Author Topic: What would you do? (Read 519 times)

Loren Williams · « **on:** March 21, 2010, 05:08:56 PM »

A challenge I particularly enjoy about stillwater fishing is how, from day-to-day (or hour-hour), things change even when environmental conditions remain similar.

I'd love to hear how all of you would approach these conditions that I will be faced when I launch my boat and toss my drogue in the near future:

Stillwater: Deep (up to 300-feet; strong 15-foot margin with adjacent drop-off around much of the lake), clear (25-30 feet of visibility) and long (18-miles long, about 1 mile across) with development including motor boats.

Water Temps: high 30's to low 40's

Species: wild and holdover rainbows (only stocked once in May with 2-year olds)

Anomolies: no schooling baitfish forage with the excpetion of a very small population of spot tail shiners. Lake also contains usual warmwater species (bass, panfish, perch)

Chironomids: it's a factory but they are probably a few weeks from being active

Spawning tributaries most pronounced at southern end of lake

So, how would you fish if there was wind? And if it was dead flat calm (where I REALLY struggle on this lake).

Dejon Hamann · « **Reply #1 on:** March 21, 2010, 10:04:13 PM »

I'm guessing this is Skinny? Looking forward to some replies on this.

Robbie Bell · « **Reply #2 on:** March 22, 2010, 07:01:25 AM »

Hi There,

Loren.

My first line of attack would be Information…Information…Information.

This could come from as many sources as possible.

Anglers coming off the water the evening before and maybe combining this with a binocular recce.

Local Tackle Shop

Wardens or Rangers

Your Fishing Diary

Phone calls to Local Contacts

Internet

Fishing Buddies

Your Thermometer

The previous few days weather.

Last years magazine reports.

I would then distil all this information and start with a Di 5 Sweep, Two Boobies and a nymph or two in the middle….

In a wind I would target the margins and try and find a shore at the bottom of the wind preferably with some features.

In a flat calm I would target the margins but have a motor around now and again looking for rising fish and to move to fresh water.

Best Regards

robbie

Pete Erickson · « **Reply #3 on:** March 22, 2010, 11:57:21 AM »

everything Robbie said,

Bret and I went out with our 5 and 2 year old boys this past Saturday...we went to a reservoir that was very deep a sand/rock bottom, 41 degrees, clear water, and about 25 miles long--just outside of Boise.(4000 ft elevation) .The reservoir is stocked with tens of thousands of 6-12 inch kamloops rainbows every spring...and there are some wild fish as well as holdovers.

to make a long story short, we got skunked in 2+ hours of fishing. We started with Orange blobs at the top dropper with buzzers and other nymphs, also small lures on the point. type 5 and type 3. we did not see any rising fish, and the buzzers were not active that day. I have a fish "finder" that I dont trust. but the finder only spotted fish that were in pods 30-50 feet down. We crept buzzer rigs from deep down....but still nothing.

the bait anglers were catching some fish off of the shore, just letting powerbait sit on the bottom.

I think the if we had had more time,(restless boys and a desperate need for a diaper change ended or trout quest prematurely!) we would have motored around more and gone to a DI7 and pulled more lures/boobies until we found some interested fish...

these giant deep reservoirs we have in North America, remind me a lot of the huge deep Lochs in Scotland, a whole lot of water, and very difficult to find fish...especially early in the spring when the water is 41 degrees!

imo, it pretty much boils down to knowledge of that particular reservoir...you need to know the "spots" that fish will be active in water that cold and deep.

Randy Hanner Sr. · « **Reply #4 on:** March 22, 2010, 12:07:06 PM »

Hey Pete is today your birthday? If so Happy Birthday

Todd Oishi · « **Reply #5 on:** March 22, 2010, 04:10:25 PM »

Pete and Robbie offer sound advice!

As the hatches are sporadic at best, at this time of the year, the trout will likely be feeding on bloodworms, scuds and leeches. I'd personally target the shoals within the Northwestern corner of the lake during the morning hours, as these waters tend to warm the quickest given the positioning of the rising sun on the horizon, and often produce the earliest hatches of the day (given the right substrate of course).

Keep in mind that the emergence of the chironimids can be a lengthy procsess. This is where "local" knowledge of the hatches can be very helpful, as it will enable you to prepare for the hatch before it is visually detected on the surface. I often fish deeper with DI-5 and DI-7 lines earlier in the day, and use the countdown method so as a way to identify the depth and the progress of the hatch (using a throat pump to collect insect samples from any fish that are caught, often helps to determine exactly what the trout are feeding on as well as the phase of their life-cycle).

Anchoring or positioning a drift that will keep you parrallel to the drop-off can be effective at times, as it allows you cover effectively cover a wider range of depths and greater area of water. When you start catching fish, be sure to make a mental note of the depth that you experiencing the most success. This is much easier to determine when fishing under calmer conditions with an indicator or while fishing "The Bung"...