CA Davis Lake report from Don Rotsma.....

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

.......who lives on the lake.

Don said that the damsels were out last weekend but the fish had not keyed in on them yet.

He said that it is time to start fishing Davis Lake now.

Next thirty days should be very good.

**You need a floating line, 9' 3x leader with 3' of 4x tippet greased to within 6" of the fly, the right damsel imitation (size and color of what is emerging at the time) and don't move them much or at all.

Most of this action is on the west shore.

You can wade some but not deep, or use a float tube, pontoon or a anchored small boat.

Don said it should start about 10am now but will start earlier as it gets warmer up there.

Get in a place with lots of working fish and just cast down wind in the general area. They are moving all the time so casting to individual fish is not that necessary.

Try to catch one of the emerging damsels to see what size and color they are. Size first.......color second in picking a pattern.

This is an exciting fishery..............

[michaeln]

Don sure knows Lake Davis!

I'm headed back up there next weekend with the Golden Gate Anglers & Casting Club for their fishout.

[SHigSpeed]

Don sure knows Lake Davis!

I'm headed back up there next weekend with the Golden Gate Anglers & Casting Club for their fishout.

I thought you were done with Davis! :)

Hope you finally get your "on" day at the lake.

_SHig

[michaeln]

I thought you were done with Davis! :)

Hope you finally get your "on" day at the lake.

_SHig

I was, but I have done some email with Don back and forth and I am encouraged to try again. It was of some comfort to hear that Don did poorly the same days I did. ;-)

I was also somewhat limited as to where I could fish. The road out to Cow is pretty much impassable due to mud & water for my little Honda, and I was not aware there is a second way to get out to Jenkins cove that I actually could have used. I am hoping the road to Cow will have dried out sufficiently for me to be able to get out there, and if not I am sure I can launch at Jenkins. Either one gives me access to the weedbed areas where the damsel migrations should be.

[michaeln]

BTW, Don's website is the best resource for fishing Lake Davis that I have seen:

http://www.flyfishwithdon.com

[Rick J]

Still pretty slow - drove to Don's on Friday and we got out around 11 - few damsels showing but a very nice day on the water with some wind but warm and overcast - water is around 57+ right now at the surface - we did alot of searching and really found the fish but they were in 14 to 17 feet of water and all around 10 to 12 feet - not only that, they had lockjaw - managed 4 fish with an I line and micro shot - damsel and blood midge trailer. The good news is we saw quite a few blood midges hatching - great to see as we really have not run into them much previously and they were sporadic last year.

Saturday was sunnier and warmer but pretty windy with still few damsels showing - fish still at depth - we scoped very few fish above 5 to 7 feet and most were deeper. Went out in the evening but no blood midge hatches and no fish showing

Sunday (this morning) was warmer still but wind came up early and few damesls showing.
We get bored very quickly throwing I lines with no fish showing busting bugs so we called it early and I drove home - thinking later in June (couple of weeks) or 4th of July weekend but sounds like warm weather is on the way so may happen at any time!

[michaeln]

Thanks for the report, Rick. Sounds pretty dismal, but I am determined to try one more time next weekend.

Any size to the fish you caught? Were they clean or did they have copepods on them?

[michaeln]

Thanks for the report, Rick. Sounds pretty dismal, but I am determined to try one more time next weekend.

Any size to the fish you caught? Were they clean or did they have copepods on them?

On the other hand look at the report from Grizzly Store:

http://www.grizzlystore.portola-ca.com/fishingreport2010.htm

"Fishing continues to be superb."

Yeah, right.

This from Don's site this morning:

"Lake Davis - June 6, 2010 -Fishing was very slow this weekend with damsels swimming in some of the bays, but no hatching adults and we did not see any fish keying on the nymphs along the shores. There were lots of anglers and everyone we talked to had the same bad experiences. We found lots of fish holding in deeper water about 12 to 14 feet with the fish holding mostly in the 8 to 12 ft depth. We and others did catch some fish using I lines, weighted patterns and sometimes split shot to get down to the right depth. Most fish seemed to be indifferent to most presentations and patterns. The fish and the bugs are just not ready yet. There were some good blood midge hatches with only an occasional fish paying attention. It is a bit early still, but we were all wishing and hoping this weekend was the beginning. Thanks to all the anglers who gave us honest reports even though they were not great and everyone was disappointed."

Sounds a lot like your report, Rick! ;-)

[Rick J]

the fish were clean and the biggest maybe 16" or so with a couple in that range - others were last years stock - maybe 12"+. The takes were split between the midge and the damsel

So you are right - Don't believe everything you read though I talked to a guy in Sacramento who had a friend up a few days before that said he hooked around 20 trolling with a fast sinking line on the wiggle nymph? Who knows? I would expect that this may have paid off as the fish were deep but I can't bring myself to do that all day

[michaeln]

Wednesday both fish I caught were while I was trolling with a Type II sinking line, one was on a Fox's Poopah in olive, size 14, the other was on a BH Seal Bugger size 10 in olive & burnt orange.

I would sure rather find a concentration of fish and cast to them though. I was trolling hoping to find concentrations, but I spent almost all of my time trolling in < 7 feet of water and almost never marked a fish. I did mark some that were deep when I was out at 20'+ depths, but I figured I would never get down that deep in the wind and chop and with the fastest sinker I had being a Type II.

It's gotta turn on sometime. My theory is that the fish are waiting until Friday when I get there to move into the shallow water and start gobbling all of the damsels that will simultaneously start migrating because the wind will have also completely stopped for the duration of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

That's my theory, and I'm stickin' to it! :rolleyes:

[jayclarkflyfishing]

Fished for 4 hours yesterday morning and went 6 for 8 hooked.Got them on Sheeps Creek and cinnamon wiggle tails on a clear camo line.Fished on the east side right out of Grizzly campground.Some blood midges hatching but saw a lot of callibaetis mayflies. Definitely my best day out this season.

Rick-did you try midging at the depth that you were marking fish? Hanging a blood midge and a pt under a bobber has been picking up a few fish for me lately.Nothing spectacular but better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!!

Jay

[michaeln]

Hmmm.... east side. I was wondering if maybe all the recent strong winds blowing from the southwest and west might be blowing a lot of food over to the east shore, and maybe the fish with it?

[1flyfisher]

The lake is a month behind a normal year or an average year. The water temp was 57 on friday according to an above poster rick. That is usually the average water temp in early may. I have seen damsels as early as mid april crawling up the banks and sometimes in colder years it might only begin to start as late as june (as it is doing this year). Damsels come off strongest when water temps are above 65 and weed beds start to emerge the surface. 65-72+ they will hatch strongest, not 57. Generally when you have strong numbers of hold over larger fish in the 17-22" range these older fish will cruise the shorelines in early may and readily grab damsels. I believe There may be a lack of numbers of these typical bigger lake saavy fish and more 12-16 yutes. We shall see what fish quality we have as the summer progresses.
Damsels cant hatch in the water so that is why you won't see many adults at this point. They need the weed beds to hatch or the ability to make it to shore to hatch and emerge into adults. Last year water levels were historically low. So that means that the damsels hatched and laid their eggs way far out there as the lake has come up a lot this spring, and it is still coming up right now. Now that the shore line is up hundred + feet that is all the further they have to crawl along the bottom to get to the shore. The damsels mass is out far right now but will migrate to shore. It will take a bit for them to make the long crawl. Right now they will be moving along the bottom mostly. Some will try for the surface but they can't do anything there as there are no weeds to crawl out on and hatch. They can't hatch so they are exposing themselves to being eaten. Nature isn't stupid so the bulk of the damsels won't head for the surface. Only a smaller number of damsels(the dumb ones) will be near the surface when there is no weed beds.

We just had our first real warm temps this last week and runoff fired up on all rivers and streams. Truckee is raqing. Davis is still getting fresh runoff and the lake is still rising. Best fishing will be when the lake peaks and starts to lower and the weed beds pop through the surface.
The lake is traditionally slow in the spring when water temps are in the mid to upper 50's. There is the ice out creek fishing that people do and catch good numbers around the creeks. That lasts a few weeks. Then the lake slows down. That is what has been going on right now as I have said we are a month behind. You can't go by dates for what to expect, you have to evaluate things by the overall spring we had, water temps and water levels. We had snow right before memorial day and it has been another cold spring. When we have a lot of snow and runoff and the lake comes up a lot that will slow things down. Now that we are getting into summer and finally some warm temps things will improve daily but it wouldn't surprise me if it remains spotty for the rest of this week. It looks like the weather will cool a bit starting wed and get windy. Warm windless days will see better fishing this time of year. Once the weed beds are up and the damsels kick into high gear the wind will be less of a factor. Once these smaller fish figure things out they will move to the west shore and freeman. From jenkins over to cow,freeman and lightning tree will then have nice damsel hatches.

The fish are scattered right now. I would recommend getting out in a float tube,pram, boat etc and get out in the middle of the channels off the points far out with an intermediate type 1 or 2 line in 8-12 feet of water. That is if you can't find fish porpoising the shoreline. IF you don't see any fish activity in close and aren't hooking up get in the tube and head out. If you don't see em porpoising the shoreline they aren't there so get out far. Put on a beadhead weighted large dark brown or olive size #12 damsel with a longish marabou tail and fish slow and deep over the beginnings of the first deep submerged weed beds if you can find any. East shore should produce better numbers at this time till the fish move over to the west shore and cow/freeman area. You can also try the bloodmidge at various depths. Blood midge with a trailing #16 pt nymph or your best callibaetis nymph pattern. Fish won't be too picky as far as patterns this time of year. So don't get too neurotic about not having the right damsel pattern. A tad bigger and darker will do fine. The fish may be slow but it isn't due to you not having the right pattern. If they aren't grabby they aren't grabby. That's just the way it is and way it can be at this time of year. When I say time of year that is of course based on overall conditions (late or early spring) and not the actual date. It is June 6. Things are normally going strong by this time. But not this year.
Also....it can pop any day.
Be patient.
My buddy is up there right now for a few days when He calls I will give you an accurate skinny on the fish conditions.


.....also don rotsma always has an accurate report. But I have found Area businesses wildly exaggerate fishing conditions on a regular basis.

[michaeln]

Thanks for the obvious thought and effort that went into your excellent post, 1flyfisher!

[1flyfisher]

No problem.
I think there will be some good fishing on davis very soon.
Hopefully with some 20-22" fish without maggots but it will probably be alot of smaller fish with maggots. Hopefully more bigger fish now or maybe by fall.
The lake will be improving with the higher water. Damsels are there. Callibaetis are there. Blood Midges are there. There are a small amount of snails and I bet with higher water they will scatter about the lake from the east side mosquito area cove.
Things should be improving. Hopefully the gill maggots and the rest of the parasites die off, but apparently they are still there.
I think Damsels will come off great since they didn't come off huge last year. Last year was subpar amounts of damsels. As in below average. So I guess it would be safe to assume there will be more damsels this year from holdovers. We need some good warm weather up there to get things going.

My buddy called and left a short message, I haven't been able to talk directly but he will call me back soon. He said on my machine that it was slow. He said so so fishing. He is leaving for reno if that tells you anything.

[michaeln]

Of course it's slow. I'm headed up there Friday. It's my fault. That's the reason. ;-)

[1flyfisher]

My buddy AL from truckee just called he is at Davis this morning but is leaving. Fishing is slow. He fished bloodmidges out of jenkins from his tube. He got a half dozen yesterday and they were on the small side 16" or so was his biggest. He said they weren't coated with parasites. Just a few parasites and a sore here or there ...not too bad. He talked to other folks as he was up there for a few days. Folks out of cow did poorly. 2 fish avg at best. He fished at jenkins the entire time. Water has come up nicely and is almost around the cow island but not quite all around. So that is good. He said it is cold and windy and he is on his way to my house. He didn't fish damsels. He spoke with folks out of cow that fished damsel patterns and they said they got 1-2.
So that's about it.


With the higher water that will delay the weed beds from popping through as they grew and rooted last year in water that is much deeper now and further out......it may be a bit before things kick into high gear. Hopefully some quality fish show.