Alaska rainbow trout ravenously gorge themselves on salmon eggs.

The author pauses briefly to photograph a pre-spawn rainbow trout before releasing it. (Larry Tullis photo)

The author’s thoughts are shown here, and they don’t always match the views or editorial policies of Fly Fisherman magazine.

I still remember the first time I saw my fishing partner take a Glo-Bug out of his box. When I was a teenager in the 1970s, I didn’t believe that trout would be interested in a fake salmon egg. When I was younger, I used real salmon eggs and they worked every time. But when I was a teenager, I only used flies. It was spring, and we were fishing for rainbow trout below a lake where spawning trout and other trout hung out to find food. The spawners weren’t too interested in our flies, but the trout holding behind the nests were gobbling up anything that looked like an egg, even our orange strike indicators.

My friend with the fake egg, of course, caught ten times as many fish as I did with my dry flies until he gave me an egg fly and changed my mind. I now know to dress up all kinds of food for trout, not just bugs, and to change my tactics when the trout change the way they eat.

Many times I have fished to trout, salmon, bass, and panfish that had spawning activity on their brains. Like most of you, I release most of the fish I catch. Advertisement.

I have seen the pictures of carnage when someone kills a cooler full of spawning-crazed fish. When I was younger, I secretly admired anglers who could catch and show off that many big trout in a day, but I also knew that what they were doing was wrong. Spawning fish have a bad reputation because people think of all the lives they could have saved when they were alive.

It seems like there are a lot of gray areas after this point. I think everyone would agree that snagging, gaffing, or netting gamefish from their spawning beds or killing them in any other way is not sportsmanlike. Advertisement.

A lot of fly fishers say they will never fish for spawners and want the water to be closed during the spawn. Some say, “Dont disturb the trout on their honeymoon. ” But what about pre-spawn or post-spawn trout? Where do we as anglers draw the line?.

I think of pre-spawn and post-spawn as times when things happen that are related to spawning, but not when pairs are actually digging and spawning in their nests. We wouldn’t be able to fish for Atlantic or Pacific salmon or steelhead in or near rivers if we stopped fishing for fish that are spawning. There would be no fishing for the runs of large trout coming out of lakes. We would have to close some streams for most of the year as various species spawned. There would be no spring bass and bluegill fishing. The rainbows of Alaska would be off limits, because they feed on salmon spawn or salmon fry. Because it’s bad for fish to walk on spawning beds, brown trout streams would be closed from fall until spring, when the fry hatched. Since high-altitude trout spawn in the middle of summer, mountain waters would not be very good for fishing when the ice is gone.

I don’t think any angler wants all of those closures, so we need to come up with a set of biologically sound methods that protect both our sport and the fish’s ability to reproduce. Lets look at what trout do during the spawn.

Browns, brookies, arctic char, Dolly Varden, mackinaw (lake trout), and bull trout spawn in the fall. Their eggs generally stay in the gravel until spring and then emerge. Rainbows, cutthroats, goldens, bass, and panfish generally spawn in the spring. Their eggs hatch in late spring or early summer.

These fish usually grow two or more years before they become sexually mature. When they want to spawn, they first get together with other fish and move toward their spawning grounds, which are usually rivers or springs (pre-spawn activity). They feed and hang out near the spawning substrate before they pair up and start moving into place.

Before they spawn, these fish can be mean, and big ones often don’t care about what other people think when they’re focused on eating, finding a mate, and protecting their territory. If you fish streamers for brown trout, rainbow trout, or bass in the fall or spring, you know what this means because you’ve seen big game fish attack streamers that get in their way.

During their spawning runs, salmon and steelhead don’t eat much, but they do attack and swallow things out of curiosity or, according to some anglers, because they remember how they fed as young fish in rivers before they went to the sea.

The actual spawning takes place as the females dig their nests. Each female is usually protected by one or more males. The naturally superior males generally get the girls, but they sometimes mate with various females.

Fishing for spawning or pre-spawning trout can be ethical if we follow simple rules of behavior. (Larry Tullis photo).

The males spray sperm (milt) on each group of eggs, and the females cover them with pea- to marble-sized gravel. The males guard the nest and the female maintains and cleans it until they are spawned out.

When the eggs are in the middle of being laid, the males may aggressively defend the nest against any invaders, and the females may carefully clean the nest. They generally dont feed but may be hooked in the mouth due to their aggressive activities.

Usually, 50 to 90 percent of the fish in a spawning area are not spawning. These are pre-spawn, post-spawn, or spawn groupies whose main job is to eat the eggs, nymphs, and crustaceans that the spawners knock off the ground. Eggs are a great way for fish that haven’t had much to eat this winter or are getting ready for one to get protein.

Nonspawning trout also follow salmon (or spawning trout) upstream to their spawning grounds. In Alaska, for example, they feed heavily on loose salmon eggs. Even though these trout aren’t spawning, they are connected to the salmon spawn and can only be caught in areas where salmon are spawning. The trout are usually big and healthy.

Im amazed at how few anglers can identify a spawning area and avoid walking on it. I constantly need to educate anglers I see walking on the nests. Spawning nests can be found in riffles and tailouts with a buildup of light-colored gravel at the bottom. The gravel should be clean and free of moss. Advertisement.

The eggs are located in the hump, not the hole. Ive seen many fly anglers ignorantly using this mound as a casting perch, crushing many eggs. The nests may cover large areas if there are many spawners, or they may be isolated or solitary. Because the eggs need a certain amount of oxygen to stay alive, the nests are only put in places where the fish can find the right amount of clean, large gravel and the right speed of the current.

As soon as each fish is done spawning, it goes off to rest and start feeding again (post-spawn feeding activity). There aren’t many eggs in these fish, so they tend to be darker and thinner because of how hard the spawn is. People who fish can catch these fish as well as the fat, healthy fish that don’t spawn but eat eggs and nymphs near the nests.

From what I’ve seen, trout and bass that are caught by accident while spawning are focused on their task at hand and will quickly return to their spawning activities without any obvious harm. Trout that are played too long or carted around for picture taking have much less of a chance. If you catch a spawner, you should play it as quickly as possible and then let it go without taking it out of the water. This should be your practice with all gamefish.

I recognize the need to satisfy egos with occasional photos of big fish. It’s been years since I took pictures of a trout, but I never do it unless the camera is set up and ready to go as soon as the fish is brought into the shallows. If I have to wait for someone to take the picture, I let the fish go right away.

Agree ahead of time with your fishing partners that they will come right away if you hook a big fish. This avoids mishandling and costly delays that can harm tired trout. Take the trout out of the water for just a few seconds for a quick shot, and then bring it back to life properly. Keep the fish over water; dont carry it over land. Cradle the trout gently; dont squeeze it. Proper catch-and-release techniques would require a whole article but these are the basics. Advertisement.

Each angler should develop his or her own ethics regarding spawners. My ethics regarding fly fishing for spawning gamefish are as follows.

• A policy that says pre-spawn fish should not be killed unless biologists say there is more than enough natural spawning going on to allow limited take (especially for salmon or panfish) and still keep the best fish recruitment.
• A no-kill policy for actual spawners in spawning areas.
• All anglers should be taught how to find spawning beds and how to stay away from them.
• Quickly play and let go of any fish you hook in or near spawning areas.
• If you’re fishing quickly for spawners or fish in spawning areas, limit the number of fish you catch on your own to lower the chance of killing them by accident, which can happen even when you’re very careful.
• Keep the hook size pretty small so you don’t cut the fish’s vital organs.
• Don’t make fish feel like people when you catch them on their “honeymoon.” “.
• Don’t fish in places that are especially sensitive, like places where fish populations are in danger or where a lot of people go to spawn.

If we follow these guidelines, we can safely fish year-round on many waters without harming the resource. Fishing the spawn can be done ethically, if we are careful and conscious. Its a way we can maintain great sportfishing for big fish for many generations.

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Salmon and Steelhead Fishing Tips – How to use a spawn sack

FAQ

Can you catch salmon when spawning?

What bait to use for spawning salmon?

Can you eat salmon after they have spawned?

What is the easiest way to catch salmon?

How do salmon spawn?

When salmon are ready to reproduce, they migrate from the ocean back into freshwater rivers and streams to their spawning grounds. On their journey, they may encounter rapids, waterfalls, predators, and hydroelectric dams. Once salmon reach their freshwater spawning grounds, females dig a gravel nest, and the life cycle begins again.

How to catch salmon in rivers?

If you want to know how to catch salmon in rivers, you should know that one of the most effective methods for salmon fishing is to float fish. Float fishing for salmon simply means you are presenting a bait below a bobber which is more commonly called a float by river anglers.

How do you catch salmon from a boat?

As your line drifts, you slowly reel it in and then simply repeat the process until you get a strike. When fishing from boat, many anglers use a technique referred to as trolling. Trolling can be a good way to learn how to catch salmon in areas where salmon are more spread out, such as in large rivers or lakes.

How do I catch more salmon?

Salmon fishing along many rivers can mean crowds, and many anglers fishing in the same area can make the salmon go lockjaw and stop eating. Guys often ask me for advice on how to catch more salmon. There are many ways to do this. A tip that I give to my buddies and clients is to get away from the crowds by using riverboats.