Davis lake 7/5-7/7 No damsel hatch

[1flyfisher]

I fished from second point fugawee over to freeman and the cow area for the 3 days. I did not see one damsel swimming. I had 3 damsels climb on my kayak on thu so there were at least 3 swimming at some point thu. I did not see many adults flying around, just a few here and there(there should be thousands all over). From fugawee all around cow and into freeman I saw a few dozen adults. That was it. The water is 73-76. It was 76 wed afternoon. I talked to some guys at cow on tue afternoon as they were leaving around 3 and they did poorly the one guy I talked to got 1 tube/trolling around all day. One of the other guys did a bit better. On wed there wasn't a drop of wind for the most part. Perfect conditions for a damsel hatch but no bugs swimming. The lake was calm and I could see great distance for working fish. I Did not see any working from fugawee to cow to freeman. I paddled all over and did not see fish rising any where aside from a few for 20 minutes(caught 3), then they quit. The water was covered with callibaetis duns. They were all over but the fish were no where to be found. They had no interest in the duns. Use a nymph. I was able to land 3 on wed. First fish I caught was 16" and clean. The last fish on thu about 17" had gill maggots infesting its gills. Real disgusting. Most of the fish were not overly infested with maggots/copepods/ I'd say maybe half of what I caught had some crud on them. The other had a little here and there but not enough to make you gag. On thu i landed a half dozen with a few missed grabs. Biggest was over 19". There was a small window of opportunity where they would rise very sporadically. They were hard to target as they would show themselves but then disappear. I had fishable risers on and off for 45 minutes which I took advantage of. Guys in prams in front of me fishing deeper water were not catching. After those risers ended for me I left the area and went to try and find some fish. Shortly there after the folks in prams left the area and followed me over to cowllibaetis island and cow area. The wind came up and stuck a fork in it so I was out of there @ 1 on thu. I saw one bloodmidge in 3 days paddling about. On thu the fish would rise very sporadically. There were small midges coming off but the fish were not working them. A pram guy I know who fishes davis regularly told me he landed 4 on wed. There were a few other guys I know fishing from prams catching a few fish here and there. Nothing of any real quality.
There were some cars at jenkins, I have no idea how it was there or elsewhere.
You had to work pretty hard to scrape up some fish. But you could catch a few in the cow/fugawee/freeman areas.

I believe the damsel hatch has come and gone. I hope I am wrong but I do not anticipate much of a damsel hatch going forward as they should be ending at around the 4th of july not starting. That's the problem. July 5/6/7 were perfect damsel conditions but no bugs. I believe there may be a very small smattering here and there on select days but that should be about it. No big real hatch like years past. That is what I would say you can expect. The damsel population is by all observations clearly dropping dramatically.

The water is bath tub warm if you do not nurse them they will swim away, roll over belly up on the bottom and die. You need to hold these fish for 5+ minutes and nurse them.
That's about the gist of it.
I tell my friends to stay home.

I have a new 4wt z-axis galvan torque arriving in the next few days so I will have to try it out, maybe try davis again next week. iF I go I will post a report good or bad.

....also....I saw quite a few schools of small fish I believe were baby trout 1-3" around the willows.

[Troutstalker55B]

1flyfisher,
Sorry to hear you had a bad one at the lake and did not get a good damsel hatch. We had a decent hatch last Sat. through Friday. Have you tried a fresh adult? They are hatching where ever they can but the freshies are being blown into the water and being keyed in on by certain rainbows. I know you’re an expert and all but if you put yourself in the right area at the right time the bugs and fish are there. With all the new water your lucky to find the fish, things are different and old habits are hard to break. Screw everything you know and start over – Stalk the trout as a hunter would. Stomach samples are packed with sculpin green colored crayfish - Did you try those on the mud flats of Freeman? We did, and did quite well. Water temps ran today at 68-70 degrees today. There was a damn good blood midge hatch at Fugawi from 12-2pm today, 14 feet of water with your bug 9-10 feet down. I have not seen any Calibaetis duns, just spinners in the last week – Slender nymphs have been hot! Just wait until this Oct. things will balance and the fly fisher will have good fishing if they think outside the box and adjust. Lake Davis is a joy to be on, 0 fish or, if you catch a hundred – A special place as YOU know. Things are winding down on the lake – Time to focus on more productive waters. Take care -1flyfisher,

[OceanSunfish]

Sorry to read about the lack of damsels..... at least you were there fishing the lake... which is more than I can say....

IMO, Lake Davis has been through an awful lot of turmoil during the past 15 years...... The most recent 10 years prior to 2011 have been very harsh with low pool.....

But now with the lake near full, it's the start of good things..... I think the corner has been turned and with all the new habitat for aquatics to scatter to and breed..... more midges, damsels, and beatis to come! I'm still concerned about the snails tho.... I think the snails are really going to be the key....

Looking forward to many good years to come at Lake Davis. I'm very excited and optimistic that at least this Northern California fishing gem won't get wasted like so many other fisheries of late.

[Troutstalker55B]

Great post OceanSunfish,

You have some serious words of wisom there, thank you!

Jon.

[Bull_Dog]

Go to the General fly fishing column on this site for a good Davis report.

Must have been too many anglers watching to post an every cast report like Pyramid. LOL

If you are a stillwater fisherperson fish the wind, don't quit when it starts.

Puts down most of the dry fly thing but the fish get happy when the wind blows.:mrgreen:

[Troutstalker55B]

Go to the General fly fishing column on this site for a good Davis report.
:

Bull Dog - Jay Clark, Bryan Roccucci, Bill Forward, and myself give very accurate information for Lake Davis (Not Davis Lake as you Nevada folks like to call it). Myself, I live 7 miles from the lake and fish it a hundred times a year - This is my home and I know it very well. Regardless of my profession I'm here to share the good word on the lake for the entire fly fishing world. I was the first to own FS permits on the lake when you big guys would pimp it out and not do so. Everyone who guides or fishes the lake needs to work as one for the better of the public - They own the lake, we who make an income come second.

You’re so right about the wind - The wind is your friend, adjust and work with him and you are king! Best of luck to your guide service and if you need any info on the reel deal at the lake just give me a call!

Jon Baiocchi

[1flyfisher]

I heard lots of complaints from folks last year that drove several hours to find the so called raging damsel hatch non existent and the fishing sub par and the bulk of the fish small 10-14" and covered with parasites.
Sadly I heard it again this year, it goes like this. "I read on the internet that the damsels were coming off and the fishing was supposedly red hot and I drove 3+ hours to get up here and fished the last few days and haven't seen many bugs and the fish are few and far between". On tuesday afternoon when the dude in the tube that landed one said those exact words I felt bad for the guy.
My above report is for those folks.

Folks, the bugs don't lie. When damsels hatch and come off they don't vanish. They remain flying around the water through august looking to lay their eggs. On an average year at davis you will see blue adults in the thousands hovering a few inches to a foot or so over the surface of the lake in swarms this time of year all over cow/freeman/second point fugawee. I paddled every piece of shoreline from fugawee to freeman and checked all the willows. I saw maybe a few dozen at best in the back of freeman. They should be flying all over. I usually have to pick the nymphs off the back of my neck, off my hat, they are all over my boat, crawling all over everything, I on an (average) day would see hundreds of nymph swimmers. I saw zero damsels swimming and had 3 climb up my boat in 3 days. Very simple...anyone can put their money where their mouth is. I challenge anyone to meet me at the lake next week and prove me wrong by pointing out the thousands and thousands of adults flying around and nymphs swimming I hear claims of.....


....folks....truth is last year was the worst damsel hatch I have seen since I started fishing davis in the 80's. Anyone that tells you otherwise is simply full of shit. This year so far there are even less.
The fish are in the 14-16" range with an occasional fish that is clean and larger(they planted some clean brood stock last fall and a few remain). I'd say that more than half have some infestation of gill maggots, anchor worms or some other parasite.
Be wary of those that have a vested $$$ interest.

[jbird]

Always amazes me how one "experts" observation sums up the quality of fishing somewhere. Then gets all lathered up when someone else catches fish there. It appears to me that Mr Baiocchi may have some useful information in his post?

It is always a good idea to use visible hatches as clues in stillwater. But DO NOT live and die by them. Even during a prolific hatch, trout will eagerly take other flies presented to them correctly. Especially when the water column is so loaded with naturals, your imitation is really a joke among the masses.

If you drive all the way to a lake to hit some legendary hatch, and its not happening, Put on your thinking cap, dig out those flies you keep pushing to the side. explore different water columns with different lines. If you strike out, chalk it up as a sound beating. but to report that the fishing is no good and tell people to stay home is just ignorance.

Never stop learning. Pick up some of Brian Chan and Phil Rowleys books or videos. Store that information in your thinking cap when things get tough.

[jayclarkflyfishing]

It is always a good idea to use visible hatches as clues in stillwater. But DO NOT live and die by them. Even during a prolific hatch, trout will eagerly take other flies presented to them correctly. Especially when the water column is so loaded with naturals, your imitation is really a joke among the masses.

If you drive all the way to a lake to hit some legendary hatch, and its not happening, Put on your thinking cap, dig out those flies you keep pushing to the side. explore different water columns with different lines. If you strike out, chalk it up as a sound beating. but to report that the fishing is no good and tell people to stay home is just ignorance.

Never stop learning. Pick up some of Brian Chan and Phil Rowleys books or videos. Store that information in your thinking cap when things get tough.

This is great advice Jbird!And has been exactly what I have been stressing in my presentations to fly fishing clubs and to my clients.We as fishermen need to learn how to adapt and figure out what the fish will eat if the main hatch for that time of year is not happening.

I have been guiding on a lot of different waters lately and haven't spent as much time on Davis as some others. But the time I have spent has seen very little damsel activity.But I do not despair as I have been lucky enough to have some fun dry fly action with callibaetis dries and emergers.I was wading in front of the bathroom facilities at Cow and had fish sip callibaetis duns within a rod length from me.Pretty cool.I did fish with a guy that had some good action early in the day and then again late in the evening with callibaetis nymphs.

This year I have been using a lot of Denny Rickard's patterns and now understand why he developed them and why they are successful.His flies flat out work.They are simple yet effective and they have been getting grabs when nothing else has been working.

I knew people would be disappointed this year when the damsel hatch failed to materialize again and it is a shame.Yes, the damsel hatch is fun but there are other hatches going off daily and the fish are still eating.

Water temps in the North end of the lake are definitely in the catch and keep territory(72* at 10 am in 3' of water at Cow) but they are a little lower at the south end.I have one more trip at Davis this week and then I will be calling it quits until the fall.Let's hope the snails are around this fall!

Enough of my ramblings!I hope you all have a great weekend!

Jay

[jbird]

This year I have been using a lot of Denny Rickard's patterns and now understand why he developed them and why they are successful.His flies flat out work.They are simple yet effective and they have been getting grabs when nothing else has been working.

Jay

I believe you can go to any western trout lake with a simple selection of his seal buggers, AP's, stillwaters and callibaetis and catch fish no matter whats happening. I would also have a small selection of chironomids and peasant tails to round out the puzzle.

[Rick J]

I fished last weekend with Don for 3 days and we did not see many damsels though saw quite few tenerals clinging to vegetation. Even though we did not see many damels, on the last morning we were anchored in the wind and throwing damsel patterns and letting the wind carry the line with a slow retreive and did quite well - so although we did not see many active fish, they did appear to be keying on damsels sub-surface. Don't really like dredging like this but what's a guy to do.....

And if you want to see bloods hatching you really need to be on the water when they come off in numbers and that is right at dark!! We found very large hatches coming off when the wind died down.

[1flyfisher]

Let me correct some of the above inaccuracies.
:D Hell where do I start?

I don't know what the hillbillies up in graeagle are smoking these days but it's davis Lake. :D But who really cares?
(53.8 Davis Lake (Plumas Co.) All Year 5 per day
10 in possession
(54) Davis Lake tributaries (Plumas Co.). Saturday preceding Memorial Day through Nov. 15. 5 per day
10 in possession
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/regulations/FreshFish-Mar2011/ccr-t14-ch3-art3.html
ocean....you may want to re-edit...."for accuracy".;)

Bulldog your world is upside down.
If you actually fish davis you would find the fish @ davis last summer averaged 10-14" and they were covered with parasites. The fish have grown slightly and are averaging 16" and many are still covered with parasites. Fish average in the past on davis ran 17-22" chrome beauties that could get into your backing. Damsels hatches have been well below average the last 3 years and the snails are gone. Fishing and fish quality have been below average. 4 years post rotenone we should be back to normal quality fish and fishing for davis by now.
On the other hand Fishing and fish quality @ Pyramid is beautiful,,, Big Red is looking good these days,,,fishing has never been better. Plenty of BIG Reds 10lb+ fish landed. Epic Spring that ran into june. I would have been on davis 3-5 days a week each week in may and june as I usually am but the fishing was so freakin good on pyramid and the fishing on davis was sketchy(was too cold spring for davis but perfect for pyramid and other select lakes) I spent my days where the fishing was HOT.

My close friends and folks that I know, they want a report on the "damsel" hatch. These people are interested in fishing this particular hatch. Not trolling around, not soaking bugs bobber fishing staring at a bobber, etc ...they want sight fishing to risers fish working the damsels. They know they can come bobber fishing or fish sinkers and catch fish on other bugs. They don't want to. They would rather catch one fish sight fishing to risers stalking the skinny than 10 fish staring at bobbers. I tell them it is not happening. I don't see anything wrong with telling my friends or anyone else that wants to fish the damsels whether it is happening or not.

The above report is the SPECIFICS, of what I and several others experienced 7/5-7/7. This was for the area of cow/freeman/fugawee and what you can experience in these areas as far as damsel activity and fish working. I clearly stated that I did not fish other areas. Was thaT NOT CLEAR enough? Also I think I mentioned that it was for those particular days and that things may change for the better (but that in my opinion I did not expect much improve,ment) I think I said I hope I am wrong but I have to state why I believe what will happen and why(that it is getting late and damsels END around the 4th). Each one of the folks I fished with(they're true regulars, have been for decades) have more years and time on davis then the collective lot of you chiming in here. We fished damsel nymphs and callibaetis nymphs surface to subsurface. There were no dry fly opportunities whatsoever so there was no shot at trying an adult or ephemeral, Not one adult or ephemeral was on the water and few and sporadic risers. MNot exactly dry fly opportunities when it is like that. Surface Water was 76 half way deep into freeman in the afternoon in 8 feet of water. 74 off cowllibeatis island in the afternoon. Water was 71 off cow at 8. The lake(in the areas I stated) was for the most devoid of working fish. I know a few of the guys were fishing callibaetis deep as was I. Not much happening there. That's how these guys did, that's how the folks I spoke to did, that's how I did. I guess some of you don't want to hear that or want that reported to the folks out there but thems the facts, that was the conditions. The folks that have been driving for sub par fishing have asked me to put up what I find and they know they can count on me telling it like it is.


Wind LOL.... On davis the afternoons when the wind comes up and the hatches shut off.... Well if you know the lake you would know that the fish shut off 9 out of 10 times this time of year in these current hot water and light hatch conditions. Can you scrape up a few more fish subsurface? yes you might, but most likely you will not. This would be for this time of year/conditions and these small fish and how they have been behaving. When you have the usual davis hogs prowling the shoreline and weed beds in the fall and the wind screams it can be damn good. So let me be perfectly clear before one of you once again twists things or miscomprehend. Also when you have a raging damsel hatch and nymphs are swimming en masse, Sometimes when the wind comes up the fish will continue to working them and will continue to eat into the afternoon till 4 ish. OFTEN when the wind comes up the fish simply stop eating as they are already satiated and have no need to continue to feed. You might scrape up a few under those conditions. Sorry but the wind is not your friend on davis when the water and hatch conditions are like they were 7/5-7/7. You can spend the afternoon sweltering in the sun flailing away or soaking bugs and have little to show for the effort and sun burn, I know because I actually stay out to 4/5 sometimes 8am to sun down when the wind is screaming kicking back just sitting and waiting for a riser behind cowllibaetis island or deep in fugawee after all you have packed it in. Also when the wind starts screaming in the afternoon and blows till dark(which it does most days) it does not allow an evening hatch(AND catching) to go off. Come on out this week and prove me wrong.
....so when I am planning to leave on a particular day @ 1 and the wind starts howling @ 12:30 and the water is 74+ degrees and the fish aren't working and the bugs aren't coming off and I have bands to go see, beer to drink, and hot babes roaming @ farmers market on a thu.....I'm out of there.

I'll be out this week sometime. I have a rod/reel coming in the USPS, I'd like to get it before I fish again. Come show me ALL the Thousands of damsels flying and swimming around cow/freeman. When the wind comes up screaming and shuts it down and it is sweltering I want to watch all you all afternoon sweltering till dark not catching squat. I'll be laying in the shade sucking on a Sierra Nevada pale ale laughing. :D

[1flyfisher]

I did not see any blood midges(saw like one) during the day from fugawee. BUT there are tons in the lake. I saw plenty last year.
I didn't get to fish the evenings as the wind didn't lay down. It is tough to catch davis without wind in the evening but if you can I highly recommend anyone to try jenkins area. High water years it has historically done well for blood midge in the evening and callibaetis during the day deep in the cove between camp 5 and jenkins. A few cars were at jenkins but I never made it down there.

If the wind lays down in the evening I will be on the blood midge hatch.

Also did n not see any caddis 7/5-7/7, forgot to mention that.


I fished last weekend with Don for 3 days and we did not see many damsels though saw quite few tenerals clinging to vegetation. Even though we did not see many damels, on the last morning we were anchored in the wind and throwing damsel patterns and letting the wind carry the line with a slow retreive and did quite well - so although we did not see many active fish, they did appear to be keying on damsels sub-surface. Don't really like dredging like this but what's a guy to do.....

And if you want to see bloods hatching you really need to be on the water when they come off in numbers and that is right at dark!! We found very large hatches coming off when the wind died down.

[1flyfisher]

I wasn't able to get out since the above report but here is the latest and it reflects what I stated above. Damsels are just not happening this year and fishing has been pretty sketchy.
I saw plenty of blood midges last year so that may still happen(and I believe it will), I didn't think the damsels would get going after what I saw on the 5/6/7th. Like I said it is past their time. If you haven't been to the lake in a few years you may be quite disappointed to find the fish size averaging below past average so if you come up don't be expecting to find what you experienced in the past.
I would tell my friends to stay home/fish elsewhere. Wait till fall,,,,they will stock some brood stock.

Lake Davis -July 18th - Wow, I hope you were not one of the very few anglers who fished Davis this weekend based upon my last report. We fished the lake Saturday and Sunday and were quite dissapointed. After last weekend's improved hope because of seeing and casting to fish working on migrating damsels and knowing how well everyone was doing using midge imitations, I had some very high hopes for this last weekend. The lake was dead, we covered water from south of Eagle all the way up to deep in Freeman channel and never saw even an adult damsel and maybe only a handful of midges. We could not even see indications of midge hatches in the evenings because there were no shucks on the water in the usual scum lines where some oportunistic fish sometimes work in the morning. Dead, dead, dead, we saw only 3 or 4 fish work the entire morning both days. Water temps were around 66 to 68 degrees and it was clear and sunny following our cooling down trend we had last week. Things are definately NOT on track with damsels, midges, caddis, and callibaetis at the lake. In fact, this was the first couple of days in serveral weekds that we did not even see a lot of callibaetis spinners. Don't know what to say, the long winter, high water, and cool temps are effecting fishing all over the west from late summer steelhead runs to unexplainable late hatches and high water conditions on all snow and moutain fed rivers and streams. There were a few guys tubing right near the bank on upper Cow Creek, but I did not stop to ask how they were doing. I made slow runs into every north west bay and marked only a fraction of the fish we normal see on the radar. I did not fish the east side of the lake, but my senses tell me it was not any better, if you fished it with some success, let me know so Heidi the fish dog won't be so depressed. Don

http://www.flyfishwithdon.com/fishreport.htm

[Bull_Dog]

I fished last weekend with Don for 3 days and we did not see many damsels though saw quite few tenerals clinging to vegetation. Even though we did not see many damels, on the last morning we were anchored in the wind and throwing damsel patterns and letting the wind carry the line with a slow retreive and did quite well - so although we did not see many active fish, they did appear to be keying on damsels sub-surface. Don't really like dredging like this but what's a guy to do.....

And if you want to see bloods hatching you really need to be on the water when they come off in numbers and that is right at dark!! We found very large hatches coming off when the wind died down.
Rick,

Nice report. THe thing that most anglers do not understand is that everything that was less that 8 feet was dry last year. No food unless there was a migration. the fish are hanging out in cooler deeper water where the bugs from last year were hatched. Doug and i do a great job explaning that in our stillwater clinic. We are helping anglers understand rising and falling water levels. Not getting all butt hurt and accusing anglers of not fishing a certain lake like 1flyfisher. You are on the right track and should do better than most. Fish deep this year and it will pay off. P.S. Frenchman's is going off.

Good Luck and thanks for the support

Rob

[1flyfisher]

...So sad.

There's NO aquatic food in 8 feet and less @ Davis? Holy Cow Creek..... LOL, WRONG AGAIN.

I have fished MANY High water years on Davis where the water levels rise and drop yearly and come up like they have done this year. That is how DAVIS is. It Fills up and they DRAIN it down, that's A regular occurrence and if you actually fish the lake you might understand what is going on. This isn't the first time the lake has been at this level. I have fished it at this level (where cowllibaetis island is an actual island etc) many years. And in a couple months they will start moving water out of it and draining it and making room for next winter and you will have a nice 20-30_ feet of muddy shoreline to get your boots stuck in or to have to drag a kayak or pram through. Water level goes up. Water level goes down. Not particularly a good thing for a lake when water levels do this but that's the way it is,,, davis is for water storage and the powers that be fluctuate the water levels wildly. Davis is a resilient lake it actually handles it all quite well.

An observant angler will easily see and understand how each particular bugs/aquatic food source reacts to rising and falling water levels on davis. Just because the water level has risen doesn't mean food sources have not immediately moved into the new water. Some bugs will and some bugs won't(you just have to know which ones) and there is more than just bugs in the lake as a food source. There are crustaceans and minnows. And it certainly doesn't mean that fish won't prowl the banks and new shoreline.

Let me help you out a bit and explain a little about DAVIS and what is going on.
Callibaetis were popping off in 4-6 feet of water off cowllibaetis island on the 5th&6th of this month in HUGE numbers 15-20 feet from the banks.
There are tons of water boatmen, back swimmers, beetles, crayfish, tadpoles, dragonflies(side note,,,it has been a good year for dragons and they crawl out on the banks and willows in shallow water,,,ie no weed beds) and what few damsels there are left in the lake are crawling to shore in water 8 feet and less and in the willows there are minnows(green,bluegill,redear,baby catfish,baby trout, etc) in water 8 feet and less right now.
Although we currently have the weakest damsel hatch in decades taking place on DAVIS there will still be damsels crawling up the banks in limited numbers. But they are having to crawl long distances to get to shore.
When the water levels rise on DAVIS the callibaetis quickly reestablish themselves into the new water. Bloodmidges also will move into the new water. That is how it plays out whenever we have the water levels come up on Davis.
The ODD thing is that damsels DO NOT reestablish themselves quickly into the new water.
You would think that as they are such good strong swimmers that they would quickly move into the new water.
Well they don't. They are much more dependant on the weed beds and when the weed beds reestablish themselves closer in then the damsels will move into water where ever there are weed beds. Happens all the time with the water levels going up and down on davis.
They (damsels) remain at prior water levels until they kick into gear and start migrating.
Damsels need the WEED BEDS which on DAVIS run out hundreds of yards from shore on normal years.
When those weed beds don't break through the surface the damsels just don't get going strong.
As goes the weed beds so goes the damsels.

There are a lot of factors in play this year. And the last 2 years are having a serious impact on this year.
3 years of COLD LONG winter/Late Spring/ and now this years High Water. The "Perfect Storm" has hit if I could use this metaphor to describe the current status of the lake. Combine all that with a crummy batch of parasite covered fish and it all doesn't make for what one has come to expect from davis.
Combine all that with the batch of small fish we have and you will not get good game off the banks as we normally would have with larger 19/20" fish cruising (Porpoising) the banks.
Last year this small batch of parasite covered fish that were 10-14"(this is the largest population of fish currently in the lake) and are now averaging a tad bigger at around 16",,,,,,these smaller fish simply do not cruise the banks and ~porpoise~ the shoreline like the bigger fish traditionally do on Davis. Different size fish simply behave differently and work the lake differently. Especially so on Davis.
Also Different strains of trout in davis have historically behaved differently,,,,.. Kamloops, Colemans, Eagles, etc have occupied different niches in the lake. Information explaining this is available from CADFG,,,, they explain why they have stocked different strains and how they inhabit the lake in different areas/depths/etc...some fish being more active and available to anglers in the spring and summer where other strains will disappear and not be readily catchable during certain time periods.
There have always been various sizes of fish in davis over the years past. They stock fingerlings to brood stock size fish.
The smaller fish ALWAYS seem to hang in DEEPER water in 10 feet+ or so.
The FACT that we don't have many LARGER hold over fish 17-22"+ surviving and remaining is the reason there aren't as many fish busting the banks like in years past.
It has nothing to do with your incorrect assumption that there is no food close to shore.
There is Plenty of crawfish/waterboatmen/beetles/backswimmers/damsels/minnows/callibaetis etc in 8 feet of water and less. Hell Just go look at the shoreline @ cow in 1-12" of water. Packed with backswimmers/boatmen/beetles.....the damn cove is shallow and it is packed with crawdads.

Despite the fact that the WEATHER was 4-6 weeks behind does not equate to what the bugs/lake/fish will do. The <Weather> was 4-6 weeks behind. It was a cold spring. That doesn't necessarily translate to bug hatches(damsels) simply shifting 4-6 weeks.
We have caught up weather wise,,,,,,It's July, it's hot.....July is just historically a SLOW month for DAVIS.
I have put on the dive gear and I often free dive the lake. The fish feed for a little bit, they might work for just an hour or less at around 9 am and then go hunker down on the bottom and on top of weed beds. You can go see this as I have. You can drag a bug past their nose, they don't care, they go into siesta mode for most of the day.

Bulldog I am going to have to start charging you $$$ for the stillwater education I am giving you. Your Davis FF I.Q> just rose 20+ points with all the above tidbits and gems of info. ;)


...p.s......Pyramid is going to be ROCKIN and ROLLIN in OCT.....I will give you some tips to help you out.

[1flyfisher]

Go to Walmart.
Buy yourself a Little Miss Daisy kiddie dive mask, snorkel and flippers and get your sorry butt up to the lake for a change, stick your head in the water and actually see what is going on.

AND Don't forget the water wings.
I'm sure you'll need them and I wouldn't want you to sink to the bottom and get eaten by the crawdads.
The lakes in bad enough shape and I wouldn't want your decaying rotting body fouling water quality and washing up at lightning tree or mallard.

[Reno Flytyer]

Sheesh 1flyfisher...why all the anger? Someone piss in your Cheerios?
RFT

"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go." <--------hint4u
- Oscar Wilde

[1flyfisher]

There's no anger in my above responses to bulldog.
I find Bulldogs trolling my fishing reports amusing.
Especially when he gets everything a$$ backwArds and wrong. :D
The pyramid trolls were the best.


Sheesh 1flyfisher...why all the anger? Someone piss in your Cheerios?
RFT

"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go." <--------hint4u
- Oscar Wilde

[Reno Flytyer]

Right...this is right out of the "How to win friends and influence enemies" playlist: "I wouldn't want your decaying rotting body fouling water quality and washing up at lightning tree or mallard." Maybe I'm reading that wrong, but I fail to see lack of anger and suspect it might just be otherwise...

How nice.

RFT

[aaron]

1flyfisher, tone it down and play respectful or don't play at all.