Chopaka

The after dark bite was off last week. No one could figure out why.

Adult damsels were out in droves along with several mayfly hatches during the day as well as again in the evening.

Monday of that week, June 16 was really hot, a guy with a thermometer said the lake was 72 degrees. I thought the fish were a bit lethargic and that may have explained why. Handle your fish with care, carry a long handle net as you may need it after a too quick release. We had to spend at least 10 minutes with several fish, one on a renetting from the bottom. Swam away looking good then on his side on the bottom, long handled net another 5 minutes and this time he kept going.

My brother gave me a good tip, the fish are full of lactic acid after being caught and they just forget to breathe, what works well for him is to keep them in the net tied off to your craft. This keeps them off the bottom where they may suffocate in the mud while they are re-figuring out the breathing thing. Move them around a bit and when they are doing fine, kiss em and say goodbye

The weather has been colder since then so hopefully the lake is cooler.

Mark

callibaetis dries (late morning through afternoon): parachute adams; grey sparkle dun; grey comparadun, sizes 16-18

callibaetis emergers(late morning through afternoon): quigly cripples; cdc emergers; etc, sizes 16-18

callibaetis nymphs (all day): PTs; birds nests; poxy-back callibatis, sizes 14-18

caenis mayflies (dusk to dark, and first light): tiny white comparaduns and sparkle duns, sizes 20-24; cluster midges (griffiths gnat in whitedubbing instead of peacock, renegades), sizes 18-20

chironomids (late evening and early morning): every kind of midge pupa and emerger you can find (the evening midge rise can be incredibly complex and challenging), sizes 16-24

caddis (late evening): x-caddis; cdc emergers; headlite caddis; parachute caddis; quigly cripples; soft hackles (for emergent pupae), sizes 16-20

Travelling sedge (dusk to dark): Tom Thumb; green stimulator; green madam-x; green chernobyl ant, size 8-10 (skate/wake on surface with short strips, ALWAYS toward shore)

adult damsel (all day, particularly afternoon): borger damsel; bucktail damsel; stalcup damsel, size 10 (mostly in blue, but have a few in green and tan)

AFTER DARK (10pm - 3am): largish, dark wooly buggers towed on floating, sink-tip, or intermediate line.

Fishing will be very good, especially in evening, but no pushover (note complexity of evening activity). Fish will not be in best shape with warmer water temps. You WILL kill fish; I'd figure AT LEAST a 10% - 20% mortality rate. If you get a really hot hand, consider packing it in for the day, and enjoy the equally excellent birding (several types of woodpecker [I saw a yellow-bellied sapsucker one year!], cedar waxwings, orioles, western tanangers, warblers, etc).

Take plenty of DEET, and stay out of the bushes during the day. The mosquitos can be incredibly bad this time of year (is the big "mosquito is just anotrher part of nature" sign still there?). They'll carry you away out there.

Only the very first part of the road is scary (though I'll bet REALLY scary in the dark), but if you've never been there, finding the way in can be a little tough, even in the day light. I don't know if I'd try it at night.