Fishing Staycation - Days Four through Six

I’ve heard it said, “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.”  It was my intention to post every day of my fishing staycation.  As you can see that didn’t work out quite as planned.  Why?

Well, at the end of day four we enjoyed a good whiskey and went to dinner after a hard day’s fishing.  A full belly, coupled with a beer, and a nightcap kill that day’s intention.  Probably just as well. Experience has shown that my ability to navigate a key board goes down quickly under the influence of whiskey.

Day five, after over eight hours on the water, we headed back to town.  We had the good fortune to meet Sue and granddaughter Alexandria for dinner.  Afterwards the choice was write or spend time playing with Alexandria.  Sorry guys, but she gets the green light.

Day six was spent fishing private waters in the Red Feathers area.  Good fishing and I could have stood to fish a bit longer, but Thursday was poker night.  We made it down just in time for a slice of pizza and hit the card table.  Afterwards, the combination of tired and, uhm, good drink suggested I wait until today to catch up on things.

Days four and five were spent fishing Twin Buttes and Gelett, Wyoming. Gelett is a shallow water with a lot of vegetation.  I’m sure there’s plenty of fish, but I only managed to coax a small bow out on an elk hair caddis. 

The lake of real interest was Twin Buttes.  Tuesday we put in eight hours on the water.  It was a clear, bright day, with little wind.  While a bit on the warm side it was pleasant weather wise.  That makes for pleasant fishing, but the catching fell way short of what I would have like.  I managed three fish over the day, one beautiful 20 inch brown, and a couple smaller rainbows.  Unfortunately, all the anglers we spoke with had similar results, no one was putting a pattern together.

The water temperatures were warm, around seventy at the surface.  Aquatic vegetation was prevalent, such that it was difficult to fish streamers shallow, under eight to ten feet.  Surface action was sporadic at best and showy, suggesting the fish were chasing big ticket items.  To compound things there was an abundance of fodder present, damsels, mayflies, caddis, midges, you name it, it was available.  Bottom line we didn’t put it together.

Wednesday was overcast and the water temperatures cooler.  Based on the prior day, I made a few decisions.  First, we moved across the lake to fish areas not normally hit my shore anglers or even tubers.  Second, given the warm waters I figured the fish to be holding deeper, but also would be near food, so that meant working over vegetation in 8-15 feet of water.  So I opted to fish a sinking line with a wooly bugger, and a “damsel” larva imitation.  A large olive hare’s ear was the closest thing I had. 

The result was a much more productive day, while not a banner day, I managed eight fish and broke off two.  The best was a 22 inch bow, with a total of five 20 inches or better, the smallest a 13 inch bow.  Most of the folks fishing with me, or we talked with got blanked or at best caught one or two fish.  The biggest difference was presentation, in my book. I persisted in ticking the tops of the underwater grass, and used a hard strip/pause cadence which tends to stimulate reaction strikes I believe.

Based on the quality of fish I caught I understand the appeal of Twin Buttes and you can rest assured this won’t be my last trip.

Yesterday, day six was spent fishing private waters.  We had a good day, with all catching fish, with my best being a lovely 19 inch brown.  I’ll leave it at that.

Next up is warm water fishing through the weekend.  Boyd for white bass and  whatever is active, Jackson for carp with a shot at walleye, drum, and wiper, and wrap up on Lonetree for bass, crappie, and walleye.