Sunday, October 2, 2011

Backwater Rainbows

Eric and I met up at a little lake that is more like a bass fishing experience than any water we normally fish for trout.  There are heavy brush lines, brush piles, and aquatic vegetation-holding flats that we pitch and work with either dries or buggers that you must keep moving or they get completely weed fouled.  The lake is a soup of food for fish and the rainbows here are doing very well for themselves.  It really is nice to fish this lake in the fall as the mosquitoes have died off and you can get some semblance of peace while enjoying this strange bass-like high country water.  I fished a hopper all day here and the rainbows were hammering it without pause.  The float tube really helps to get out past the heavy flooded brush lines and the fish tend to cruise the outer edge of it.  Fishing back to the brush has proven to be the best tactic and give you the best chance at landing the hard fighting bows that reside here.  They are running, jumping, well fed balls of muscle.  It was nice to have a stellar day out after the fishless day before.  Thanks for the meet up Eric and staying on me to get out and hit this gem of a stillwater.
One of the average 16-17 inch rainbows

Release

Eric working past the brush

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Turnover And Storms

An early morning start with the float tube found my target lake that had been fishing well for others had experienced some turnover between those good reports and my arrival this morning.  I gave it a good effort from the float tube and saw a few carp actually swirl on the surface early in the day.  Otherwise, the water was off color and fouled with layers of green algae and no feeding fish activity that I could determine.

Calm waters of the green stuff
This called for a drastic shift in plans for the afternoon.  I departed and headed to another plains lake to scout it and see how it was doing after winterkilling this past spring.  The water here too was off color but stained brown, not algae green or vegetation issues.  I couldn't find any trout willing to eat here either and never saw a rise or disturbance on the water even with tons of flies of all types dancing on the surface.  So, off to the third lake for the day.  As I threw a couple of casts from shore, a wicked thunderstorm was approaching and soon consumed the entire lake.  I was glad I hadn't rushed out in the float tube here as I would have been quickly blown to shore like a cork.  It was a fair day for exploration and I did quite a bit of back country driving, gazing at the cottonwood colors, and antelope spotting, but the fishing was a bust and sometimes you just have to accept that and dream about the prospects of your next trip.

The storm battering down in the afternoon