The brown sculpin is one of the most common baitfish available for trout. Sculpin stay right on the bottom, usually hidden down between the rocks on the stream’s bottom. They do move around on the bottom when they are feeding and that is when they are most likely to be eaten by a trout. The nature of the brown trout is that they are prone to get into shallow water when the light conditions are low. Often they will be under overhanging limbs or in grassy areas and the sculpins will be most vulnerable under these conditions.
We would like to take a few moments and discuss how an effective brown sculpin fly was born. When the Perfect Fly Brown Sculpin fly was developed, deer hair was used to add buoyancy to the fly. The head is spun deer hair and the beginning of the body is deer hair. Part of the body and the tail consist of feathers that look and move like the real thing. Eyes were added to complete the fly. In tests, it could not be definitely proven that the eyes added anything to the fly’s effectiveness, but the tests proved that the eyes did not detract from the effectiveness.
When weight was added it was observed that the weight adversely affected its action and the versions without weight did definitely swim with a more natural pattern. As is the case with many other flies, the use a predetermined amount of added weight, will make the fly only work well at certain water depths and current speeds.
When you add weight a few inches (we recommend 4 to 5 inches) above the fly, it helps increase the wiggle or natural swimming motion of the fly. In the current, It looks and acts like a real sculpin. We like the weight close to the fly because it doesn’t seem to affect the trout taking the fly and it keeps the fly only an inch or two above the bottom.
This is a good season for trying out the Brown Sculpin Fly which we believe is the best sculpin imitation available for clear water trout streams. We hope you will give it a try as we feel certain you will like the fly. A word of caution however, if the brown trout are on their redds, please let them alone, preferring to fish another time.