sculpins

[rnorth]

I am not sure if this question should go here or not. I have been reading alot about sculpins lately and was wondering what your experiences are with sculpins. I searched posts and didn't see anything that covered size, and color. I would like to learn more about this valuable? food source.

[Wyoming2utah]

As a kid, I remember my dad always carrying a fork in his fly vest...that way if nothing else seemed to be working, he would turn some rocks until he found a sculpin, stab it, and bait up! Their sizes vary according to the stream/reservoir...but, most are very small (about 1-4 inches), very ugly (they look like a swimming bat with fins), and plentiful.

[nightfish]

Here'a a couple pics of our locals, taken from the UDWR site. The first is a mottled sculpin, our most common variety, and the second is the Bear Lake sculpin.

There's several patterns that will work for these Creature From The Black Lagoon lookalikes. A Muddler minnow is a great pattern, but you need to soak the spun deer to get it to sink well, or you can use a conehead version. A woolhead muddler is nice too. I like my woolheads with with a barred marabou wing behind the head. But one of my favorites is made with a dubbing brush of llama in 2tone olive or brown, sculpted into shape, with a bunny tail.

Whatever pattern, fish it right on the bottom. I use a sink tip and a short leader.

Way back in my bait days, I caught a few mottled sculpin on worms. They don't fight very well.