Washington Fly Fishing Forum banner

Whitefish

3K views 31 replies 20 participants last post by  robl 
#1 ·
Anyone fly-fish for these critters if so how and where do you catch them? I never have fished for them so no idea what fly to use or where to fish for them but would love to try.
 
#2 ·
Lots of them in the Green river. Nymphs under an indicator will put you into fish.
A Prince nymph is a whitefish magnet but just about any stonefly or decent sized mayfly nymph will work. Copper John, Lighting bug, Pat's Stone, Girdle Bug etc will all work. SJ Worms and Egg patterns work as well.
SF
 
#3 ·
Yes. My brother and I use to go over to the Blackfoot, and catch them by the bazillions to smoke up.

We used a Tellico nymph, bounced on the bottom. I'm sure there are many different flies that will work. Yellow (or rusty orange) color seemed to work best. The October caddis is coming off, as well as a couple other bugs that have those colors - Hares Ear, etc...

They are in spawn right now, so if you find a hole with them in there...you can literally fish the same hole for hours.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Stonefish
#8 ·
Oh, one other thing. Use hook sizes around 12 to 16.

You can obviously catch them on bigger and smaller flies, but we found these sizes to have the best ratio of hook ups.
 
#11 ·
I tied on a hopper on the Big Hole one day, well pleased that a big fly like that on the surface would mean trout only. After spotting and sight casting to a big riser a while later, I had a piggy whitefish on a big Dave's Hopper. D'oh! I've seen them get up on Tricos and Baetis as well in Montana. Crazy.

Nymphs are the way to go, though, as stated above. The whitefish seem to like the flashier stuff more... lightning bugs are great, and princes, and pheasant tails - tie the latter two with flashback and you're in the whitefish.

Have fun - and watch out for those pesky trout!
 
#12 ·
I think the toughest part, at least with bigger whiteys, is the scales all over the kitchen. I took one from Rock Creek last winter, and fried it up for my girlfriend. It was delicious, though tougher cleaning than a trout. Might smoke a few of them this winter, though I prefer to give the ****** population the same respect I do trout. Are they considered overpopulated in their native waters?
 
#13 ·
There is a major winter lake-whitefishery only minutes from my front door. I plan on figuring it out this winter when other things slow down. Most of these whitefish go four or five pounds in Banks lake. I've heard use something glow-in-the-dark at night, but we'll see.
 
#14 ·
Btw, if you apply any pressure at all when palming under the fish to remove the hook, whitefish will flop back and forth incessantly. There is a little secret way to handle whitefish... if you can eliminate all pressure when lifting a little they'll just sit there for about 30 seconds. After the timer expires though they start to flop back and forth! Ah... whitefish... better than no-fish, but still whitefish!
 
#16 ·
So I consider whitefish to be a nuisance fish... In the last 9 years I was in Idaho they never made it on my fish count (i.e. I'd consider my day skunked if I only caught ******...) I still C&R them because they're native but I've certainly never targeted them. Is there something I'm missing here? Are they different from ID to WA?
 
#17 ·
Nope. There are multiple species of whitefish but the moving water ones being discussed here are Mountain Whitefish... the same fish.

I don't count them either, and they are an afterthought. As in, "ya had a 20+ morning on Rock Creek... oh yeah and a bunch of whitefish."

They don't fight too bad, and are listed as a game fish. They're better than no-fish, but they're still whitefish!
 
#23 ·
Whitefish have saved many a slow day for me. They tend to hold in medium flow/slower water about 4-6 feet down.

I agree . . . . beadhead anything should get you into them. Size #14 of just about everything has always worked for me.

Dark gold beaded hare's ear has what has worked best for me, another great choice is a red copper john.

Also have caught many many many whitefish on hopper/dropper with a beadhead down about 18 inches. Lots of fun.
 
#24 ·
I'll make another plug for smoked whitefish. Really delicious. And many WA streams have special whitefish seasons during the winter, which means I can fish some of my favorite smaller rivers and streams legally, as long as I'm following the whitefish gear rules (basically, hook size 14 or smaller). Smoked whitefish is a really nice thing in the middle of winter.
 
#25 ·
I landed one rather large Whitefish in a local stream last Sunday on a #14 Prince trailing 24" below a #8 EHC. My partner regards them as a trash fish but I was excited about it for a couple of important reasons. Though just slightly larger it fought much more vigorously and longer than several similar sized Cutts and Cut-Bows I landed; all on my TFO Finesse 3 weight :). Also their presence serves as an indicator of a river's overall health since they require high water quality, tend to feed off the bottom, and are used as a food source themselves by other fish and animals. I have tried to enlighten my buddy and hope him stepping up to net it for me when it kept running from my net will help him see they are a valuable resource, are fun to catch, and deserve respect.
 
#26 ·
I was fishing the Beaverhead about a week ago. It was toward dusk and the fish were tailing and rising. They wouldn't hit my flies for nothing. I talked to guy that was there the next day and he told me they were Whitefish. These were feeding off the surface.

I decided that I didn't want to put up with them so I didn't fish the next day. That kind of puts off that they are bottom feeders.
 
#27 ·
I was fishing the Beaverhead about a week ago. It was toward dusk and the fish were tailing and rising. They wouldn't hit my flies for nothing. I talked to guy that was there the next day and he told me they were Whitefish. These were feeding off the surface.

I decided that I didn't want to put up with them so I didn't fish the next day. That kind of puts off that they are bottom feeders.
I've pulled them off of drys before and mid feeding column... Rare but its happened.
 
#30 ·
You have unleashed the "West's best kept Secret". Most of my steelheading adventures have ended up being whitefish days. Usually the morning begins fishing three pools that have given up a steelhead once in a great while. Off comes the 3 or 4X tippet and on goes the 5X and very small dry flies. Size 20 griffith gnat has its days when a midge hatch is on. No hatch equals an egg pattern which white fish can seem to resist. Keep the egg patterns small, as in size 14 weighted with a bead covered with bleached out egg colored yarn.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top