Chuck:
Sounds like "The Hunt for Big Fish" if it was then it was Larry
Dahlberg, creator of several flies including the Dahlberg Diver.
I found out the hard way that trout have teeth. On my first
trip to the Upper Delaware River, many years ago, I asked the president of our
club where to fish and he said try the pool below the cabins. There were
at least two dozen people all ready fishing it. I said how about the
riffles in front of the cabins. He told me I might catch a couple of
small ones. So I headed there. Tied on a fly I'd just discovered
on the net called the Nalle Puh, and started fishing the pocket water in the
riffles. First pocket, second or third cast the fly disappeared and I
set the hook on a nice fish. Got it in and saw the guy I was sharing a
cabin with watching. What you get, and this was a 20 inch fish.
Without thinking I reached down and lipped the trout to hold it up. My
mistake. It hurt but I didn't drop the fish. Moved to the next pocket. First
cast another nice fish took the fly. With no net I had to lip this one
even though I knew what was coming. Held this one up for my buddy to
see. Next morning there were at least a dozen guys fishing those
riffles.
Why don't we use steel leaders? Probably because most people
think of trout quietly sipping mayflies off the surface and forget they are
top of the line predators, and once they reach a certain size, their diet is
more minnows/small fish than insects. I read an article somewhere where
a trout can swallow a bait fish half its size. Now back to why we don't
use steel leaders they would absolutely ruin the presentation of a dry
fly. If you buy that one, I've a bridge to sell you.
It's more in the type of teeth. If you were fishing for
Kings, or even Spanish, like bluefish they tend to slice and dice their prey.
So if fishing live bait, you often come in with half a bait.
Trout, from what I've seen tend to grab live minnow, and swim
around with them for a bit in their mouth. I would imagine their teeth
are conical made more for gripping than slicing. That's why we don't use wire
leaders. Anyone else have a better explanation.
Jerry
C
"All things considered, I'd rather be in
Philadelphia."
