Versatile Fresh Water Lures/ Baits etc.

Which flies, lures, spoons, etc would you recommend for fresh water fishing? These would not be for any specific fish, but rather could be used a multitude of fish.

Firstly the shape and color has to be right for the water (depends on favourite prey). I use the Wooly worm in yellow with an orange tail and in green with a red tail sometimes I use the muddler minnow. As dry flies palmers in grey or black are fine. Nymphs in different shades of brown are very versatile.
My favorite spoons were the ABU Toby and the Heintz spoon. I do not use plastic lures anymore. I think that streamers are more robust, more effective and easier to store.
Flies and streamers are easier to use than spoons when you try to operate them in a wide range of speed.

I don't want anything that I will have to move myself. I want tackle that I can set up overnight and check only a few times a day. I figure if I have that much energy then I can try using a more effective means of fish trapping than just angling. The whole purpose of angling is that it requires the least amount of effort on my part.

That would probably take you out of the lure category & put you in the bait category. Most lures don't work well without at least a little motion.
gino

You can still use lures without attending them if you place them in moving water, or hang them on a flexible shaft with a small sail area of some sort so that wind currents move them.

Just be sure the shaft can take any sudden strong winds or the tugging of a fish.

If you are in an area where fish move in known directions, a stake, stone or brush trap would probably catch more fish with less attention to the trap than you may expend on hook and line.

Bountyhunter

bountyhunter,
I've used small jigs rigged under a pencil bobber that moved by wind ripples on the water. They worked OK but I never had a fish hook itself hitting the jig, still had to set the hook. Maybe something like a Rapala set in fast moving water would work, don't know, never tried it.
Years ago I read somewhere that in pilot (military?) survival kits the fishing equipment included white feather jigs because they were the closest thing to a universal lure. FWIW
gino

My first choice for a "Survival" situation would be 50 hooks baited with nightcrawlers on a trot line, and on the second night, the hooks would be baited with left-overs from the first night's catch, and before you ask, yes, the hooks, swivels,and line are as close as my Suburban ( one of the many advantages of being thought of as a red-neck ). <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Troy

Here check this out:

http://www.equipped.org/ubbthreads/showt...o=&vc=1

Nymphs that resemble a number of different kinds of insect larvae and nymphs are probably the most practical. Such old standbys as the Muskrat Nymph and the Hare's Ear are well worth carrying, as are imitations of large stoneflies and dragonfly nymphs.

Attractors such as the Woolly Worm and its cousin the Woolly Bugger, Green Weenie and the [censored] Creek Nymph. These resemble a variety of aquatic critters.

A bugger resembles nothing in nature when it's perched in a vise, but when it is soaking wet and on the move, it truly comes alive. Depending on hook size and how it's weighted and retrieved, it can mimic a minnow, crayfish, leech or aquatic insect.

The Weenie, besides a flash of color, can mimic a catapillar or inchworm.

Every stream sampled usually contains at least a few green-bodied caddis, and in many rivers they are a trout's daily special.

The Green Rock Worm patterns actually represent a couple of so-called "free-living" caddis species. These larvae don't build portable houses for themselves but instead crawl among rocky crevices and clumps of vegetation on stream bottoms.

Dry flies such as Blue-Winged Olive in small size hooks ( 12-18 ) may be worth the while. They usually are a staple spring mayfly hatch and in the west sometimes in Winter.

Caddis hatch at sporadic times during the winter months on many waters, so it makes sense to carry a few Elk Hair Caddis, or something close to it.

Also, cold weather or winter plays well for what are called Streamers. Lethargic trout are less apt to go after nymphes (larvae) but being cannibalistic are more prone to strike small fish or crayfish which a streamer may represent.

Note: Dry flies are cast upstream and allowed to float downstream, while Wet Flies and/or Nymphes (larvae) are cast across or downstream with a small split-shot weight and drawn against the current for a swimming action.

Trot Line, rig, or gill-net

This technique requires sharp hooks and there should be no slack in the line. Then it´ll work fine even in moderately fast water. I found that regular flies work better than jigs for that.

It´s often easier to let dry flies drift downstream from the start. This way the leader can be concealed more easily. In some sreams it´s not allowed to cast downstream a all. The rule of casting dry flies upstream results from that. Without proper equipment attempts to cast upstream will not be exceedingly rewarding. It could be effective to set up the rig in way that allows the dry fly to barely touch the water. The fly will drift a few inches downstream lift off and touch down on the original spot. I caught a lot of fish in small streams that way.

I have pretty much all of my fishing equipment on my hat. I have a straw cowboy hat and have put an entire small spool of line on it like a hat band held in place with about 5 or 6 swivels, the ends are held together with about 6 various removable sinkers. Then I have put the hat band back on over the line and put about 6 or 8 hooks on it so that the barbs arent exposed. I have 2 white feather jigs attached to the front with a swivel with the hooks facing each other and tied together. It's all I need and doesnt look too bad either. And I figure in a real emergency I could use the hat to start a fire.

Trot-lines are great, but the smallest one I have ever used that is feasible is 1'X1' box.with 50 hooks, a bit bulky to tote. Unless you have an AWFUL lot of time on your hands, use a box. You're better off with a different rig fishing from the bank, even using small 10-hook trot lines. (Haven't had the notion to run one while wading or swimming, but you'll end up doing alot of both if you catch fish) Trot lines, in my experience, are best used from boats. Caught a twelve-pound Channel Cat on one once. Where I come from, yer a "furiner" (foreigner) if you don't know how to run a trot line LOL

I just use low hanging branches and set out about 5 or 6 lines. I agree about trot lines, could be a real pain trying to get a fish in, and I mean that literally. I wouldn't even try it. I do pretty well with my system and haven't come up empty yet. Of course theres always a first time for everything.

Ok, I'll be the first Yankee to admit I had to Google "trot line". I had heard the term in Brad Paisley's "Mud on the tires", but had no clue what it was. Now I do. I learned something today, it's a good day.

Another problem regarding the bulk of a trot line:
Trot lines don't work without beer. Lots of beer! If you dare to challenge my point PLEASE don't let my wife see this. I've spent thirty years convincing her that trot lines don't work if you're not sitting in the shade or on the porch intently drinking beer! Please don't blow this for me.

I think that's the law here. Thats why they call it a trot line..... Trot to the line, check it , then trot back to the beer. That's my dad's definition anyway.

Go take a look at the U.S. Rescue link. They have quite a lot to say on the subject. In a survival kit, you need to have enough hooks and line, plus cord to set a couple of baited lines. A plastic lure and a small float (can be improvised) are useful a well. Try hobo fishing with them. Its spinning without a rod. Quite effective.