Fished Amber for the first time this year on Thursday (3/13) from 2-6pm and Friday (3/14) from 11:30-2:30pm. Surface water temps were in the low-mid 40s and few bugs were showing up in the foam lines along shore when I put in at the launch on the Thursday.... there were probably 8 or so other boats on the lake. My plan was to fish the far south end in hopes of finding active fish in the shallows. Spoke with a couple guys who had been on the lake since the morning who said the fishing was "slow" in other parts of the lake, so that confirmed my decision to row to the far south end. It was about 2:15pm or so when I arrived there and I started working the east bank with a cast- troll - strip technique using a floating line, long leader and bh half back nymph. Water depth varied a bit, but I was looking for pockets or depressions within the vegetation where fish would likely be holding. In about 20 minutes I had two solid takes and one fish landed. I fished another 15 minutes this way before I found myself in the far south end corner. Noticed some chiro shucks dotting the surface from hatch that had ended (no bugs showing) so anchored up and began fishing a blood worm 4ft below my indicator. It was about 3pm and for the next 2.5hours it was pretty much non-stop action - easily hooked 25-30 fish during that timespan (all on the bloodworm). Throat samples revealed pretty heavy feeding on small (14-16) black chiros and "chromies" - but only a few were still moving, indicating that these bugs were eaten hours before I arrived. I figured there was a hatch that came off around 12noon or so that day, which concentrated the fish and triggered a strong bite that contined after the hatch ended. Productive zones would yield anywhere from 5-10 fish before "dying" out, which only meant you had to cast to the next "honey hole" and the bite would be on again. Reading the bottom structure was the key to finding fish- while there were fish in the open water, casting to the "holes" witihin the mats of vegetation, especially in towards the bank, was more productive.

On Friday, I arrived at 11am hoping to hit the hatch I just missed out on the day before. I immediately made my way to the south end and anchored up in the same spot I fished the day before. It was about 11:30am and within 5 minutes I had my first fish on the bloodworm 4ft below the indicator. The bugs were not moving yet but I manged to pick up 5 trout the first hour with a few other hookups and missed takes on the bloodworm. Throat samples revealed an early morning bite on immature damsels, but no chiros showed up in the samples until my last fish that came shortly before noon. I continued to fish the bloodworm for another 15 minutes with no takers, and this was telling me the fish were now looking for chironomids. I switched to my other rod which was rigged with a size 14 chromie on top and size 16 black zebra midge on the bottom (4ft below the indicator). Within a few casts I picked up the bite again and hit three more fish on the black zebra and one nice cuttie on the chromie... Throat samples revealed the chromies were the preferred food source, and more bugs were beginning to show at the surface, so I switched the black zebra for a 14 "static bag" chromie. Like Thursday, the fishing from 12:30-2:30 was silly good..... Hooked another25 fish or so during this time until losing my last fish at 2:30pm when he broke me off in the reeds. I left after that though the bite remained strong. Most of the fish caught were between 14-16 inches, though there were good numbers of 17-18inchers and did land two that were right at 20 inches. Even caught some nice cutts up to 16 inches.

Jay K

3/17/2013 12:11:00 AM

Great report.

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