Mike Monsos and I had a productive day at one of his secret ponds last year. We tried a repeat last week. You have to want it. The trail in the woods isn't too bad but then you run into this just before the pond.
I tried large and small wet flies with an intermediate line on an 8'6" Phillipson 5 weight. Mike fished one of his 8'4" bamboo tapers with chironomids, nymphs and soft hackles on a floating line. Mike had one strike and I blanked. Only saw a couple rises. It's been 6 years since the pond was last stocked so maybe most of the cutts died. They were 16-18" a year ago.
Mike's got a cool old school enamel coffee mug which rattled nicely as a bear bell on the way into the lake.
Ponds can change year to year. Greg Armstrong and I know of another pond which fished well until a family of three otters moved in...There's always next year.
Last edited:
