Water temperature dropped by 1 degree Fahrenheit to 84 feet over the last two weeks. This pause in warming, which I called a “freeze frame” at my last seminar, coincides with a greenish cloud in the water that is starting to brown.
Fishing remains strong despite these changes. I tested my small motor and the ramp this morning. Launching the big boat is getting tight near the end of the concrete ramp, but we managed to get in and out without trouble. The little boat is now ready for regular use.
Before sunrise, the sky displayed a brilliant red glow with horizontal lightning in the clouds above the lake. This scene set the tone for the day. We began fishing right from the ramp, with a light sprinkle that didn’t wet anything but revealed dust on the windows.
The fish bit early, attracted to orange trolling flies on toplines in 15 to 22 feet of water. After sunrise, the fish moved to about 9 feet deep, then out over 35 to 42 feet of water, feeding on daphnia. A 1/6-ounce copper and red Thomas Buoyant lure caught a 3.7-pound trout at 9 feet.
We circled again and caught another trout on a Topline lure. As the area got crowded, we moved tighter to 17 feet, landing a 3.4-pound trout on a 1/8-ounce copper and red little Cleo at 9 feet. By 9:15 a.m., we had four trout on ice.
Water temperature at 9 feet in our fishing spot showed only a 0.7-degree drop, measuring 63.1 degrees above and below that depth. This temperature matched where daphnia gathered and fish actively fed. This depth has worked well on warm or mid to late mornings, though recently most fish have been between 15 and 22 feet deep. Today, only two fish came from that zone, but many strikes happened around 35 to 40 feet.
Leadcore line set at about one and three-quarter colors at the reel, with orange flies on Jay Fair toplines, produced the best early bite. After the sun rose higher, lures worked better slightly deeper, with the deepest fish caught at 12 feet this week. Many fish came from 8 to 9 feet deep.
Copper and red Tommy B’s and little Cleo lures caused the most strikes. Fishing speeds ranged from 1.8 to 2.