VISITING OLD WATERS

[richyd4u]

Had a great day this past weekend going to some old waters that I've missed dearly. I was happy to still see a good amount of water left in the lake, despite the drought. Water clarity was good with little growth in the shallows. First cast produced a football bow, and it was on from there. Ended the day around 30 bows and just 1 tiger. Had a couple cutts come up and smack my indicator, as they love to do lol, but didn't catch one cutt this trip. That's ok though, these bows by far outfight the cutts! These bows were mean and put on quite the aerial show. Best flies of the day were my #12 brown balanced leech with a #18 bh hares ear dropper. They loved both. fished them shallow around the lake edges anywhere from 2-5' of water under an indicator. Couldn't have asked for better weather, and I had great company with a pair of golden eagles hanging out on the shoreline next to me...and then when they left, Mr. Bald Eagle came down in the same spot and hung out with me for awhile. Pretty cool. Can't wait for the fall bite! 

[Cowboypirate]

Do you have a favorite style/brand of indicator. Or are you a piece of yarn guy?

[richyd4u]

Do you have a favorite style/brand of indicator. Or are you a piece of yarn guy?

I'm currently a fan of the slip indicators, which allow me to adjust even up to very deep depths (while chroni fishing) while releasing during the hookset and allowing me to reel close enough to the fish to land them easier. The only pain of this slip indicators, is you have to reset after each hookset, so you need some way of remembering your set depth to get it back in the same range. Some people use little rubber line stoppers, like bass fishermen use for their bullet weights. That way you can set that above your slip indicator, and when it releases you know exactly where to reset it at. I tend to just pay attention to where on my leader I'm setting it, usually a certain distance from my leader to tippet knot, or leader to fly line if fishing deep...either way. I went away from thingamabobbers because they cause too much stress on your line and can lead to break offs at the indicator.

[wiperhunter2]

Nice report and pics, sounds like a nice day on the lake. Both the fish in your pics are very light colored, do you think that is a result of the lake being shallow or some other factor with the water in the lake? I know Bear lake is a deep lake but the fish there tend to be lighter colored.

[richyd4u]

Nice report and pics, sounds like a nice day on the lake. Both the fish in your pics are very light colored, do you think that is a result of the lake being shallow or some other factor with the water in the lake? I know Bear lake is a deep lake but the fish there tend to be lighter colored.

Yeah, they have been very pale in color since the treated it and restarted 2 years ago. The water is very clear, and the fish we are catching are shallow...so you'd think they'd be darker. The tigers are still juveniles in there, so I imagine the males will darken as they continue to mature. Caught some brookies this last weekend there, and they were very pale as well. I'll tell ya though...the bows in there are some of the hardest fighting I've experienced. They are doing very, very well. Still haven't see any cutts yet, not sure where they are hanging out since they usually are shallow predators and that's where we were fishing...bizarre.

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A few more from this weekend...notice how light the colors are on the brookie too.

[wiperhunter2]

That bow is a toad, that second tiger is a little darker, looks like another great trip.

[richyd4u]

That bow is a toad, that second tiger is a little darker, looks like another great trip.

Yeah, that bow was my first cast of the morning...she was so thick I couldn't get my hand around her. And yes...that tiger had more color than any other I've caught there so far. The brookie was really light though. I'll give them another month, and hopefully we'll have much cooler temps by then up there and the fishing will just be that much better! Not to mention the beautiful fall colors, can't wait!

[richyd4u]

Went back again this weekend...this was perhaps the slowest day I've had there yet this year. Not a lot of fish, but the one's I did catch were quality. All bows this time. Got desperate enough to break out the intermediate line, and that did produce some solid fish. Over all though, very slow day. Going to stay away for a month or so, give it time to cool off some more up there and get the fish more in the mood.