On the trail: Tips for tempting the trout | Hydrography

I asked him, “Dad, do you want to catch more fish than your friends?”

“Then you need to put an Action Disc in front of your fly.”

Dad immediately placed an order from Wigglefin.com, figured out how to rig the disc and barely a week later, he sent me a picture of a 23-inch rainbow he caught out of Prineville Reservoir. He was catching more and bigger fish than his buddies and last time I checked, he hadn’t told them about the Action Disc either.

That gave me an idea. One of our local lakes kicks out big fish in February and March and I knew there had to be a good one there for me. I thought if I could get there early enough on a Saturday, I might catch a fish at the inlet. When we pulled into the parking area, another guy was walking down to the water ahead of us. As it turned out, he walked to the wrong spot.

Dad and I crawled down the cliff and perched on a narrow ledge above the fast water where it empties into the lake.

I knotted on a Mack’s Lure Smile Blade Fly, in rusty orange. The Smile Blade is a small mylar spinner at the head of the fly, which gives the fly action and flash. To up the ante, I dressed the fly with Pro-Cure crawfish gel scent. I fed line into the current and wham! It broke my leader with one grab and a headshake.

I cut the 4X tippet off, trimmed it back to about 8-pound test and tied on another Smile Blade Fly, dressed it with crawfish scent and three casts later, had another grab. It came to the surface so fast, it was dancing just off my rod tip a moment later and then it headed toward the bottom, where it tried to saw the line in the boulders then started a long run out into the lake. Dad was so excited, I thought he was going to fall off the cliff. Eventually, I was able to calm the fish and Dad enough that he was able to net the gnarly 21-inch broodstock trout for me.

There are times when trout will follow our flies and peck at the tails or otherwise short-strike. Sometimes trout follow out of curiosity and don’t bite at all. That little bit of chaos that an Action Disc or a Smile Blade imparts to the fly is sometimes the difference.

In places like Wallowa Lake, Phillips Reservoir or Willow Creek Reservoir, where the fish can run a little bigger, the Mack’s Smile Blade Fly is a great trolling option. Where the fish are 8- to 12-inch legals, a better choice might be a white, olive or black beadhead Woolly Bugger. Other good leech patterns for casting and trolling include blood red, black and olive tungsten or beadhead Mohair Buggers. Leeches should be weighted at the head so that they sink or wobble when the fly isn’t moving. If you have to catch more and bigger fish than your buddy, rig with an Action Disc.

The fish-catching principle at play here is that as the fly is drawn through the water, pressure builds on the concave front surface. When the pressure builds, the disc turns and releases it, which turns the tube into a lever, bending the line in the opposite direction, kicking the fly with it. The fly, representing a leech or baitfish, appears to be wounded or injured. And that makes it hard to resist for a curious predator like a big rainbow or brown trout.

Slide the Action Disc up the leader with the concave side pointed toward the reel. Next, slide on a small bead or stopper to protect the knot from abrasion. Dad’s little extra trick involves a blood knot and a short tippet section of six to eight inches, which results in a slower action and wider swim path.

Last night we fished another of our local lakes and Dad’s new favorite lake rig definitely outperformed the standard fly on leader. Finally I took my own advice and caught a nice trout at sunset.

There. A little trick to put a limit of trout in the boat. Just don’t tell any of my dad’s friends.

Gary Lewis is the author of “Bob Nosler Born Ballistic” and “Fishing Central Oregon” and other titles. To contact Gary, visit www.garylewisoutdoors.com.