Same Trout - Multiple Takes? Multiple Landings?

by **Ants** » May 25th, 2013, 8:02 am

I wonder if others have information to add.

Many times I fish the same waters, so I know what trout (or other fish) are there. A larger trout makes his presence known by surprising me by its size, and breaking an undersized tippet or revealing a poorly tied knot (or one that should have been retied after landing several fish). At times I have been slow on the hook set or I have had a good hook set but have something else fail that prevents landing the fish. Further, when I land a notable (I.e. large) trout, are there any chances to catch it again during the same time on the river.

So, any informative tales on multiple takes with the same fish or landing the same fish more than once would be appreciated. My guess is that others would be interested also.

Thanks,
Ants

by **NorcalBob** » May 25th, 2013, 9:25 am

My experience is if you actually hook a fish, and then lose it, the chances of you getting it on a subsequent cast(s) is very poor. If he ate your fly, but you missed the hookset, then it's worth giving it another go, perhaps with a different fly. If the fish just completely missed your fly, the chances are quite good you'll get him on a later cast. YMMV!!!!

by **DrCreek** » May 25th, 2013, 10:58 am

Not quite sure how anyone could positively tell if it was same fish anyway.

by **Bernardito** » May 25th, 2013, 12:12 pm

I've caught the same trout before on several occasions. Might even be one of the several beasts on our beloved San Dimas local.

by **darrin terry** » May 25th, 2013, 12:47 pm

It has been known to happen, but short of pics of each fish so that the spot pattern can be compared, it is next to impossible to know for sure that someone has caught the same fish twice in a day/session. It could be identified by other features such as a wound as well. I know there have been a couple of time where I hooked a fish and had it come free and having not lost sight of the fish got it to take again. This has only happened on creeks where the fish seem to get back feeding quickly. As for taking pics to try to identify them, who takes pics of every fish they catch? These days, I only take a few fish pics, and not even of every trip anymore.

by **fly addict** » May 25th, 2013, 12:52 pm

I would not think that once you hooked and landed a fish that it would be inclined to do it again right away. One thing is the fish needs to go back to the feeding lie it was at when you 1st hooked it. More likely it was looking for a place to hide which may or may not be the same as a feeding lie. On moving water a lot of times a fish will split in many different directions including downstream from where it was hooked. After a fish has been hooked and released it more than likely is both physically and mentally beat if not sore from the c&r possess. There are probably other factors that would cause a fish to not resume feeding in such a short time.

I was on a small stream the other day with a forum member, and we had one of our best days on the water. At the end of the six hour session we went back to where we had started earlier in the day. I had my doubts about how good the fishing would be after we had already pounded the water catching fish in all the likely spots. It was like the fish had vanished from the stream. Where did they go? I can’t answer that question but will say they were not sitting in the classic feeding lies as we did not spook any as we worked our way back up stream.

On a larger stream like the Kern or the East Walker you can’t possibly catch all the fish because of many reasons. And I bet you could do what we did on the small stream and be successful. But I still would doubt that you or anybody else would catch a fish that has already been c&r that day.

by **Jimbo Roberts** » May 25th, 2013, 1:40 pm

It's not what you'd say is common, but I've done it a bunch of times over the years. Now that said I have been fishing for 55 years so that's a lot of years in which it could have happened.

I wrote a story last year about this very same thing. I caught a big male and then 1 hour 39 minutes later I caught the same fish, in the same drop, on a different fly. Here's the link.....
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=6722
I would guess that I have done this about a dozen times when you are talking about catching the same fish on the same day. Now if you are talking about catching the same fish again during the season that happens almost every year for me. There is one large Buck that I have caught 3 times this year all in the same pool.

Jimbo

by **Ants** » May 25th, 2013, 1:44 pm

In response to same fish- it happened for me over 2 days on the San Juan River. Day 1 resulted in broken tippet. Day 2 resulted in fish landed. Hey! It took both flies. Wait, one is the fly from Day 1. Obviously, this occurred in same location. Otherwise, sometimes fish have battle scars that are distinctive. Also, if a significantly larger fish returns to a feeding lie in relatively clear water, it is highly likely to be same fish. (Technically I didn't catch it twice, but I certainly hooked it twice.)

Incidents with other fisherman have included catching a fish in one direction, and re-catching an hour or so later in opposite direction. The fish is usually a battle scarred recent stocker that takes the hook again.

It seems that as long as fish return to a known feeding lie, the option exists for catch #2. The larger, older fish seem to be more wary.

Ants

by **Pete** » May 25th, 2013, 6:41 pm

Per my scientific study.... five minutes. That's how long it took to re-hook the same fish. How do I know? Had him in the net, when I was un-hooking him he snapped off my fly and slipped out of my grasp. Five minutes later, same run, same lie = same fish with my fly. Got the fly back

by **RichardCullip** » May 25th, 2013, 8:12 pm

A few (maybe more than a few) years ago the DFW put some big trout in the Kern in the Fall/early winter, I landed a beast (20-21") from this planting on a nice run just above the Steelhead Run. He took a black woolly bugger and put up a great fight. After landing him and reviving him I put him back. Much to my surprise, he took the same fly just moments later. This time around he had no fight left in him and just calmly and easily came to the net. He was easily identifiable by his size and coloring and lack of fight the second time around.

Another time fishing with Keith Roberts and his uncle Ron up on the Kings, I had a big one break me off. Keith caught him about 15 mins later and we knew it was the same fish since he still had my tiny nymph in his lip.

Another time, this time on a fun little tributary of the Kern, I had a little rainbow (with a lot of golden in his genes) wrap himself around a twig and break off the parachute ant pattern I was feeding him. Again, about 10 mins later he came up and grabbed the last parachute ant pattern I had with me. I knew it was the same little guy because when i brought him to hand he had two parachute ant patterns in his lower lip. It was very kind of him to give me my lost fly back.

by **flocktothewall** » May 26th, 2013, 10:10 am

Pete wrote:Per my scientific study.... five minutes. That's how long it took to re-hook the same fish. How do I know? Had him in the net, when I was un-hooking him he snapped off my fly and slipped out of my grasp. Five minutes later, same run, same lie = same fish with my fly. Got the fly back

I've had that exact same thing happen to me. In taking the zebra midge I had tied out, it slipped out of my hand, foul hooked the zebra just below its pectoral fin, and into the drink. About an hour later, I got my zebra back.