Fly Fishing for Gaspereau

I’ve heard anglers say that gaspereau (also know as Alewife) don’t eat when they enter the river, and catching them on a hook and line is impossible. Still, others say you need to use the smallest fly possible, and even then it’s difficult.

I can tell you right now that those statements are the furthest thing from the truth. In May when the gaspereau run is on in full force, I can’t keep them off my fly. Let me share with you the trick of how to catch gaspereau on a fly rod.

So what’s the Trick?

Streamers. Yes, that one word sums it up pretty well. Fish streamers. Apparently, alewife’s are voracious little predators and have a strong feeding response triggered by fleeing baitfish. Float a dry or nymph by them, and it’s almost 100% of the time ignored. Strip a streamer past them and you’ll have a bite every other cast.

They like a fairly quick retrieve. Many anglers will find they’ll have a gaspereau bite after they’ve given up for the day, and quickly strip their fly in to go home. That’s the speed you want to retrieve your fly at. Strip it back at the same speed you would as if you were striping it back to pack it up for the day.

Swinging your fly in the current, short fast strips, and steady long strips are also all effective, as long as the fly is moving at around that speed. You can tell your more serious trout fishing buddies you’ve been testing out their streamer swinging techniques on gaspereau.

I should add that I have heard of people having success with nymphs. Without actually seeing them fish it, I suspect the nymph may have been moving through the water as a decent speed when the gaspereau took it. I have never been able to catch a gaspereau drifting nymphs, but if I tie a nymph on and fish it like a streamer it works.

What Streamer Flies Should I Use?

The most effective streamers seem to be in the size 8 to 18 range. White Mohair Leech flies are my go-to, but small zonkers, bucktails (think Mickey Finn and Magog Smelt), and other similar streamers have all been effective. I’ve actually had the most luck on a size 16 version of this tinsel based fly I tie in bigger sizes for mackerel. They may have small mouths, but they’re still plenty capable of eating a fry sized fly.

When to Target Gaspereau?

Gaspereau travel from the ocean into the river in May to spawn. This usually happens right after the smelt run is winding down. It’s also one of the signs that the first sea run brookies will be working their way from the estuary upstream.

They can be found in just a foot of water, so no need to fish deep. They’re quite easy to visually spot, especially with polarized sunglasses.

Final Thoughts

Actually, they’re so effective I have to stop using streamers in May of year if I’m fly fishing for sea run brookies in rivers. That’s okay since there’s still plenty of brookies in the estuaries in May, and those in the rivers will readily take nymphs and dries.

The smaller brook trout actually have a bit of a rough time when the gaspereau are in. I’ve seen it numerous times where gaspereau will be quite aggressive towards brook trout. I believe this also slows down the trout bite this time of year, although it’s still plenty possible to catch trout with gaspereau around.

Word to the wise, gaspereau stink to high heaven. I like to think of myself as a fairly tough individual when it comes to smells. I’m not too bothered by fish guts and the like, but gaspereau sure do stink. You’ll have their smell (and scales. O yes their scales fall out like crazy too. It’s like to fish equivalent of sprinkling glitter on you) on you for the rest of the day, so don’t go gaspereau fishing if you have a date later that day.

I’ve heard of people eating gaspereau. I know the Acadians historically smoked them for consumption. Perhaps the smoking process made them more palatable, but I didn’t find them to tase very good when pan-fried. Definitley a catch and release fish.

Still, they’re a very fun and underrated fish to catch. They put up a good fight for their size, and also are quite acrobatic. You can expect some fun jumps and a nice fight when hooking into gaspereau.