Chopaka Report

[T. Lang]

First, an apology:  we had no thermometer, so I can't report that.  We were 
there from Wed night until Sunday afternoon.  Very windy on Saturday, but 
glass calm that night for leeching.

Fishing was hard work, but once we had it dialed in, it was fun.  Adult blue 
damsels with mylar wings seemed to be the ticket.  Cast and wait.  Cast to 
working fish.  Cast to clumps of mating damsels.  Wait.

I didn't do as well as my buddies since I was working out a custom dog 
platform for my pontoon.  Worked out pretty well, but a minor incident with 
the nervous dog and my 5wt Sage resulted in a broken tip.  Good thing I had 
a back-up:  my 8wt.  A little overkill, but it worked.

Spent some time on the glassy calm on Sat night trolling leeches--a small 
black bh bunny leech worked the best.  And I had a fish break off a brown 
Kaufmann's mini-leech.  While we were out there, we heard many shouts and 
splashes from guys catching huge fish.  I won't say how, and leave that 
tidbit for the curious to spend some time of an evening of their own, and 
talk to their fellow fly fishers.

Many more bass this year, and some are getting pretty big.  I talked to a 
guy who ate one and he said it was full of damsel nymphs.

Multi-fish days were had, but barely into double digits.  The Callibaetis 
hatches were not quite as adverstised, though they did happen.

The lake is lower than previous years, and the vegetation seems to have a 
firm foothold below the old high water mark.  My feeling is that the lake is 
going to settle in at this new level.

A good trip, lots of fun, and plenty of bonding with our new foster dog.  I 
think the season at Chopaka is over until fall, when the lake cools off a 
bit.

Tom

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