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Benjo:
Lunker hit it on the head with recommended small jigs or bead head flies. A little black or black and tan with a few strands of rainbow flash will catch these fish. Well more than a few people have been hitting the local lakes to catch these wannabe spawners. I wouldn't say these fish are prespawn fish - they are definitely already spawning, but like you said, the spawning is not successful. The FWP closes fishing in the bays with tributary streams where fish can successfully spawn, and some of these rainbows are genetically limited, so to speak, and can't spawn anyway. I saw 4 kids out with their grandpa two weeks ago hauling out 35 to 40 pounds of fish, and that was only 5 fish - one of them was easily over 10 pounds, and the others 5 or 6. While I can't say this type of fishing is enjoyable for me, the fish do make for a nice photo.
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FG,
The fly is THE least useful bit of info in any presentation. It is the how and why, the strategies, that make a presentation of any value. What he presented at the meeting was stillwater and could be applied to ANY stillwater....private or not. Matter of fact, we see little difference in stillwater strategies for warmwater or coldwater, other than troutoids travel to their food and a warmwater fish usually does more ambush stuff.....sorta. http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/wink.gif