After freezing overnight while camping out, I had a nice hike to warm up. No one else was crazy enough to be camping out in freezing weather and no one was at either the lake I fished on Thursday or the lake I fished on Friday. So if you like solitude, these seep lakes might fit the bill. Even surprised a Trumpeter Swan at the lake I fished on Friday and occasionally saw a few Sandhill Cranes flying overhead. You never know what you'll find in these seep lakes, as you don't know if they winter-killed, or summer-killed, or got fished out by the Power Baiters. Last year I found a few nice fish at this lake, but I kind of doubted that they would survive the winter. When I started fishing I was catching very small fish, like 8 to 9 inchers, and lots of them. I moved to a shallow bay and thought I'd hooked some weeds in about 3 feet of water, but it turned out to be this very nice 20 incher that splashed the camera with water:
I was using that Muskrat Nymph that I used last week, and that fly was mostly what I used on this outing as it seemed to be working just fine. A couple of hours later I had moved to the other end of the lake (it is a very small lake), and in about 5 feet of water I hooked another nice fish, a 21 incher this time:
A while later I hooked a 23 incher, but it was dark, looked like it had been hooked a few times and didn't fight as well as the other two, and I didn't even take a photo. But just catching the three trophy-sized fish made my day, especially for such a small lake. Those might be the only big fish in this lake, but I released all the fish I hooked, so they are still there for you to find. I would expect that these big fish will die off this year, and since the two following year classes seem to be totally missing, I wouldn't expect to find any big fish in the next couple of years at this lake. It will take a while for those 8 to 9 inchers to grow up.
As Forrest Gump said, “My momma always said, 'life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get'”. That analogy certainly applies to these seep lakes; you may get skunked in 2 out of 3 of them, but then you'll find some nice fish in that 3rd one that makes it all worthwhile.
Rex
I was using that Muskrat Nymph that I used last week, and that fly was mostly what I used on this outing as it seemed to be working just fine. A couple of hours later I had moved to the other end of the lake (it is a very small lake), and in about 5 feet of water I hooked another nice fish, a 21 incher this time:
A while later I hooked a 23 incher, but it was dark, looked like it had been hooked a few times and didn't fight as well as the other two, and I didn't even take a photo. But just catching the three trophy-sized fish made my day, especially for such a small lake. Those might be the only big fish in this lake, but I released all the fish I hooked, so they are still there for you to find. I would expect that these big fish will die off this year, and since the two following year classes seem to be totally missing, I wouldn't expect to find any big fish in the next couple of years at this lake. It will take a while for those 8 to 9 inchers to grow up.
As Forrest Gump said, “My momma always said, 'life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get'”. That analogy certainly applies to these seep lakes; you may get skunked in 2 out of 3 of them, but then you'll find some nice fish in that 3rd one that makes it all worthwhile.
Rex
