cproto
07-23-2011, 11:57 AM
Flea Flicker made an excellent post about the 5 Dot Stillwater Clinic put on by Doug Ouellette and Rob Anderson. If you have not read it look for it under general fly fishing and do your self a favor and read it.
From my point of view the
The Five Dot Stillwater clinic last Saturday and Sunday with Doug and Rob was one of the best fishing / learning experiences for me because it affirmed many things I already knew and use but helped me think about them in a new way. It also added new things and got me to think outside the box. The clinic got me to reflect on the way I handle fish, tie knots, set up my leaders, what I do to set my self up to fish the the wind, to subtle changes in my retrieve that move me beyond hand twist retrieve. Doug and Rob use practical stillwater tactics that add up to make a difference. I put some of these strategies to the test on the last day Sunday and managed to catch a large number of quality fish, I had the retrieve dialed and I could feel the fish lick the fly.
Manzanita
So the clinic ended on Sunday. My wife and I had plans to spend the week at Manzanita Lake. I try to spend at least a few days up at Manzanita each year because no matter how the catching goes the fishing is great. When I got there people from a bay area club were fishing the lake and they told me the fishing was really slow. There were also guys that fish the lake all the time from Redding they confirmed the slow report. I fished Monday night and it was slow. I tried some of my new tactics and I was searching for a pattern. I managed 1 nice fish by the end of the evening. I got him because he showed himself, I guessed right on his path and he took the fly. I got lucky. The hatches were minimal mostly black caddis. People were right it was slow. Then things changed for me because I remembered a couple of things Doug had mentioned. I noticed just 3 adult blue damsels. I thought ok I will try a dark olive bead head damsel that I tie. I fished it in 15 feet of water with heavy weed growth no luck. I tried 10 feet of water I put to work a new retrieve Doug had shown me. I caught a fish. I paid attention to the wind and made the adjustments I caught another fish, the confidence factor was increasing. I got into the zone and everything I was shooting was going in, the hoop got big. I ended the evening with 9 fish 5 larger ones. Other anglers just a couple of fish for the evening. So I had to get up early the next morning to see if this pattern continued. The first thing I saw was one of the early morning bay area club fishing warriors on the water. He asked me how I did. I told what how I did and what I thought. He fished the fly and got into a 16 incher. I fished from 6:30 am to 8:30am and got into 9 fish 4 of them bigger fish. Other angles just a couple of fish if any. Now I wanted to see what would happen to the evening bite I managed just 2 small fish, the bite had changed.
Now I had another puzzle to solve. So the lesson to me was just because the bite is slow pay attention to details and they can add up and create an advantage. I would recommend Doug's and Rob's clinic to anyone who is interested in raising their their stillwater game. Oh by the way Doug has one spool of just fluro carbon leader no fly line he fishes it by casting it 30 feet with a couple of midges.I encouraged Doug On Saturday afternoon to fish next to me with his spool of flurocarbon leader and no fly line.If I got ten fish he landed 30. He can also show you how to build and cast 18 to 30 foot leaders with a fly line and fish effectively with no indicators.
Finally
I want to thank Kevin Doran who helped me trick out my Tacoma so I can load and unload my 125lb metal head pram
From my point of view the
The Five Dot Stillwater clinic last Saturday and Sunday with Doug and Rob was one of the best fishing / learning experiences for me because it affirmed many things I already knew and use but helped me think about them in a new way. It also added new things and got me to think outside the box. The clinic got me to reflect on the way I handle fish, tie knots, set up my leaders, what I do to set my self up to fish the the wind, to subtle changes in my retrieve that move me beyond hand twist retrieve. Doug and Rob use practical stillwater tactics that add up to make a difference. I put some of these strategies to the test on the last day Sunday and managed to catch a large number of quality fish, I had the retrieve dialed and I could feel the fish lick the fly.
Manzanita
So the clinic ended on Sunday. My wife and I had plans to spend the week at Manzanita Lake. I try to spend at least a few days up at Manzanita each year because no matter how the catching goes the fishing is great. When I got there people from a bay area club were fishing the lake and they told me the fishing was really slow. There were also guys that fish the lake all the time from Redding they confirmed the slow report. I fished Monday night and it was slow. I tried some of my new tactics and I was searching for a pattern. I managed 1 nice fish by the end of the evening. I got him because he showed himself, I guessed right on his path and he took the fly. I got lucky. The hatches were minimal mostly black caddis. People were right it was slow. Then things changed for me because I remembered a couple of things Doug had mentioned. I noticed just 3 adult blue damsels. I thought ok I will try a dark olive bead head damsel that I tie. I fished it in 15 feet of water with heavy weed growth no luck. I tried 10 feet of water I put to work a new retrieve Doug had shown me. I caught a fish. I paid attention to the wind and made the adjustments I caught another fish, the confidence factor was increasing. I got into the zone and everything I was shooting was going in, the hoop got big. I ended the evening with 9 fish 5 larger ones. Other anglers just a couple of fish for the evening. So I had to get up early the next morning to see if this pattern continued. The first thing I saw was one of the early morning bay area club fishing warriors on the water. He asked me how I did. I told what how I did and what I thought. He fished the fly and got into a 16 incher. I fished from 6:30 am to 8:30am and got into 9 fish 4 of them bigger fish. Other angles just a couple of fish if any. Now I wanted to see what would happen to the evening bite I managed just 2 small fish, the bite had changed.
Now I had another puzzle to solve. So the lesson to me was just because the bite is slow pay attention to details and they can add up and create an advantage. I would recommend Doug's and Rob's clinic to anyone who is interested in raising their their stillwater game. Oh by the way Doug has one spool of just fluro carbon leader no fly line he fishes it by casting it 30 feet with a couple of midges.I encouraged Doug On Saturday afternoon to fish next to me with his spool of flurocarbon leader and no fly line.If I got ten fish he landed 30. He can also show you how to build and cast 18 to 30 foot leaders with a fly line and fish effectively with no indicators.
Finally
I want to thank Kevin Doran who helped me trick out my Tacoma so I can load and unload my 125lb metal head pram