Saturday, I had the unexpected gift to fish Medical lake with my Dad, who gets out only a few times a year to flyfish with me on a lake. We arrived at the lake shortly about 9am, which was a bit early given the weather conditions and water temps, but I was hoping we might find a few willing "players" in the morning before the anticipated late morning/early afternoon chironomid hatch. We stayed in the north end, targeting the shallow water near the shore in search of those "bank feeders" opportunistically seeking an easy meal. The only bugs showing that early were some very small (24-26) midge adults, so I rigged my dad up with an indicator set to fish his leeches and micro-leeches in the bottom 12-18" of the water column. I tried fishing chiro's since the fish are keyed in to them now, hoping they still might take them prior to the actual emergence. No such luck- chromies, snow cones, zebra midges, v-ribs in various sizes and colors drew no attention, even as we "prospected' different areas in search of actively feeding trout. After about an hour and a half of futility, my Dad gets a solid takedown of a large brown bunny leech and within a few minutes we had our first fish of the day. A throat sample revealed that this trout had not ingested any food recently- there were only a few remants of paritally digested chiro shucks that had been eaten hours before we arrived on the lake. I switched up my rig, and we both kept fishing leeches and micro- leeches under indicators for another half hour or so. During that time (11:30-noon) I noticed large quantities of those "micro" midge adults showing on the water, along with a few larger adult midges (16-olive colored) that would sporadically pop up from time to time. I anticipated this event, so my strategy was to "wait it out" until it happened. Most of the guys on the lake were fishing the north east bank further up from where we were near the launch, so we were pretty much on our own there with the exception of one or two other guys in pontoons.

About noon, I switched back to a double chiro pupa rig, and moved my dad and I into deeper water (11-13 feet) and as the hatch intensified, so did the feeding "frenzy". At the beginning of the hatch, I immediately hit a nice brown on a chromie, but then it died again. I took another throat sample and that fish was gorged with the pupae of the adults we saw on the water- both the tiny micro midges that were too small for me to match with anything in my box, and the larger, olive colored midges that I was trying to imitate with my bottom fly of my 2-fly rig. I changed flies every 10-15 minutes, usually picking up one fish or getting a take down (which were not "confident" takes by any means) but then nothing else- no consistency even though I knew the bugs they were feeding on, the level they were feeding at in the water column and was confident we were fishing in the "zone". Movement was not a big factor as there was a chironomid "chop" the entire day that did that work for us. The most imitative bugs in my box which most resembled the naturals picked up a few fish for us, but again, it was sporadic. I noticed the same thing with the guys near us fishing chiros under indicators- a fish here and there but nothing as consistent as I was expecting given the throat samples which indicated the trout were "gorge-feeding" on the pupae in the water (both the 24/26 and the larger sized 16). An hour into the hatch, I had six take downs, and three fish to hand (my dad struggled- nothing), but I knew that there was better fishing to be had.

I was given a number of flies from a fly swap I participated in recently, and chose a fly I had never fished before because its profile and size, though not its color, matched pretty well the bugs taken in the throat samples. First cast with this new bug resulted in a solid take that happened so quickly I was not prepared for it and missed badly on the hook set. However, based on the "confidence" with which the fish took that fly, I sensed I was finally on to something. Sure enough, hit three more fish in the next 5 casts and knew at this point that I had it dialed in. I changed my dad's pattern and tied on the one I was using, and immediately he hooks and lands his second nice brown of the day. The only problem now was keeping these flies were were using attached to our leaders as I only had two and both my dad and I were fishing them at the same time. He proceeds to land three more fish and hook about 6 more in 30 minutes before getting broke off. The same thing happened to me a short while later and thus, the "magic" pattern was gone. I rigged us up with a similiar pattern of my own creation and we conintued to catch some fish, but not with the same regularity, though it remained fairly good until leaving the water at 3pm. He caught his largest trout ever- a thick male rainbow that was a good 22-23 inches and heavy, probably 3.5-4lbs. All in all, it was a great day on the water and I hope to be back with him again soon.

deadeyenevermisses

4/10/2011 8:16:00 PM

Nice story,, especially wonderful because of the inclusion of your Dad. Reads like a non-fiction short story! Thanks.

raffensg64

4/11/2011 11:01:00 AM

Glad to hear you got out with your dad, Dave! I've seen the same thing on that lake. Subtle, half-hearted takes until you get the exact pattern in the water....then hold on tight and don't miss the take, for you run the very real risk of losing your rod! No doubt you're already tying up some of those magic patterns to augment your already extensive chironomid supply! Don't forget......catch a few for me, too. I'll be "iced in" for at least another month. I read a story yesterday where a guy used a power auger while ice fishing a local lake, and measured a full 50" of ice! OUCH!

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