Jon Baiocchi Lake Davis fishing report 6/24/15:Lake Davis has...

Jon Baiocchi Lake Davis fishing report 6/24/15:

Lake Davis has been very technical and challenging in the last week during the Damsel grab. Fishing pressure has increased even more, and those rainbows now have a very clear idea between an artificial fly, and the natural. For more success in the catching department it’s wise to fish areas that have not been getting pounded. Dark damsel patterns have been best including my chocolate damsel. Many of my guest’s damsel patterns in their boxes are way too big; the nymph is about 1 to 1.25 inches long.

Water temps are starting at 62 in the early morning and rising to 73 in the afternoons, the wind continues to help keep the water cooler, and man has the wind been blowing up there. Last Sunday saw a steady wind of 20 mph and whitecaps right out of the chute around 7am. When such conditions exist, it’s best to pack it up and go back to camp and tie some flies. Soaking chironomids under an indicator just before the hatch ends is working pretty well, especially if the water has some chop to it. By 1pm the lake is dead as the rainbows are stuffed full of damsels. My guests have been hooking into some large specimens in the 4 to 5 pound range, so fat you can hardly get your hand around their behemoth girth. Very impressive!

The Hex hatch remains strong but is a very short lived show, starting at about 8:45 and lasting until dark. The emerger continues to dominate the best catch rates by far. Remember you can use heavier tippet during low light conditions, this helps immensely with less break offs. The middle and southern part of the lake has seen the most fish keyed in on the Hex. Just the like the Damsel hatch, the Hex hatch will vary in numbers from night to night, and every day is different.

For the last two weekends Rob Anderson and I have once again held our extremely popular Lake Davis Outings. These 3 day events are way more than a clinic, we teach how to best approach the lake for this time of year including equipment selection, rigging, leader construction, technical presentations, shore tactics, float tube techniques, and detailed informative handouts for later review. I also presented my Lake Davis Power Point right in the campground with the lake as a back drop for first timers; this really speeds up the learning process for fly fishing still waters. All of our guests enjoy these outings so much that we have many repeats, much of it has to do with the fun social setting, killer lunches and dinners, and lots of on the water time. We will be conducting these outings again for 2016 during the second and third weekend of June. Don’t miss out on the fun and sign up early, the outings usually fill up during the Pleasanton Fly Fishing show in February.

Lake Davis provides unbound beauty, sight fishing to large rainbows, and plenty of leisure time around the campfire. Life just doesn’t get any better in the Northern Sierra