A tale of two lakes

Posted 8/21/12

Since my last column, I’ve had the opportunity to fish two different lakes. Ordinarily I would be checking USGS sites on my laptop to find some cold, clear stream or river. However, the weather …

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A tale of two lakes

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Since my last column, I’ve had the opportunity to fish two different lakes. Ordinarily I would be checking USGS sites on my laptop to find some cold, clear stream or river. However, the weather patterns this year have not been kind. We have had one weather event after another. Almost all of my regular haunts are “blown out” and the rivers have been running the color of coffee, two creams.

So when I was invited to fish a highly regarded, wonderfully clear spring-fed lake, I jumped at the chance. I brought a 10-foot, six-weight Scott flyrod rigged with a medium sized popper. We had not fished this lake for years, but it has always produced great fish and fine fishing. Much of the shoreline however had changed and was now filled in with vegetation. I could not get a feel for the lake. It felt like strange water to me, reluctant to give up its secrets. We caught a few, but never scratched the lake’s potential. We could not find the code.

A few days later I got a call from a fishing buddy who told me he had been doing pretty well on his lake. This lake was much smaller and not on anyone’s list of top bass lakes. He said he would be the guide. I raised an eyebrow but got in the front of the canoe. He knew the lake well, as he has fished it regularly for 25 years. We methodically went from spot to spot. “Try the point of these lilies,” “Right side of the floating dock,” “As close as possible to the large rock,” “Under the branch, as close to the shoreline as possible.” We caught too many fish to count. My guide didn’t make a single cast, even though his Loomis rod was along the gunnel (properly, gunwale) close at hand. His rod was rigged with a grasshopper fly. I tried it and it cast beautifully. We caught fish just as regularly on this rig. The magic came from knowing the lake and its hidden secrets. We had the code.

The difference in those two outings is that on the first we were in relatively unfamiliar territory. We caught a few, but chance had as much to play in it as anything. On the second, I was pitching flies to known holding spots—fish in a barrel, if you will.

Fishing legend Lee Wulff wrote a helpful book titled “Trout on a Fly.” In it he has numerous drawings analyzing stream flow and stream structure to portray and explain the places that trout tend to feed, hold, or rest. This is what we commonly refer to as “reading the water.”

Once I fished the Salmon River with guide Greg Liu. When we got to the river at first light, I told Greg that I wanted to read the water and figure out the casting patterns myself. Of course he let me have at it. After 20 minutes of futile casting, I looked to him for help. He said, “Take two steps forward and one step to the right. There’s a flat rock there. Stand on it and cast as you were.” Well, three casts later, WHAM, I was onto a huge, chrome steelhead. After we released the fish, I asked “How so?” Greg replied that he studies the riverbed at low water. There was a seam in the bedrock that I had been casting near but not over. His suggestion put me in the correct zone. He knew the code.

Whether you are fishing moving water or flat water, the fish will always be where they find safety, food and a comfortable temperature. Figure out where these spots are and you will find the fish, or simply have a guide friend who has already scouted them out for you. Once you know where they are, catching them is up to you, but it’s a lot easier.

(E-mail me at andyboyar@gmail.com for comments and upcoming events.)

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