Updates on Lake Davis?

[michaeln]

Has the turnover of the water in Lake Davis completed and is the murky, muddy water clearing up?

How is access to the west side now?

Don Rotsma's site said he is fishing elsewhere this week so there is no update on his terrific site since 5/12. No update on the Grizzly Store's site since the 12th either.

[Troutstalker55B]

Michaeln,

Fished the lake yesterday with my boat, 6 fish hooked on a dark fiery brown #8 bugger in two hours. Surface temps were 53, and the water is still muddy. The lake keeps filling up and this will be a banner year for sure! Blood midge are out. I saw Don at the ramp and he didn't have much to say. I feel the fish are in transition coming off the spawn and adjusting to the west side fast food hang outs. It's still a bit early - Just wait, in a month the lake will be on fire.....For weeks.

Jon.

[michaeln]

Fished the lake yesterday with my boat, 6 fish hooked on a dark fiery brown #8 bugger in two hours.

Were you trolling?


Surface temps were 53

Wow, that's up quite a bit from when I was there last week (48 then). Where did you measure the 53? West side, east side, shallows?


and the water is still muddy.

That sure makes it tough for fly fishers. Flies don't normally have scent or give off much in the way of noise or vibrations, so it's pretty much a sight-dependent thing.


The lake keeps filling up and this will be a banner year for sure! Blood midge are out. I saw Don at the ramp and he didn't have much to say. I feel the fish are in transition coming off the spawn and adjusting to the west side fast food hang outs. It's still a bit early - Just wait, in a month the lake will be on fire.....For weeks.

Thanks much for the update, Jon! My next trip up there is planned for mid-June, hope the sediment has dropped out, the west side road is cleared and the damsels are on the march by then!

[Rick J]

Visited Don this week so he should update his site - we went out Sat around 8 and fished until maybe 2 with not much success but we were scoping lots of fish both in the south and the north. Temp was 52 to 54 or so

I may have seen one blood midge but there were quite a few of the large tan midges coming off (about the size of the blood midge). Saw no damsels. I stayed with a floating line but put on some micro shot and most of the time was using a two fly set up - damsel style with a midge trailer - most fish came on the midge. Most fish scoped were in 10+ feet of water and were mainly at around 6 to 8 feet deep. Don used an i line.

Sunday hit the lake around 8:30 and only fished until around 11:30 - I had to head back and Don had yard work - plus the wind came up pretty heavy mid morning.

Don is heading east to go fish some lakes for few days. My next trip up will be first week in June and it should be hopping.

[Troutstalker55B]

Yes I was trolling, and just searching the whole lake for habitat and fish. There is many old buckets that can come into play now! June 15th will be perfect, it's better to fish the damsel hatch early as the fish will be more eager to take an artificial. I got my water temp from the shallows of Fugawi. Oh, I did see 5 vehicles at Jenkins so I assume the west side road is open for 4wd.

Jon.

[michaeln]

Thanks for the report, Rick!

[jayclarkflyfishing]

I agree with Jonny. I fished with clients on Thursday and measured water temps at 54.Clients only hooked 2,but each had at least 5 take downs on PT's under a bobber. The fish are definetely in a transition mode right now.We also saw some blood midges.

Jonny-Thanks for the card!I did a drift from Clio to Blairsden that day.Didn't fish much as I was mostly exploring.Saw plenty of bugs hatching including yellow salley's,caddis,mayflies and plenty of midges.I'm done with school on Thursday so let's fish!!!



Jay

[Troutstalker55B]

Jay,

I looked for you, but did not think that you were floating. I have floated that section before in my pontoon, That big pool with the lava formations has coughed up some large browns on crawdad patterns. I have also done Mohawk bridge to Camp Laymans, and CL to Sloat - Both of those floats are really cool! I took water temps and it was at 50, Fishing will improve once it gets to 55.

I will not be able to fish for two weeks but when I have a day I will call, we can cruise around in my boat and probe the buckets.

Jon.

[Bryan Morgan]

Fished with a buddy the last couple of days. A lot of fish scanned in the 55-56 degree range. Quite a few fish caught between the 14-19 inch range. It was the first time there for me. Quite a lake! Too windy to do a lot of casting, so we trolled the majority of the time.

[michaeln]

Aaarrggghhhh.

Was thinking about going up to Davis again soon. Checked weather:

Thursday: Mostly sunny =D>
Friday: Chance of showers, snow level 5300 feet, breezy :crybaby:
Saturday: 30 percent chance of snow showers. high near 49 :crybaby:
Sunday: Chance of rain and snow showers. Snow level 5700 feet :crybaby:

Doesn't sound so great for a trip where I'd be camping. Is winter ever gonna end up there?

[Rick J]

Don's drive 6 hours to fish under similar conditions - needless to say he was not planning on snow, sleet rain and wind when he planned his trip!!

[michaeln]

Well, the weather guessers are predicting pretty nice weather for next week so I am planning to go up Tuesday & Wednesday. Unfortunately, after this weekend's crowd descends on the fish, they will know it is fishing season again!

Hope I can get to the west side, at least Camp 5. I'll be camping at The Grizzly Store campground again.

[michaeln]

So, any flyfishing reports from Davis for this Memorial Weekend? I suspect people are actually fishing instead of spending time on the internet, but I am going up there Tuesday and wondering what to expect.

[Rick J]

Don is going out today with his friend Mike so might have a report later on. I plan on heading up there next weekend to fish with him

[michaeln]

This was posted this morning by "webrx" on the NAFF board:

"Hit Lake Davis yesterday, good action 2 feet off the bottom along the ridges and good surface action damsels are hatching and the little yellow caddis too. Pulled in a few 18-20 inchers. wind is blowing toward the east side of the lake and the fish move to deeper water as the day warms but good action wading early and and tubing the drop offs as it warms up."

So, it sounds somewhat encouraging. I'll go, I'll do my best, and I'll report back!

[michaeln]

Fishing is very slow at Davis. I talked to a lot of people there, and nobody had caught more than 3. I got skunked Tuesday, caught one nice one Wednesday morning and a strange (bright chrome sides with NO pink stripe, and his back was BLUE, not green), lice-infested one Wednesday afternoon before I got blown off the water.

[michaeln]

It's been a while since I have seen any reports about Davis. Last time I was up there (June 11-14) it seemed about ready to pop with the warmer weather. But I haven't seen updates / reports from the usual suspects...

[jayclarkflyfishing]

Maybe it is sooo good we don't want to tell anybody!Not...But it has been steadily improving.Wind has still been an issue.

I've been fishing the Middle Fork Feather the past few days and finding plenty of wild fish in the 12-14" range.

Jay