80 degrees yesterday. Loaded up the float tube to check out a hike in lake in Grant County I had some good success at last year, and thena couple other close to it. They are close to a few vineyards I work with, so checked out the vineyards in the AM, and then fished in the warm afternoon temps.
Got to the parking spot and pulled out the float tube to blow it up...looked for the adaptor...no adaptor...crap! I decided I'd leave the half inflated float tube in the truck and just hike in to see what the lake looked like and take a few shore casts. I had no backpack with me, so Jammed everything I needed into my little lunch cooler and used that as a sling pack. Wore flip flops, and didn't bring any shoes except my wading boots...so wadered up. That sucked, very sweaty.
Brought two rods, one for indicator fishing and the other with an intermediate that I thought I might try the washing line thing with. Never had done that before, and I had tied some boobies for trying it. Hiked to the furthest two lakes, which I had never been to before. First one was murky green. Saw some turtles, and maybe a fish swirl close to shore. Didn't like the water color though, so continued to the next one. Two dudes were shore fishing with spinning rods, so after a quick chat I told them there was plenty of lakes around, so I'll leave that one to them. That would have been the best shore fishing lake unfortunately. Headed back to the lake I'd had success at last year, and it looked good and nobody around. These are small (1 to 2 acre lakes), so if someone else is fishing it's one too many, IMO.
Lake looked great, saw some midges around, and a ton of water boatman leaving/entering the water. I haven't tied any water boatman patterns yet, I will now. Not a great shore lake. Banks are all super steep, and that continues into the lake, so casting very far out was difficult.
Tried the indicator setup first, with the flies I really never changed last year because they worked so dang well: vampire leech and an oil slick buzzer. Within 10 minutes I was hooked up. That fish popped off after a good fight. He/she was a bright one. That one was on the leech.
Set up the washing rig with a firecracker booby with yellow foam eyes and a brownish chironomid. Nothing the first couple casts. Was pretty cool I could see the booby fly though. As I was losing interest in that, and wanting to go back to the indicator, I was watching that booby, and I saw a shape appear near it, and the yellow eyes disappear. I set, and had a decent fish on. Put up a good fight with a few jumps. I had no net (that was attached to my float tube), so stumbled down the screen, almost fell into the lake, but saved it and landed the fish.
Shortly thereafter I hit some sagebrush on a backcast and I no longer had a booby. So I reeled that setup up, and went back to the indicator. Hooked a few more fish on both the chironomid and the leech. Most popped off, which was fine with no net and the bank being so steep and loose.
Overall a succesful trip, despite forgetting the pump adaptor and having to wear waders in 80 degrees. All the fish were nice size, an the 15 - 18" range.
Got to the parking spot and pulled out the float tube to blow it up...looked for the adaptor...no adaptor...crap! I decided I'd leave the half inflated float tube in the truck and just hike in to see what the lake looked like and take a few shore casts. I had no backpack with me, so Jammed everything I needed into my little lunch cooler and used that as a sling pack. Wore flip flops, and didn't bring any shoes except my wading boots...so wadered up. That sucked, very sweaty.
Brought two rods, one for indicator fishing and the other with an intermediate that I thought I might try the washing line thing with. Never had done that before, and I had tied some boobies for trying it. Hiked to the furthest two lakes, which I had never been to before. First one was murky green. Saw some turtles, and maybe a fish swirl close to shore. Didn't like the water color though, so continued to the next one. Two dudes were shore fishing with spinning rods, so after a quick chat I told them there was plenty of lakes around, so I'll leave that one to them. That would have been the best shore fishing lake unfortunately. Headed back to the lake I'd had success at last year, and it looked good and nobody around. These are small (1 to 2 acre lakes), so if someone else is fishing it's one too many, IMO.
Lake looked great, saw some midges around, and a ton of water boatman leaving/entering the water. I haven't tied any water boatman patterns yet, I will now. Not a great shore lake. Banks are all super steep, and that continues into the lake, so casting very far out was difficult.
Tried the indicator setup first, with the flies I really never changed last year because they worked so dang well: vampire leech and an oil slick buzzer. Within 10 minutes I was hooked up. That fish popped off after a good fight. He/she was a bright one. That one was on the leech.
Set up the washing rig with a firecracker booby with yellow foam eyes and a brownish chironomid. Nothing the first couple casts. Was pretty cool I could see the booby fly though. As I was losing interest in that, and wanting to go back to the indicator, I was watching that booby, and I saw a shape appear near it, and the yellow eyes disappear. I set, and had a decent fish on. Put up a good fight with a few jumps. I had no net (that was attached to my float tube), so stumbled down the screen, almost fell into the lake, but saved it and landed the fish.
Shortly thereafter I hit some sagebrush on a backcast and I no longer had a booby. So I reeled that setup up, and went back to the indicator. Hooked a few more fish on both the chironomid and the leech. Most popped off, which was fine with no net and the bank being so steep and loose.
Overall a succesful trip, despite forgetting the pump adaptor and having to wear waders in 80 degrees. All the fish were nice size, an the 15 - 18" range.
