Larry and I started around 9 AM at the top of the lake. Larry had on a krystal olive bugger; it was the same set up he had on last season when we fished here. It was a gorgeous start; the river was perfect and the wind was still. There were a few risers as caddis flies could be seen dabbing on the water. I thought about putting on an elk hair caddis dry fly but there just wasn't enough surface activity. We saw some fish and we had some attacks and follows. All of them seemed to be browns. We kept moving, making our way to where the river meets the lake. The southerly came up and was soon blowing us around. I put on some fresh eight pound flouro tippet and a size 6 bead head krystal olive bugger. I kept it short with the wind. We stayed close to the edge wit Larry flopping the heavy fly into the edges. It sank quickly even though he was casting a floating line. In windy conditions, the extra sink makes a big difference. Fish after fish attacked we we got some really nice browns. They are in very good condition this year. I think it is due to the fact we have not had a major flood event in the last two years, There are weed beds in new places and plenty of room for the trout to disperse. Add on that the lake level was high so we targeted the shoreline edges.
There were some rainbows around and man did they hit hard. The only fish Larry broke of absolutely smashed the fly and charged towards a weed bed. Larry held on too tight and the eight pound fluoro parted like nothing.
We made our way down the lake and the wind pushed us along at speed. Larry just plopped the heavy fly into the edge and let the boat do the rest. We had hook ups all the way down the length of the lake. We dropped a lot of fish, likely due to the conditions.
It was just another day in paradise.
