Lake Davis Fly Fishing Report

Jon Baiocchi / Baiocchi’s Troutfitters Reports on 3.24.2016

3/23/2016 – Lake Davis has iced out and the season begins on this classic northern California still water. The current capacity is up to 62%, that’s a gain of 30% from last fall, and with more snow to melt combined with a few more storms, we’ll see the lake increase even more. Ice out can be hit or miss, it really depends on how warm the weather is. Sunny days are best in the early season as they heat up the water in the shallows through solar radiation, giving the resident rainbows a comfortable place to feed. Currently the water temperatures are 43 degrees. Most of the fish are in pre spawn mode and are starting to gather in the coves on the east shore where the snow melt feeder creeks come in. All the feeder creeks are closed until the Saturday preceding Memorial day to protect spawning fish.

Your best approach at being successful right now is to first find the active schools of feeding fish. Once that is accomplished, use a floating line with a standard 9 foot leader to 3x, and make your presentations to cruising fish. Effective patterns include wiggle tails in bright colors like red and orange, and also the stand by colors of black, root beer, olive, and burnt orange. Chironomids will be more active as the water warms, and you can expect the first brood of blood midges in the weeks to come. They’re big, and a size 10 Albino Wino midge pupa pattern does well with and without an indicator. Two must have patterns to have in your box for the entire season at Lake Davis is flashback pheasant tails, and damsel nymphs. It’s still early at the lake with prime time (May through early July) coming up in the distance. More water equals more aquatic insects, and bigger fish – Things are looking good!