Lake Davis Fly Fishing Report

Jon Baiocchi / Baiocchi’s Troutfitters reports on 9.9.2015

Though we are in a warming trend, cooler nights have prevailed at Lake Davis, at 7am water temperatures have been at 60, rising to 67 in the afternoons. The lake levels continue to drop at a very fast rate. Currently the Honker Cove boat ramp is unusable for boats like my Tracker Pro Deep V 16. Small boats and prams are ok at the moment. There have been two incidences of boast receiving damage while trying to launch as they backed off the concrete and into the rocks. Speaking for myself, I will only be doing walk and wade trips for the rest of the year. Not really a bad thing, as I use to fish the lake in the mid-nineties before I had any boats, and I did quite well once the fish were in the shallows.

The drought is not only affecting water levels at the lake, but cottonwoods, and aspens are dropping their leaves already. The trees have not even began to the show the blazing fall colors they are known for, that usually happens the second week of October. It’s my belief the trees are shutting themselves down as a last resort to save any energy, and prevent from dying until the much needed precipitation comes. Things are pretty bleak for Mother Earth in Northern California right now.

Weed growth is still a little thick, but starting to recede. The rainbows are coming out of the deeper water and into the shallows for a brief time in the morning and evening. This will continue to be the pattern as we go deeper into autumn. I will say this, the fish are really on the move, one day they are at point X, the next day point Z. Aquatic insects are starting to show again like a decent Blood Midge hatch in the mornings, and the Callibaetis mayflies are starting to pop. There can be some decent dry fly fishing while stalking, and sight fishing to individual fish during these hatches, Blood midge emergers are receiving some attention. Effective flies have been backswimmers, wiggle tails in burnt orange and fiery brown, dark damsels, and Sheep Creek Specials presented on either a floating line, or an intermediate. Indicator rigs in 8 to 15 feet of water have been effective using Blood midge pupa, Albino Winos, and Flashback Pheasant Tails. I hope this fall is not like last year when the fish keyed in on Daphnia, that was a tough game, and catch rates showed just that. If you’re up for a walk and wade trip, and want to learn the finer points of still water, give me a call at 530.228.0487, or shoot me an email at baiocchistroutfitters@yahoo.com