The last couple weeks of April were good to me on this lake; nothing over 16" but quite a few action-packed days. I usually fish in the afternoon/early evening, trolling a small muddler or a woolly bugger on sinking line, but will go with a nymph on floating line if fish are working a smaller area and the wind is agreeable. Caught 73 fish, but had some days where I couldn't get them to stick. Tried tying some muddlers on longer shank hooks to better success, the equivalent I suppose of a "low water" pattern. Seem to do better on windy days, and definitely catch more when it's overcast (no surprise there).

I hooked one fish by raising my hand: I'd tied a horribly heavy lead-eyed woolly bugger to drag along in front of some of the creek mouths and grabbed my long leader to pull it up so I wouldn't have to work my nail knot back through the guides...one pull, two pulls, three...and a 14" cut lazily swims up, grabs my fly, and shakes it's head like crazy. "Present!" I said, raised my hand, and then fed out line until I could get it on the rod. Makes me think I should be trolling 4 feet behind my canoe!

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