

I believe this is because the browns start to move around and feed more actively, rather than running a daytime holding pattern.

[ORVIS]

Originally Posted by BeeGuy

Yup, was relaying my experience of catching trout while still-fishing whitefish.

We only hooked browns on our nymph rigs at dusk and later.

I believe this is because the browns start to move around and feed more actively, rather than running a daytime holding pattern.

hmm probibly fishing the wrong brown trout lies. the browns are super close to shore and the bows and whites are more out if that helps at all

[ericlin0122]

keywords:
brown, dark, close shore, wooly bugger.

[BeeGuy]

Originally Posted by ericlin0122

keywords:
brown, dark, close shore, wooly bugger.

Keywords:
Thread, not, about, that.