Went to Lake Langlois and had one of those days that represents why I love fly fishing so much. :thumb: The plan was to hit this local lake so I could take my 2 1/2 yr old son out in my drift boat and hope to catch a few fish to spur his interest. This was the first time I fished this relatively small lake. Lake goes deep quick and there is a lot of wood logs and woooded shore all around. There were a lot of boaters out with most trolling with what looked like about 3 feet of spoons, gadgets, and whatnots. Things started slow until we rotated into a tried and true standard, olive wooly bugger, and worked deep with sinking lines. We started to pick up a few hatchery plants which was fun. The fish were fiesty. Later in the day, we knew there were bass in the lake, and started targeting the shoreline shadows. It was a lot of fun. If you could punch that fly tight in there, you were rewarded with a bass. Most albeit were about 6-8" long. My first one, I let out my best bassmaster testeroni-howl proclaiming I got my money fish (Some things I will never fathom) My son came out at noon. He immediately wanted his own rod. When we caught some trout, he was psyched, but proclaimed he wanted BIG FISH (my future steelheading buddy). About 2 hours was enough for him and he headed home with mom. JoePA and I returned to fishing. What a humbling experience and a blast to try to punch flies into the smallest shadowy nook under a canopy of branches. Stripping the fly out, you would see the fish pursue and take the fly. We picked up both bass and trout by this technique. JoePA saw a strong splash right at a reed line. I boat him into position with a tough cast around various logs. He drops a long cast right to the shore and bam, nice size bass on. It was like that much of the day; a good cast was rewarded with a fish. Man my casting skills suck. Too much time chuck and duck steelheading. Still, I love fly fishing for that technical challenge and that direct connection with the fish when he takes the fly. Joe
Nice Report, and that is a nice little lake and one of the deeper ones around. You found the ticket in green olive bugger (black works too). I have not been there the last two years...need to hit it again. As for Bass PM'd ya.
Joe, How deep were you fishing the woolly buggers? My son and I hit the lake once in May and we both got skunked. On that day I don't think we were getting down deep enough. He went back the next day with his spinning rod and caught more than he could keep, and caught them all near the surface. It is a nice little lake without the suburban feel of many others.Thanks for the report.
I have been fishing Lake Langlois a few times a year for more years than I care to remember. For bass Joe Smolt pretty well nailed the general technique. For trout a type 3 or 4 full sink line with a small #14 or 16, dark soft hackle usually does the trick. Let the fly sink for a long, long time (near vertical or as deep as your line is capable of sinking) before starting a slow retrieve. I suppose an extra fast sinking line would do the same job in less time if efficiency rings your bell. Personally I find Langlois to be a good place for daydreaming while your line is slowly sinking and many fish are hooked on the way down as well as on the retrieve. I have never caught a big trout in Langlois but there must be a few of them down there. TC
Itchy: Let me preface by saying I am not any kind of bass expert. I will only tell you what was working for us that day. We were still pretty high in the water column for most of the takes. I was using a fast sinking line (I think a type IV or V). I'd chuck it in as close to the shore as possible and start with short slow strips with a good pause. That put the most life into the marabou tail. When the fly moved out into the sunlight, it was still 3 feet or less and you could see the fish follow and take the fly. As you stripped longer, the fly was dropping really dip. Most fish hit within 3 feet of the shore. That being said, we picked up a lot of trout working really deep as Tim suggests. Active retrieve always outfishes straight troll for us. I just plain think the bass were in shallow shadows that day. We've had such a cool spring, I wonder when bass went to the shallows to spawn. Joe
Any size to the Langlois bass? I have caught many bass there but never anything over 12". If it ever warms up, fish the lake in the evening with small poppers.
Yeah, like what's up with that? I once overheard a dad with his kids in a boat, him saying that he caught a nice trout (15"). Yeah, 15" is nice; however, with that lake being as deep as it is, I'd be inclined to think that there has to be carry-overs of greater size. If Langlois was a year-'round lake, I'm certain we would have heard of larger trout by now. I suppose fishing there on opening day would improve the odds. There you go... --Dave E.
