I've been hearing some good fishing reports from "another Basin lake", this one is a general regulation lake popular with the powerbait anglers and Ford fender trollers. Now that it's fall, the crowds are elsewhere. Late yesterday afternoon I decided to give the lake a shot only to get down there and find the wind blowing hard, the lake white capping. I kicked off shore in a stiff wind, it wasn't cold? It got a bit cold as I got a little wet from whitecap foam blowing over the back of my float tube (note to self: wear a waterproof windbreaker when the wind is blowing hard). My legs got tired from trying to move up the lake kicking against the wind and I didn't get a bite. So much for good reports and less than ideal conditions.
I woke up this morning, had breakfast with my wife and headed out. I remembered to pack my Fishin' Buddy this morning, I remembered to pack a waterproof windbreaker (didn't need it) but I deliberately left lunch at home fully believing I'd be home in a couple hours.
My friend Rod was on the lake when I got there, it took me maybe ten minutes from the time I parked until I was fishing. There's no backpacking to this lake, it's a drive up general regulation lake. I started out with my indicator rod, an 18' leader (that got lengthened) and a @Shawn Seeger Seegercator quick release indicator and an "orangish" (FTD Krap dubbing) jig. I thought for sure this fly would entice a fish; it worked really well last winter on Rocky Ford creek. I switched to my full sink rigged rod with a perch fry fly knotted on, no love:
Perch fry fly and an "orangish" jig ----^
I continued to kick out towards Rod; he'd just landed a chrome fry planted 15" rainbow with a small midge under an indicator. We chatted for a few minutes and I moved away to give him some space. About then Rod hooked a big trout, it jumped and we both noticed the golden hue. A brown!
Rod Sand and his brown -----^
I kicked back to the shore for a minute and changed flies on the full sink rig to the closest thing I had to "yellow" (that's what Rod caught his brown on, a small yellow streamer). Thanks to the Mad Scientist and his Krap dubbing, I did have something "yellowish", not too far from shore, I had a hard strike and almost immediately something bronzeish jumped, I thought I'd hooked a brown. Not so:
This smallie hasn't missed too many meals! ----^
As the day went on, I switched back and forth between the floating line with many fly change-ups and the full sink with many change ups. Eventually the fish seemed to key into midges for maybe an hour or so; I landed ten trout, all cookie cutter 15" rainbows (no trout pics). Most of the trout were chrome bright and fought hard for as small as they were.
These two midges were the key (for awhile). The top fly (#18) was something I ripped off of a Don Freschi video, the trout desroyed the red butt. The bottom fly is a zuchinni midge, size 13.
I picked up a couple 15" fish on the yellowish jig when things seemed to slow down. I was hungry, it was a couple hours past lunchtime. Nothing in my float tube to eat, nothing in my truck. I decided to call it a day but......., yeah, but. I noticed a few fish rising in the shallow part of the shoal so I thought I'd kick over and check it out. I noticed a couple small grey mayfly spinners on the water so I stripped my two midges and Seegercator off my 20' leader and tied on a small bead head flashback hares ear.
The hares ear, THE fly ------^ (warning: Fish Porn):
Yes, I'm going to leave my lunch home the next time I fish this lake.
I woke up this morning, had breakfast with my wife and headed out. I remembered to pack my Fishin' Buddy this morning, I remembered to pack a waterproof windbreaker (didn't need it) but I deliberately left lunch at home fully believing I'd be home in a couple hours.
My friend Rod was on the lake when I got there, it took me maybe ten minutes from the time I parked until I was fishing. There's no backpacking to this lake, it's a drive up general regulation lake. I started out with my indicator rod, an 18' leader (that got lengthened) and a @Shawn Seeger Seegercator quick release indicator and an "orangish" (FTD Krap dubbing) jig. I thought for sure this fly would entice a fish; it worked really well last winter on Rocky Ford creek. I switched to my full sink rigged rod with a perch fry fly knotted on, no love:
Perch fry fly and an "orangish" jig ----^
I continued to kick out towards Rod; he'd just landed a chrome fry planted 15" rainbow with a small midge under an indicator. We chatted for a few minutes and I moved away to give him some space. About then Rod hooked a big trout, it jumped and we both noticed the golden hue. A brown!
Rod Sand and his brown -----^
I kicked back to the shore for a minute and changed flies on the full sink rig to the closest thing I had to "yellow" (that's what Rod caught his brown on, a small yellow streamer). Thanks to the Mad Scientist and his Krap dubbing, I did have something "yellowish", not too far from shore, I had a hard strike and almost immediately something bronzeish jumped, I thought I'd hooked a brown. Not so:
This smallie hasn't missed too many meals! ----^
As the day went on, I switched back and forth between the floating line with many fly change-ups and the full sink with many change ups. Eventually the fish seemed to key into midges for maybe an hour or so; I landed ten trout, all cookie cutter 15" rainbows (no trout pics). Most of the trout were chrome bright and fought hard for as small as they were.
These two midges were the key (for awhile). The top fly (#18) was something I ripped off of a Don Freschi video, the trout desroyed the red butt. The bottom fly is a zuchinni midge, size 13.
I picked up a couple 15" fish on the yellowish jig when things seemed to slow down. I was hungry, it was a couple hours past lunchtime. Nothing in my float tube to eat, nothing in my truck. I decided to call it a day but......., yeah, but. I noticed a few fish rising in the shallow part of the shoal so I thought I'd kick over and check it out. I noticed a couple small grey mayfly spinners on the water so I stripped my two midges and Seegercator off my 20' leader and tied on a small bead head flashback hares ear.
The hares ear, THE fly ------^ (warning: Fish Porn):
Yes, I'm going to leave my lunch home the next time I fish this lake.
