In my years of guiding on the trout rich tailwaters of the Ozarks, I've had the opportunity to put clients on their personal best trout on many occasions. It's no secret that these rich aquatic environments regularly boot out oversized trout with proportions more like fireplace logs than fish. Our trout obtain these sizes on a continuous buffet mixture of various nymphs, midges, scuds, and sculpins. Most fly fishers that I encounter on these streams have well-stocked fly boxes loaded with the latest concoction of fur, feather, and thread to imitate every form of critter that clings or crawls in the stream. These patterns are effective and get served up to the trout daily on our waters. One menu item that I seldom see used or imitated effectively is the sculpin. I think many fly casters are intimidated by their size and lack confidence in successfully using them. For several years now a sculpin imitation has been my number one fly for producing true trophy size trout for my clients and me.

     If you ever have the chance to closely examine a large trout from our rivers, you will often notice large bumps on their sides and stomach. These are large undigested sculpins that the trout has recently fed on. I've also witnessed large trout cleaned and have talked with local taxidermists and have found sculpins to overwhelmingly be the choice morsel of trophy-sized trout. Savvy bait guides regularly collect live sculpin and swear there is no comparison for trophy size fish. Our local trout biologists also back this up. They state that in our tailwaters a trout's diet consists mainly of midges, sowbugs, snails and nymphs until he reaches about 18 inches in length. In our waters if a fish can just survive a couple of years they'll reach this size! Once these fish reach about the three-pound mark it has been my observation that they become quite carnivorous. It's not that these fish no longer feed on the small stuff; it's just that once they consume sculpins and put them on their diet they develop a preference. In my experience, this happens with all of our trout species. Everyone knows that big browns are suckers for sculpins but oversized brookies, cutts and rainbows gulp them down as well. All of my personal best of each of these species has fallen to this fly and fishing technique. It's easy to see why I fish this fly with such confidence.

     The fondness that large trout have for sculpins first became evident to me many years ago while fishing one of the spring creek trout parks in Missouri. My wife and I were enjoying a wonderful hatch of tiny caddis and were having quite a time tempting finicky rainbows on fine tippets and #20s.

     I was standing on a large undercut embankment that was part of a bridge support (no wading allowed). As I concentrated on getting a perfect drift to an over educated stocker, one of natures predator/prey dramas began to unfold at my feet. A sculpin crawled on its pectoral fins in short forward darts from the security of a cress bed. I took notice of the perfect camouflage of the sculpin on the clean gravel bottom. I could barely make out its outline while it lay motionless in the gentle currents. I pointed out the sculpin to my wife Marlene by goosing it with my rod tip. The scuplin burst forward with a tight wiggle and swam right under the ledge I was standing on. In a split second it shot right back out heading straight for the cover of the cress bed with a very large and excited brown trout hot on its trail. It was that sculpin's lucky day.

     We stood still and watched fascinated as the brown poked around like a coyote trying to flush a rabbit out of a brush pile. Realizing he was being watched, the big brown turned and swam back to the safety of the undercut. I swear you could read the expression on that hook jawed face like he just screwed up in more ways than one. To say that made a lasting impression on me was an understatement.

     That night in our cabin I searched the tying bag for materials to tie a sculpin. I incorporated all of the elements I had observed in the natural, camouflage, movement, silhouette, and heavy enough to stay tight to the bottom throughout the retrieve.

     The next morning I approached the undercut from the opposite bank. Several anglers were already working the finicky risers. My attention was focused on something else. My hands actually shook as I knotted on heavier tippet and my prototype sculpin. I cast and let the currents work the fly back up under the cut. As I mimicked the motion I had seen in the real sculpin with my retrieve, the same large brown, jaws agape, came out and pounced on the fly, head shaking in a cloud of silt. After a seesaw battle and nearly losing him to the undercut, I slipped the net under the beautiful specimen. I could feel the stares and heard a chorus of the inevitable "what fly 'ya using?"

     As I slid the brute back into the water I thanked him for the thrill and the lesson learned. This lesson has played itself out for my clients and me so many times over the years. This is exciting fishing. The technique is exactly the same as I use bone fishing. What excitement, bone fishing for bows and browns! A true game of cat and mouse.

     The way to effectively fish the rock sculpin is to first have an understanding of how sculpins act and more importantly how large trout react to them. It is this predator/prey relationship that must be incorporated into your fishing skills if you want success. Many times I've approached a pool or run that contains some large trout. I scan the bottom and cover to locate where they are holding. This takes a trained eye. Often all you'll see is a shadow or the white area of the fish's mouth. During daylight hours most of these fish are inactive and holding tight to any available cover. These older, smarter trout have adjusted their feeding schedule to coincide with rising water from the dams or periods of low light. Some have become totally nocturnal. Remember, these are wild animals we are dealing with and they have all of the survival skills and instincts of a heavily hunted buck or gobbler. They are catchable though, and the rock sculpin has done it for me time and again.

     Sight casting for me is the ultimate in fly-fishing. Whether it's saltwater flats or trout in gin clear pools, I get really excited stalking and making one perfect presentation to a fish. The scenario goes something like this. When searching for big trout I'll often move along scanning the bottom of favored big fish haunts with my polarized glasses. Once I sight a target fish I cast well away and up current of the fish as not to spook him with the entry of the fly. I also want to have enough space to properly retrieve the fly. I allow the fly to settle to the bottom; hook up, by design, often will keep the fly motionless for some time depending on the spookiness of the fish. I then start crawling the fly slowly across the bottom toward the window of the target fish. As the fly approaches the fish's area (Just like bone fishing, don't attack the fish with the fly; just let it enter his stripe zone.) you will usually notice body language in the fish. He perks up. Sometimes they will dash forward and pin the fly with aggression. I love those fish! More times than not though, in our heavily fished waters, they will cautiously slide forward and nose the counterfeit sculpin. It is then that you must become the sculpin.

     Give it a quick strip to dart the fly away from the fish just like an escaping sculpin. This will usually bring an instant chase from the trout. You must restrain yourself from striking too quickly. Many times these fish will actually pick up the fly and mouth it. It must feel soft and squishy like the real thing. Train yourself to watch for the mouth to close around the fly if light conditions are where you can see the fly; if not, wait until you feel the heaviness of the fish as he takes the fly.

     I've learned over the years that a slow deliberate strike is best. It's easy to pull the fly from the fish's mouth. Learn to strip strike. If you miss the fish keep stripping. Nothing could be more natural for a big trout chasing a sculpin meal. Often trout will follow the fly nipping and short striking. You need to keep the fly moving to keep the fish interested. I've had "Shamoo" trout follow the fly all the way to the rod tip only to turn away at the last second and swim back to their lair. When this happens I usually rest this fish and try him again later. If you cast right back at him my experience is that they wise up and refuse to play. I can't emphasize enough on these big boys that one shot is usually all you get.

     While filming a fly-fishing show once I had a cameraman crouched low behind me as I worked a large brown with my sculpin. The brown chased the fly into ankle deep water with such a rush he nearly beached himself. What a thrill! Another thing to remember is to fish sculpins where sculpins live and large trout go to hunt for them. I have far better results casting into shallow areas that border cover and holding lies. The big boys go to the shallows to hunt for sculpins. The sculpins don't go looking for the trout. Simple point, but I often see anglers in chest deep water slinging flies into totally unproductive zones.

     Living close to the rivers allows you the blessing of observation of the trout's world and a better understanding of that world, which hopefully carries over into your fishing success. Early in the morning I often see the wakes and backs of brutes as they patrol the shoreline flushing out sculpins and chasing them down. The lessons the river and its fish teach you in that age-old chase of the predator and prey will enrich your time on the water and hopefully reward you with one of the true legends of the river.

     A great testimonial to this is the time that I was asked to host Jim Teeny for a couple days of fly fishing when he was here in the Ozarks. I had never met Jim but I knew of his skills and passion for large trout and salmon. I knew we could do the normal White River trip and probably catch untold numbers of stockers and maybe a few holdovers. I wanted to hopefully impress Jim with our rivers' true trophies. No easy task.

     As many of you know, Jim fishes exclusively with variations of his famous Teeny nymph, a great fly that can pass for many different food forms, including sculpins. I tied on my sculpin and fished it. Jim was very impressed, to say the least, with the production. Several photo op fish were taken including one of the biggest cutthroats I've seen caught on these waters. Jim fooled this fish stripping a very large Teeny nymph, olive in color, which had a very similar silhouette and action to my sculpin fly.

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