Artificial Flies vs. Live Bait

[Lord of the Fly , Rods]

The Gauntlet has been thrown down and the Challenge has been accepted,We will finally settle the age old question of what catches more fish   , flies or live bait on a fly rod. This question will finally be answered at the Kentucky Lake Rendezvous 2015 , True Purist of the fly rod that have never used live bait on a fly rod , and the meat hunters that have been using live bait on a fly rod  Old School style . This should be interesting , anyone care to  make a prediction on the outcome ?   LOFR

[Joe Angelucci]

I vote meat, but I'm know to fish hot dogs 

[jim cosgrove]

live bait will outfish a fly 95% of the time.i enjoy flycasting so i fish flies on a flyrod.bait on a spinning rod.when my friend from west virginia goes back for reunions they use dynamite to get fish for the fish fry.when i go fishing to stock the freezer i use bait .i dont eat many gills as there are very few big ones left in my area.but crappies lake perch catfish stripers and steelhead are not too hard to come by.gonna start cooking small gills whole this year.the ones worth filleting go back in the water.maybe someday the dnr will figure things out.

[Lord of the Fly , Rods]

Jim , dont get me wrong , I enjoy casting  a fly  75 -80 ft, it gives you a lot of time playing the fish, and sometime we go out just to do this , I call this Sport fishing,but when I need to put fish in the boat I go with crickets under a porcupine quill.   LOFR 

[Lord of the Fly , Rods]

SS, thats ok , I understand that people are going to fish with the style and technique that they have success with, and thats what you are supposed to do , This challenge is limited to  fly rods ,flies , and live bait with a quill, sure I'll be giving up some distance to the fly fisherman, but I'll have my own advantages too. This is all for fun ! not trying to dis anyones fishing style , because I use flies  too , this is just some Pre Rendezvous Trash Talk , it's all good .  LOFR

[DAVID L EITUTIS]

HHHHHHHHHHHHHA HHHHHHHHHHA MAYBE .........

[carl hendrix]

i;m gonna use both!! some kind of a jig- or fly-- TIPPED with either a cricket or a piece of worm!  all is fair in fishing in my book!!    and I will be using my beloved quill float!!   big question is--- who is going to catch the SMALLEST fish??

[Slip Sinker]

lol

i think on this outing the guy with the most is the winner... wish i could be there

[jim cosgrove]

i say its spring and time goes fast on a trip so i say whatever puts fish in the cooler.thts what i'll be doing late april in so illinois.crappies dominate the lake i go to so will be keying on them.will still throw some bugs off the docks in between boat outings.gonna really try to get more carp on the fly this year.

[Slip Sinker]

ive been doing great with the crappies all the way through July... then they spread out and quit schooling for some reason... well in my neighborhood any way. yeah if can find the schools youll hit it big with the crappie

[Allen Morgan]

Slip Sinker, do you have any insect hatches going on in July?  Maybe Hexagenia mayflies??  Odds are, the Crappie are spreading out to eat the nymphs as they emerge.

Crappie also have gill-rakers, and will suspend in open water, filter-feeding on plankton, which is also a Summer thing.....

[Slip Sinker]

i believe your right Allen..sometime in august there was a very heavy fly hatch... i took pictures of them but cant find on my phone.

i would be looking for schools of fish in august on this one particular lake and it would be all gill schooled along the deep break  so i switched gears from crappie in late july to basically gill till ice on.

the last outing i had on the ice i was fishing the break at 9-0 which was good almost all season... catching many fish but no crappie.text book tells you to fish the deep basins but they were vacant of fish. a shanty that was positioned over about 6-0 FOW packed up and left and the guy gave me 2 crappie of 11". i actually believe they are scattered in the shallow flats of around 6 ft because now that is where the forage is? i haven't been able to test this because of the extreme cold weather of the past 10 days, 

the answer lies in March when i'll be able to test this theory

[Allen Morgan]

Hex mayflies are BIG, and usually yellow.  Not counting tails, they're a little over an inch long.  We get some Hex's coming off a few lakes here.  I've never tried or been able to fish the hatch, but I've heard it can be amazing fishing.