Yesterday I headed out in the early afternoon to a small shallow lake. It was constant rain and at times quite the downpour. Even still I could see chironomids popping everywhere. The water was slightly off color and there was a constant breeze. As the lake is quite shallow I tried two favorite chironomids a few feet below an indicator. No love. I switched a few flies. Still nothing.
At this point I went to a red/black simiseal jig leech with a slotted bead off an aqualux. Started getting strikes and started getting fish in. It wasn't a barn burner but wasn't slow. My hands became so cold in the rain I struggled to set hooks and manage line. This one took me to my backing:
I would try to fish the indicator if only for a chance to warm my hands up but I just could not get a strike. This is a lake I generally do pretty well on with a shallow indicator set up. One thing that was interesting was I didn't see fish rise hardly at all. My theory was maybe with the water clarity not being the best they couldn't see the adults? This might also explain why the black and red simiseal was producing the best on the aqualux.
Towards the later afternoon I gave up on chironomids and gave the fish something juicy to look at below the bobber:
Within a few casts I was about to go back to the leech and give up on my silly experiment when I got slammed and was fast into a fish. Then I caught another. And another. A lot of times the indicator was gone and I was into the fish before I had time to react:
They seemed to be attacking the baitfish during the take:
It was a fun bite that lasted about an hour until the wind died and the rain started pouring. Had a nice fish break me off after a run.
Few last fish on the leech including a 22 inch nasty hooked jaw buck (no pic) and a little brown:
On the way out I was reflecting on the balanced minnow bite and I had a thought. None of us have ever seen baitfish in this lake. Are these rainbows use to chomping the brown trout fry that get planted?
I guess the lesson of the day is don't be afraid of throwing something different at the fish. You just may be surprised.
Billy
At this point I went to a red/black simiseal jig leech with a slotted bead off an aqualux. Started getting strikes and started getting fish in. It wasn't a barn burner but wasn't slow. My hands became so cold in the rain I struggled to set hooks and manage line. This one took me to my backing:
I would try to fish the indicator if only for a chance to warm my hands up but I just could not get a strike. This is a lake I generally do pretty well on with a shallow indicator set up. One thing that was interesting was I didn't see fish rise hardly at all. My theory was maybe with the water clarity not being the best they couldn't see the adults? This might also explain why the black and red simiseal was producing the best on the aqualux.Towards the later afternoon I gave up on chironomids and gave the fish something juicy to look at below the bobber:
Within a few casts I was about to go back to the leech and give up on my silly experiment when I got slammed and was fast into a fish. Then I caught another. And another. A lot of times the indicator was gone and I was into the fish before I had time to react:They seemed to be attacking the baitfish during the take:It was a fun bite that lasted about an hour until the wind died and the rain started pouring. Had a nice fish break me off after a run.Few last fish on the leech including a 22 inch nasty hooked jaw buck (no pic) and a little brown:
On the way out I was reflecting on the balanced minnow bite and I had a thought. None of us have ever seen baitfish in this lake. Are these rainbows use to chomping the brown trout fry that get planted?I guess the lesson of the day is don't be afraid of throwing something different at the fish. You just may be surprised.
Billy
