I have a number of angling friends, including my Dad, who look at fly fishing lakes and ponds as the lesser form of fly fishing when compared to rivers. I don’t agree. In fact, as a guide, it’s easier for me to get beginners on fish in the river than on a lake. The river is more predictable. Placing a guest in the right spot on the river with a simple cast can automatically solve many presentation and learning hurdles. No matter the weather or the wind, there are reliable and simple techniques for the river. On the other hand the feeding cycles in lakes can come and go as quickly as the wind can render a beginner’s cast limp. The reasons for this hot and cold behavior can be as obvious as the whitecaps on the water or as opaque as the hard-to-reach  depths of the lake. Although sometimes the same rig you use in the river will work in the lake, more often than not, it won’t; or that same rig must be presented differently.

Ice is moving out of the lakes and run off is next month, so it’s a good time to take a look at lake rigs.

 
Lake Basics “It’s a lot easier to catch fish when you know where they are.” – Rob Kolanda

Rob is pretty good about knowing where the fish are. If you’re fishing with him, ask him, “Where are they?” If not, here are some of the variables you need to consider; water temp, air temp, inlet/outlet location, water source (spring, runoff, another lake), altitude, depth(s), size, major food supply, sky (cloudy/clear), special foods (crawfish, leeches, minnows, scuds, damsels, worms, etc.) as well as still-water hatches like Callibaetis and Canis.
Some general rules-of thumb, to which there are numerous exceptions:
1.    The higher altitude lake foods are similar to our fast Colorado rivers. Be sure to take that Parachute Adams.
2.    Lower altitude lakes may have more of those high protein foods. Be sure take those streamers.
3.    Colder water temps indicate slower retrieves of streamers and subsurface insects. (Note: what’s considered cold in a lake at or above timberline is not the same as lower lakes.)
4.    In the middle of a bright sunny day, fish will often retreat to cooler depths to feed and/or stay out of harm’s way (predator birds).
5.    Many private lakes receive supplemental food in the form of pellets, scuds, worms, and fat-head minnows. Pellets are particularly hard to imitate because their main attraction is smell. Try to find out ahead of time is this is the case. If you are unable to do, look for a likely feeding location and throw some small gravel on the water and see if the trout come to it. Also, check thebanks for discarded food sign:  Birds will often eat aquatic food like this crawfish and discard the shell on the bank.

And now the rigs…

Big Bug Smash: There are numerous large flies that can be fished on the surface either alone or as part of Dry/Dropper rig. They include Fat Albert (Spider imitation), Chernobyl Ant, Hoppers, and Damsels. With exception of the Damsels all of them can be presented with a significant “splat” to bring attention to them. After all, that is how they enter the water.  Once floating, all of them including the Damsel, do well with intermittent twitches. Strikes for these big flies can vicious, so watch the amount of slack you have in your line. If the aforementioned pellet food is an issue, they are usually not shy about big splashes on the surface. Find a cruiser and throw a Chernobyl or Fat Albert right at their head and be ready for an immediate strike.

Small Dries: Midges and mayflies are common high altitude lake insects. Still water will allow you to see some of those small imitations more easily than you can see them in the river. If you go to Dream Lake in the RMNP, be sure to take #20 Griffiths Gnat and catch a Cutthroat. These are slow takes, so react accordingly. There is a hiking trail behind and you will often hear question, “Are you fishing?” Be polite.

Medium Dries: The most common mayfly hatch on a lake is the Callibaetis or Speckle Wings. If you get your eyes close to the surface during one of these hatches those mayfly sails will look like a miniture regatta. There are numerous Speckle Wing imitations that work well. Old style and parachute style Adams work too. Size match is important here. 

Dry Drawwwwper: The stupid spelling is because in the deeper lakes around midday, you may want to have the dropper very deep. Because of the length of tippet between the dry and the dropper and the behavior of the insect, you will want to slowly move that rig through the water to detect the strike. If it’s windy and the dry is bobbing up, that may be enough movement for the lower fly. For mayfly hatches, I like using the curved shank nymphs (sometimes called Quasimodo version) because that is the shape of the nymph just before it makes a swimming move. In the spring look for Chronomids and Canis hatches. The Chronomids are large midges and can be fished anywhere below the surface. Canis are small mayflies that look a little like a PMD. I carry a few blonde PTs for those and present them just under the film. 


These heavier than average Rainbows were taken from Mother Lake on the Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch. The one on the left was taken by site casting a red and black Chronomid hanging under a Chenobyl Ant. The other one was taken at dusk on a #20 Blonde PT behind an Adams.

Bellyache on the Bottom: The Bellyache Minnow designed by Rob Kolanda is showing to be an incredible versatile streamer. One of the great features of this fly is that it is heavy and rides hook up. In lakes it is frequently necessary to present streamers deep and slow to catch fish. It is easy to run the Bellyache along the bottom slowly with intermittent twitches. It rarely gets hung up or requires significant cleaning. This allows you to search a wide area of the lake until you find where the fish are hiding. And the fish really seem to like this imitation.

There are many anglers who insist on a loop knot for streamers in order that thestreamer move more freely. I don’t think that is necessary for most of the fast river fishing with streamers. On the other hand, for slower conditions and lowerweight streamers it may be what you need. The knot pictured here is called a non-slip mono, micro-loop, Rapala, Brubaker, and probably many other things. Feel free to give it another name … everybody else has.

BBB Cocktail: This is the same as above but it includes a Bellyboat and a beer. Slow trolling, slow sipping, and gentle rise of the rod tip will bring in the fish. A nice quiet way to spend a day lake fishing.

Pina Kolanda: This rig is based upon a European Competition rig for still water. It consists of a streamer on the bottom with a hatch fly 24-30” above it tied to the leader on a tag. One of the keys to this rig is the presentation.  The rig is brought in slowly (Figure 8 twist is good here) and at the end of the retrieve the rod is slowly raised so that the hatch fly mimics the emerging motion of the natural. Many strikes will occur with that last motion. A Bellyache plus a Yankee Buzzer or Pandemic makes it a Pina Kolanda.

About Tags: Pieces of tippet tied to the main leader/tippet are called tags. This is a good thing to learn anyway, because it has many applications elsewhere as you will see in subsequent articles. Tags are attached at tippet knots so that that the tippet knot will be a barrier to slippage. You can use a clinch knot and tie it just above the knot. Or you can leave the tag coming from the upper tippet/leader in a surgeon’s knot (aka water knot) extra long and use that. I call that method the EZ Tag. I frequently throw in an EZ Tag when I tie on my first piece of tippet. I don’t always use it, but it’s there in case I want to add a more emerging type fly. In general you can use a larger diameter tippet for tags, because you would like to have some stiffness to move it way from the main line. It will still move pretty freely for the smaller flies.

Here’s a bonus river rig based on information above:


Mal de Panza Doble (Double Bellyache)


The other day I was in the Frying Pan fishing lower stretches of the canyon. I was catching lots of fish but not very large ones. I knew they must be around. I rigged two #8 Bellyaches about two feet apart. Double streamers present very well on the swing. If the fish give up on the first one, they will of then take the second as comes by. Plus you double the weight without doubling the size of the fly. For good measure, I put a Pandemic on my EZ Tag. The Brown in the picture above took the Pandemic. A few casts later this 19 inch fat girl took the Bellyache.

Don’t try to make long casts with this rig. Throw a short cast across the current and feed a lot of line creating a long belly for the swing. Once the streamers are far below, just mend across the current back and forth to simulate a couple of small fishes swimming against the current.