Opening Day crowd on a hike-in seep lake 4/22/2023

[Starman77]

I usually don't fish on Opening Day to avoid the crowds, but for various reasons I couldn't fish during the week this past week. I thought I'd try a small hike-in seep lake where I usually find solitude and when I arrived I was the only one:



Well, that didn't last too long as within an hour of launching, there were 15 gear anglers fishing from shore and 2 float tubers (fly casters). Talk about an Opening Day crowd! I've never seen so many people at this lake before.

The water was very murky with about one foot of visibility, and I wondered if the fish would even be able to see my fly, but in spite of the algae bloom, I still managed to find some fish:



Most of the fish were very silvery and husky like this one:



But the two largest fish were dark and didn't fight as well:



The Power Bait anglers seemed to be doing quite well, so I imagine the fish population in this lake got thinned out quite a bit on Opening Day. Hopefully, that means that the remaining fish will grow fatter and stronger.

The water temperature was in the 54 to 59 degree range. There was a light hatch of chironomids, but I caught all my fish casting and stripping leech patterns. "The tug is the drug!"

Rex

 

[Wanative]

I usually don't fish on Opening Day to avoid the crowds, but for various reasons I couldn't fish during the week this past week. I thought I'd try a small hike-in seep lake where I usually find solitude and when I arrived I was the only one:

View attachment 62739

Well, that didn't last too long as within an hour of launching, there were 15 gear anglers fishing from shore and 2 float tubers (fly casters). Talk about an Opening Day crowd! I've never seen so many people at this lake before.

The water was very murky with about one foot of visibility, and I wondered if the fish would even be able to see my fly, but in spite of the algae bloom, I still managed to find some fish:

View attachment 62740

Most of the fish were very silvery and husky like this one:

View attachment 62741

But the two largest fish were dark and didn't fight as well:

View attachment 62742

The Power Bait anglers seemed to be doing quite well, so I imagine the fish population in this lake got thinned out quite a bit on Opening Day. Hopefully, that means that the remaining fish will grow fatter and stronger.

The water temperature was in the 54 to 59 degree range. There was a light hatch of chironomids, but I caught all my fish casting and stripping leech patterns. "The tug is the drug!"

Rex

It was good to see you again Rex.
We did pretty good at the lake we fished.
A couple of the guys did real well.
Since I was there I'm lumping myself in the the real fish catchers.
I'm curious if you tried the fly I gave you. I got a 19" yesterday and an 18" fish today.
The fishing was real slow today at the same lake.
Fred

 

[Starman77]

It was good to see you again Rex.
We did pretty good at the lake we fished.
A couple of the guys did real well.
Since I was there I'm lumping myself in the the real fish catchers.
I'm curious if you tried the fly I gave you. I got a 19" yesterday and an 18" fish today.
The fishing was real slow today at the same lake.
Fred

Nice to see you again too, Fred! Glad to hear you had a good time at that other lake! I didn't get to try your red ostrich herl fly, as with the severe algae bloom at the lake I was at, I felt like I needed to fish something big that created a lot of vibrations in the water for the fish to feel with their lateral line. I was using big rabbit fur leeches.

That's interesting how the lake you fished changed so much from one day to the next. Maybe you guys all educated most of the fish on Opening Day?

 

[Wanative]

Nice to see you again too, Fred! Glad to hear you had a good time at that other lake! I didn't get to try your red ostrich herl fly, as with the severe algae bloom at the lake I was at, I felt like I needed to fish something big that created a lot of vibrations in the water for the fish to feel with their lateral line. I was using big rabbit fur leeches.

That's interesting how the lake you fished changed so much from one day to the next. Maybe you guys all educated most of the fish on Opening Day?

I think so.