Plumas County Fly Fishing Report

Jon Baiocchi reports on 5.24.18

Plumas

Frenchman Lake 

Water temps are 58-60 degrees, the last two weeks the weather has been colder with thunderstorms and rain. Lake capacity is at 101%. Fishing was slow yesterday and not many bugs out, just a few Callibaetis and blood midges. The lake is loaded with Lahontan Redside Shiners, yet no fish are crashing them like last fall. Western grebes are starting their courtship, and those pelicans are having a feast on the shiners often working together to herd them into a pocket on the shoreline. Fishing pressure at both lakes is very light. We need some warmer weather to get those aquatic insects going, especially the damsels.

Lake Davis 

Water temps are 55-58 degrees, and the lake is full at 99% of capacity. I do not like it when the lake is that full, not many coves and all the points are under water. Lots of small midges mixed with a few blood midges. I did not see any damsels actively swimming near the water’s surface. The most alarming thing I saw was how many bass are in the lake. I took a peek over the spillway, and the entire surface erupted with baby bass fleeing from my presence. I have never seen these conditions before in my whole life. Lake Davis needs some TLC from our state agencies. I’ll be poking around in the next month and keeping an eye on the damsel hatch. See you out there…