The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

Shot over to Davis on Sunday. Turned out to be a blue sky day and the wind never showed. Plenty of sun on the cheeks. 2 weeks ago there was just 20-30' of open water between shore and the ice, but the whole lake is clear now. Scattered rises all over the place and a lot of the little kid planters were going bonkers. Road were clear and dry for the most part except for a couple puddles. Slopes are pretty soaked and flowing. Water was a little cloudy, no weeds to speak of yet, but the shallows will be greening up soon.

Walked the shore a bit looking for cruisers, but didn't seem anything. Fished out of a canoe on the SW side for several hours but never managed to hook up. Wasn't prepared right for the blood midges which were coming off in deeper water, size 14 or so. Fish had to be on them, lots of shucks, nothing else except a super small midge. They didn't want my bugs and I went though most of what I could think might work. The few other fly rodders seemed to have similar luck, 3 tubers pulled out around 1pm with just a couple tugs on damsels. Still a lot of promise there if it can be dialed in. I'll be tying, reading and blowing up the tube!

Eric-
The fish are still in a spawning mode.They are still concentrated in the bays that have feeder creeks.It will be a month before damsels become active.Always be prepared to fish blood midges.Pt's,hare's ears and birds nests have all been producing.Buggers in olive,black and cinnamon have been working as well.Sheeps Creeks and copper johns should also be working well.

See you on the water!

Jay

Hi Eric:
Good to see you at Pyramid a couple of weeks ago. If you still have them, I'd love a copy of those pics of the cars up at Willows. Send me a private message if possible.

thanks for report on Davis. Thinking of heading up there sometime in May, probably towards the end of the month. Let you know when I know. Maybe we could hook up.

Betty

Jay, Hope things are going well for you. Thanks for the info. Will keep an eye open that way. Had a couple of Ralph's midge emergers in the box, but it didn't see to be the ticket. Didn't try biting the wing off as he suggests to get to the pre-emergent. Have a few more things to try now. Pulling the bugger doesn't work quite as well in the canoe, so I usually avoid it. Kick trolling out of the tube definitely favors the wet fly setup. I do like the mobility, warmth and space in the canoe but will give the try to the tube next time. Maybe the kayak is the happy medium.

Hi Betty,
Shot you an email. Hope the @santacruzpl.org is still the right addy.

Cheers, Eric