Well, another great weekend at Camp Tahosa. I didn’t expect to find any open water but a good stretch of the north shore of the lake was open out about 20 ft. Once I thought about it, it made perfect sense as there are several springs along there. I started wondering if there might be fish along there so I kept my eyes peeled as I walked the shore. Sure enough, I saw dozens of brookies in the 6-15" range along about 200 yards of shore. The water was lousy with them!
I all but ran back to the truck to get a rod and reel and the vest. I got things put together and decided to try a mini wooly bugger. I flipped it out and watched time and again, the fly get taken then spit out right away. Now that is a blow to the ego to watch the fish spit your carefully tied fly out. I tried midges. I tried scuds. I tried soft hackles. I tried a Lead Wing Coachman, I even tried a couple of different dries as a couple were having a great time jumping about 15 ft from me. Nothing. They would follow a fly for a bit and then lose interest. I was able to watch it all. One did play with a Tups Indispensable for a bit, but that was about it.
There will be ice there in the morning. It will probably be about noon before that melts off. I may go abuse my ego again.
It’s good to know the fish are coming back, though.
kb,
Are the inlet springs above ground? If so check them to see what is in the water that the trout are waiting for, then try to match that. That many fisih are surely waiting for something good to eat. The question is what. Good Luck.
REE
No, the springs are all subsurface. A month or so ago, there were lots of little red chironomids near the spillway. I am going to try some chironomids if the ice melts off. That area is frozen over at this point. It may not melt. There was a fair amount of sunshine yesterday, but it is overcast today. It’s above freezing out there and the spring water is about 40* year round, but no sun to help that area melt.
It didn’t look like they were feeding yesterday. It looked more like they were just hanging out and catching some rays. They were not particularly spooky, either, just persnickety. :lol:
Well, a cold front has moved in. The ice is going nowhere for today, maybe the rest of the winter. The current film of ice is clear enough to see the fish swimming below and there was a spot or two of 50-60 square feet that was open but the spots that were open earlier this morning are closed now. I don’t think I am going to get any more fishing in today.
Now to start building ice rods!
I am really sorry for these pictures. I drowned my good camera a while back and have not yet replaced it. These were taken with my iPhone.
Look up just at the ice line. There are actually 4 brookies in this picture. Stinkers.
Again, just below the ice line for one that would be about 12" and just below that is one about 4" long. He’s in the first one, too, same spot. No, it isn’t a shadow from that rock. 
This is the best one of the bunch. The pictures sure don’t do things justice. The leading edge of the fins is white and the red was so vivid. I was lucky to get this shot. About the time I snapped it, the camp dog came by and the fish scooted for under the ice. He was all of about 10 ft from me.
That’s COOL, Kelly! Even if you didn’t catch any, at least you got to see them, and “play” with them a bit!
… Kevin.
You might try a very small sparse streamer. If there are that many brookies in that lake so quickly, there must be a bunch of little ones, and the big ones are probably feasting on them.
A couple years ago on the Big Lost River down in the Central Mountains of Idaho, fishing a PSC in one particular stretch of the river, most of the fish I caught were brookies. Thought it was kind of odd, and best I recall, that is the only time I caught brookies with that streamer.
You could probably fish any unweighted small streamer that looks like brookie fry off a floating line and get some action. Just get it in front of one and retrieve with short, steady strips.
Good luck.
John