I fished Lenice on Monday (may 14). Left my home in Leavenworth at 4.45am
and was on water somewhere around 7.00am. It was cloudy , trying to rain,with
wind gusting very strongly. I was hopeful that if the wind died down there
would be a good Callibaetis hatch. Conditions remained very difficult, making
it almost impossible to anchor my tube in deep water and fish the column with
midge patterns - my favourite form of 'below the surface' still water
fishing. One has to watch the end of the line with the concentration of a
hungry heron, and that is close to impossible when there is big wave action.
Wave action also gives the fly down below an unnatural movement, which is not
conducive to a fifty fish day. This can be mitigated in some degree by
keeping the last third of the rod under the water which dampens the up and
down movement of the fly to some degree. But then you cannot watch the line
and have to rely on the tactile sense only - again not conducive to fifty
fish a day .............Anyway, I resigned myself to to finning close in to
shore and fishing scuds, mayfly nymphs and damsel nymphs around the tulles.
Action was very slow, two fish to hand by mid-day.
I was in two minds to call it a day, but for some reason decided to hang in
there in the hopes of the wind dropping and the promise of a mayfly hatch -
exclusive of the wind, the weather was just right for one. There was bird
action all over the lake but for the life of me I could not see what they
were taking , nor could I see any rising pupae or floating shucks. At 67 the
eyes are not what they used to be, but this was getting ridiculous !!
However, at about 5.00pm the wind dropped and I saw one mayfly, not two or
three or fifty but one, but it was enough to get the old carcass off the
bank, into the tube and back into the fray. That was the mayfly hatch for the
day. Not a fish dimple to be seen in any direction - but by god, the wind was
down and I was going to rip fifty fishes lips or die in the attempt. I
anchored off in in deep water (for Lenice) from 5.10 pm till 7.35 pm in water
which varied from 16' to 22'; I like to know at exactly what depth I am
fishing when fishing the column; in a float tube I use a hand-held depth
finder put out by MarCum Ent,Inc.in Minnesota. It is about the size of a
standard flash light and is used primarily by ice fisherman. Cabela sells
them under the name of 'Polar Vision' and they are a jewel of a tool. With
this kind of sub-surface fishing I do not use a full sink line, but the
slowest intermediate line sold by Airflo with a fast intermediate 8' leader,
then about 6' of 3 pound test tippet (sometimes 5 pound test) and, as I
choose never to weight my flies for still water use, 1 lead shot crimped
about 12" above the fly itself. Back to business......... I suceeded in
losing the first six fish I hooked (this was becoming one hell of a day),
until I realised I had a bad spool of tippet material. From then on I never
looked back, from the time I hooked the first fish till I quit at way after
seven it really was a fish a cast. Keep in mind it takes time for the line
and fly to sink and often longer to tweak it back up again. That evening fish
were breathing the fly in on the way down, on the bottom and also at all
levels on the way back. I am sure that some of these fish were following the
fly up before taking it , if it was still a way down they would gently suck
it in, if close to the surface they would whack it. I used only one pattern
of fly all evening in two sizes, my fellow countryman (if he still claims to
be a Brit) Phil Rowley's Chromie in sizes 10 and 12. It is a remarkably
effective fly. How many fish did I catch ? I truly do not know, I have long
ago quit the counting game. However, the rainbows ranged from 17" to 22" with
2 small browns of about 10 to 12 inches.
Moral of this story ? It pays to hang in there, if you have nothing better
to do.
DAB
