Plan A was to walk into a scenic spot that I haven’t visited in a few years. Got organized and loaded up my gear, waders, and tube for the walk. The first water crossing was flowing unusually high but my waterproof boots did their job, just a little damp above the ankles. The next looked different. Bucktoothed rodents have been busy. The usual path looked like this:
and the surroundings
The promised land in the background was safe from me that day. I attempted the crossing and ended up very wet for the effort. Oh well, back to my rig for a change of dry clothes and Plan B because it was only mid morning.
My next lake didn’t require a walk and I was not alone. I was the 15th rig at the launch at 11am. Two guys mentioned that “I should have been here yesterday”. They were already calling it. Not a great omen but I was there and ready to figger it out!
The first hour was tough. No interest in a hothead black leech on my type 5 full sink or a pair of chironomids under an indicator. Bugs and shucks were just about everywhere but nobody seemed dialed in and I wasn’t marking any concentration of fish. I spoke to several folks and it was a similar story…found a couple first thing in the morning. Hmmmmm. A heavy hatch the day before and not much catching going on today. Time to break out my box of (trout) candy.
Within 10 minutes I had my first hookup on the booby. Took a quick throat sample.
Very interesting! All I had to was crack the chironomid code and I should be in the fish!
So, an hour later I was back to fishing the booby.
And I found another taker.
This one was in deeper water, about 25’. Another throat sample that seemed just about empty….until I emptied the bulb back in the lake.
Glass worms and lots of them. Well, I wasn’t going to spend another hour trying to dial in the Chaoborus bite, so back to working the booby.
It wasn’t fast fishing but once I settled into covering water there were takers around.
After a few hours I drifted into a bay with a great shoal and nobody else around. It looked too good to not try another shot with the indicator in 12’ of water. I rigged a blob up top and black and silver #14 chironomid below. It wasn’t long before I was into a fish.
The story of this day was becoming clear. Another hour on the shoal gave up three more, all on the blob.
The sun was dropping, most of the other folks had packed up, and I had a drive ahead of me. It was an unusual day in that none of my standard patterns or tactics were working. But showing them something different and being persistent got some love.
and the surroundings
The promised land in the background was safe from me that day. I attempted the crossing and ended up very wet for the effort. Oh well, back to my rig for a change of dry clothes and Plan B because it was only mid morning.
My next lake didn’t require a walk and I was not alone. I was the 15th rig at the launch at 11am. Two guys mentioned that “I should have been here yesterday”. They were already calling it. Not a great omen but I was there and ready to figger it out!
The first hour was tough. No interest in a hothead black leech on my type 5 full sink or a pair of chironomids under an indicator. Bugs and shucks were just about everywhere but nobody seemed dialed in and I wasn’t marking any concentration of fish. I spoke to several folks and it was a similar story…found a couple first thing in the morning. Hmmmmm. A heavy hatch the day before and not much catching going on today. Time to break out my box of (trout) candy.
Within 10 minutes I had my first hookup on the booby. Took a quick throat sample.
Very interesting! All I had to was crack the chironomid code and I should be in the fish!
So, an hour later I was back to fishing the booby.
And I found another taker.
This one was in deeper water, about 25’. Another throat sample that seemed just about empty….until I emptied the bulb back in the lake.
Glass worms and lots of them. Well, I wasn’t going to spend another hour trying to dial in the Chaoborus bite, so back to working the booby.
It wasn’t fast fishing but once I settled into covering water there were takers around.
After a few hours I drifted into a bay with a great shoal and nobody else around. It looked too good to not try another shot with the indicator in 12’ of water. I rigged a blob up top and black and silver #14 chironomid below. It wasn’t long before I was into a fish.
The story of this day was becoming clear. Another hour on the shoal gave up three more, all on the blob.
The sun was dropping, most of the other folks had packed up, and I had a drive ahead of me. It was an unusual day in that none of my standard patterns or tactics were working. But showing them something different and being persistent got some love.
! It does happen from time to time
