Frenchman’s Lake Fly Fishing Report

Jon Baiocchi Reports on 10.11.17

It’s been a wild week at Frenchman’s Lake with wind events that made fishing much like being on board a crab boat from “Deadliest Catch”. The north wind made its presence known last week and yesterday with wind chill in the teens, so cold it cuts right to the bone. Frenchman’s Lake is much more open and prone to getting hammered by north and east winds, there are simply very little areas to hide in. Water temperatures have been as low as 54 and as high as 58 depending on wind and air temperatures. The trout are still somewhat scattered but there are less in the southern lake and more in the northern lake, and most are in the upper most water column. If you are not recording marked fish on your electronics it’s a good bet that the majority of the fish are near the surface, and that’s why you are not marking them. There is way more fish in 1 to 3 feet of water than last week, and fishing off the bank has really picked up. The fishing has been pretty good when the weather cooperates. We’ve had some stellar days with fish cruising the shallow flats sipping callibaetis, it does not get any better than that. The most effective fly of late has been a simple non leaded pheasant tail presented on a floating line, no need for an intermediate line. Fishing pressure has increased on some days, and on other days it is very quiet. Fall colors will be peaking this week in eastern Plumas County, time to load up the vehicle and make a run to the hills. See you out there.