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Lake Davis - Friday July 23th, 2010 -Ok What Happened? I go away for a week to do some summer steelhead fishing on the Deschutes river and the lake goes back into a slump. I spent 5 hours checking out the lake today and found very few fish working and even less damsels. The checked the lake from Freeman Channel down to Eagle Point and found the same conditions. Water temps are almost 74 degrees and the week growth is perfect. Guess our late conditions have led to a very short and slow spring and summer. With the water temps getting higher every day, I would start looking for other waters. Frenchmans is still fishing good in the early mornings and evenings. I will check out the lake again Sunday, but am headed for Silver Creek in Idaho for about 10 days midweek, so if conditions don't change, I will probably not update the report until I get back. If you have a report, please email me.
Frenchman's - July 23, 2010- Fishing is slowing a little as the water temps rise during the day. Early morning and evening is still great for midges, damsels, and attractors. Fish are healthy and there are a lot of larger fish.
Deschutes River Spey Camp Adventure
I have been learning to spey cast with 2 handed rods to expand my steelhead opportunites and besides, it is just a great deal of fun. My friend Rick J has been fishing with 2 handers for several years and is a great caster and helping me a lot. I decided to get some extra help and decided to work with John and Amy Hazel, owners of the Deschutes Angler fly shop in Maupin Oregon on the Deschutes River. They are considered some of the best spey casting instructors in the world and if you saw their DVDs, you would agree. I spent a day on the Deschutes with Amy in April and just came back from a 3 day spey camp with John and Amy. Great instruction, great guiding, great food, and more fun than you can imagine. I would recommend this trip to anyone who is thinking of learniung to spey cast for steelhead. John and Amy are great people and made this one of the funnest trips I have ever done. Their shop is one of the nicest and well stocked fly shops in the country and everyone in the shop is super. Located on the Deschutes River with a 100 miles of great trout and steelhead water makes things even sweeter. Lastly, I have to say thanks to Harley and Joan the camp hosts and gourmet cooks who provided great meals and lots of comfort. A picture of my first spey rod caught steelhead is below. I have to apologize to John Hazel for cutting his head off in the photo, but of course I was a little nervous. You can contact John and Amy at the shop at Deschutes Angler
Lake Davis Yearly Prospective
I will leave this up all year. As of April 11 and the lake is still frozen but ice is thinning on edges and some east side coves are open. .
Fish number and expectations for this year.
Since the fish kill 3 years ago the Lake Davis fishery has been coming back
very strong. The fingerlings and the catchable fish that were planted the last
couple of years are growing rapidly and seem to fight more aggressively than
before the poinsioning. The first year plantings were quite heavy and the results
were very positive during last years season. Last year, the number of fish planted
was considerably lower than the year before and even lower than the old norms.
The fish are healthy and the early season has been very good for trollers and
moderate for fly anglers. The fish are just in post spawning mode right now
and fly fishing is hit or miss. With most of the cold weather behind us the
fishing should just get better every day.
Insects and Food Sources
Another consideration about the lake is the insect populations and biomass available
to the fish. In the past, Davis has had incredible blood midge populations with
good hatches most of the year. For the last two years, the blood midges have
been spotty and not really driving the great fishing to emergers and adults
that was so much fun in the past. The damsels came through the poisioning quite
well and we had very good emergences last year. There is also some good callibaetis
mayfly populations still in the lake although the fish don't often key on the
the large numbers of adults during the day. Caddis flies still are good numbers
and very heavy hatches occur most spring and summer days. The fish don't key
on the caddis adults much and It is not apparent that they are taking the emergers
either. The most dramatic change is the the absecence of the snails that made
the fall fishing incredible. I saw no snails the last to falls and hope they
will make a resurgence. It was quite common to pick up a fish in the fall and
they rattled because they had eaten so many snails with more snails coming out
of there mouths because they were so full. The major food source has always
been the midge population (70%) with damsels, snails, and other aquatic insects
making up the rest. That particular combination of available food sources contributed
to the average fish growing over 7 inches during the season. This meant that
a 10 to 12 inch planter was 17 to 19 inches by the end of the first season and
well over 20 inches the next year. Last fall, fish were averaging over 18 inches
with some good fish going 22 plus inches. This seems to indicate that the fish
are gettin engough food. I think the lake fished better last year than it has
in the last 15 years and hope the trend continues. I am concerned that during
heavy damsel migrations and hatches last year, there were days when very few
fish were working on damsels which left anglers scratching their heads.
Lake Condition this Spring
The lake is starting off at levels that we normally have in August and September
this year, so conditions are going to be interesting. In the droughts of the
early 90's, the fishing was very good and the damsels would hatch in mid to
late May and last until almost mid July. I think this year will reflect similar
conditions with weeds reaching the surface early and the water temperatures
rising quickly. The first two weeks of June should be fantastic for the damsel
hatches and there is a possibility of it happening earlier.
Fishing Strategies
Fishing recomendations are different depending on the type of angler you are
and what you feel most comfortable with. One of the more successfull strategies
is to use intermediate or sinking lines and just troll your wooly bugger or
damsel imitation behind you. By varying your speed your will eventually find
the right depth and motion to get into fish. Another advantage to that method
is your imitation is in the water more time, and more time means more fish.
For those anglers who like to play the game of trying to use more realistic
imitations and strategies, the trick is to find the right depth and retrieve
to get into fish, the action seems to be more rewarding when the right combination
is found. I don't like to troll behind and tube, but I would rather hunt game
with a bow instead of a gun. It is really a matter of your personal preferences.
The biggest problem for most anglers using either method is moving the imitation
too fast. Most aquatic insects just don't move very fast and there are very
few minnows in the lake for large fish to chase. The most productive strip seems
to be a very slow one with short strips or varried strips. I lie to use a very
slow hand twist retrieve and then stop the fly every few inches. You would be
surprised to find that 70% of the strikes comes when the imitation is not moving
at all. Lastly, I should metion there are a number of anglers who find great
success using an indicator and a couple of flies at various depths. I liked
that method when I had clients who could not cast well or the wind was giving
them a bad time, but find it very boring myselt. It is that personal preference
thing again. We all like to catch fish, and sometimes we must all be open to
different strategies.
Flies and Tackle
Recommended flies are of course wooly buggers or wiggle tails. Make sure the
tails are 1 to 1 1/2 times the body length so that the movement is enhanced.
Damsel imitations should vary from size 10 dark olive in the first of the season
then getting smaller and lighter and the season progresses. Most people don't
realize that the damsel's color reflects directly to the depth and color of
the weeds they are living in. By the end of the season, we are using size 14
or even size 16 bugs that are light tan and sometimes even golden yellow or
olive. The fish can get very picky and I have watched and been part of an armada
of boats that could not buy a take during the height of the hatch. It is humbling
to make a 100 casts for each take one day when the week before you had the right
fly and every thing figured out. Always have some red, tan and black midge larvae
in sizes 18 to 12 (yes I said 12) and don't be afraid to use one as a trailer
on your damsel or other attractor. I alway carry some Sheep Creeks, PT nymphs,
prince nymphs, and even a Staynor ducktail or two. If I were to pick my best
fishing imitation combo it would be damsel with a long tail and a red bead head
midge larvae as a trailer. Lines should be 3 to 6 wts and I would have both
an intermediate and floater ready to go. Use 9 foot 4x leaders and have lots
of tippet on hand. Of course you want to go with smaller tippets on smaller
imitations.
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