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[KarateKick]

My family recently made a couple of attempts to catch some stocked trout at Sanctuary Pond. We read Rod's articles, and decided to try float fishing because there were a lot of dead leaves on the bottom. From the wooden dock, we used a small float and a small weight, and dangled an earthworm on 4 lb line.

We didn't do much floating fishing before, since we could never tell how deep the murky water was and didn't know how much line to hang under the float. This time we tried copying an old man who was having a lot of success.

In fact we imitated everything the old man did (float, weight, bait, leader and location), but we got no bite while he caught fish after fish. Can you suggest anything subtle that we may be failing to imitate?

Assuming we were still dangling our bait at the wrong depth, should we try using a spreader bar?  I haven't seen anyone do that at a lake, but I don't understand why not.

[Damien]

All about depth, and he could have known right where a specific drop off was (or a submerged hump, or point etc) and again being at the right depth.

Easy depth 'tell' is if your float tips over, your weight is likely too deep.  Keep adjusting until the float sits properly.

Another way to tell is count one second per foot.  Cast out a 1/4 ounce weight to the area you think the fish are at, each second equals about a foot, waiting for your line to go slack and stop counting.  Good luck!

It can be frustrating thinking you are mimicking a working pattern, but depth is very important.

Other things to check, is your float too buoyant to detect strikes?  Usually combined with a hook being too large.  So the fish nibble, you can't see any action on the float, and the hook is too large to be engulfed.

[hrenya]

haha , I know that old man we fish together , the trick is short leader - trout we caught at rice lately was 1.5-2 feet , bottom rig not working . like Rodney said , its pretty dead from end of march till may .f u really want to slay stocked trout - u should have quite a few of varieties of bait , u can check out mine reports .

[obie1fish]

The learning curve is a bit of a bear to deal with at times. Aside from what was mentioned above, you may need to consider hook size, bait size, and leader diameter.

[TNAngler]

Quality of bait can also make a huge difference.  Were the earthworms freshly dug by you?  If so, it is possible the location is bad (near something dumped that has given them a bad taste/smell).  If bought (or dug), it is possible they were old and while still "alive", might not be fresh enough to entice finicky fish.  It is usually a good idea to smell your bait.  Sound disgusting but if you have a container of worms and take a good deep sniff, you should only smell dirt (or moss if you have them in moss).  If there is any scent of nastiness from the worms you are going to severely limit your bites.  Too many times I've seen fish come up to a dangling worm only to have them turn away at the last minute when they get a good whiff.

[Fish or cut bait.]

And don't go stocking day.
The fish will be in shock from the truck ride which will take a day or two to overcome.

[losos]

Your success will depend of what you had for breakfast.
I went long time ago to Sasamat lake to have some fun with trout. For about hour -hour and a half nothing .
Then an old man shows up and first thing he does is to pee in the corner of the floating deck. After that trout got in the piranha feeding frenzy . No matter what you used they were baiting . I made some inquirers to what he had for breakfast just to find it was family recipe . It took me many trials, failures and aging my kidneys to get it right so excuse me for not sharing it publicly

[hrenya]

Your success will depend of what you had for breakfast.
I went long time ago to Sasamat lake to have some fun with trout. For about hour -hour and a half nothing .
Then an old man shows up and first thing he does is to pee in the corner of the floating deck. After that trout got in the piranha feeding frenzy . No matter what you used they were baiting . I made some inquirers to what he had for breakfast just to find it was family recipe . It took me many trials, failures and aging my kidneys to get it right so excuse me for not sharing it publicly

LOL that's awesome info ))))))))))))))

[BCfisherman97]

At Rice lake 2 years ago, I happened to go check out the lake on the first day they stocked it in spring. To my surprise, some guys were catching them within 2 hours of being dumped! I think there are so many variables that you just never know . I would agree to wait a few days though

Rice is one of those lakes that has a lot of fish winter over (when comparing to other mainland stocked lakes) and the fishing remains good throughout the year. I know ice fishing is fairly productive. But I used to fish the lake a lot when I was younger. We have caught a few really nice sized fish over the years as well as seen a few really large fish caught as well. Every year, the fishing is great prior to stocking. The fish that winter over and have been in the lake for some time get a little darker and their flesh starts to turn more pink, fins also start to grow back and retain a more natural shape. Dragging flies (olive/black buggers) or dangling chironomids will out fish any Power Bait as they have adapted to a more natural food source after sitting in the lake for an extended period of time.
I remember showing up the the lake the day of stocking a few years back. Fishing was amazing in the morning (all darker fish that have been in the lake for a while with fins that have grown back) and the truck did not show up to dump fish until later in the day.