Davis Lake and Frechmans Lake report from Don Rotsma

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Bill

Davis is very slow right now. Fished 5 days last week, fish are scattered and very uncooperative. Talked to Jon Baiichi and he has same experience.

Need some cooling weather and rain. Water temps in low 60s.

Frenchmans is only a little better.

Don't know about Almanor????

Don

[betty]

I was there same five days. Saw Jon out with his clients. Really tough for everyone, except my fishing partner. He hit double digits every day by moving around a lot, using a variety of streamers (mostly olive green, though), indicator fishing, and no-cator long leaders with nymphs. I only managed two a day, best day 5, but what fish! Nothing under 17 inches, healthy and good fighters. Most fish in 12-16 feet of water, some shallower. Water 58-61 in am. When it turns on, it will be something
Betty

PS. All campgrounds now closed except Lightning Tree, and it has no water or trash.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Thanks Betty.......


High today in Portola is 81 degrees.

Looks like it is cooling off on Wednesday.

[JAWallace]

Thank you Betty, and Bill for posting the report. Talked to Doug Ouelette today, and his take was "spotty at best" for both lakes. We're still planning on this weekend, will report.

[Bull_Dog]

Had a long talk with Jon Baiocchi Yesterday and we both agree that the fish are really starting to get into the fall mood. Jon had a great day using wiggle tails the a couple of days ago. His anglers hooked 8 fish in 2 hours.

I have had similar results as well. Frenchman's has been really good with good anglers catching 10-20 fish per day some days. There has also been some dry fly fishing in the mornings from shore. This low water is making Frenchman's fish a lot like Davis.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Sounds like this are picking up as the weather cools off.

[JAWallace]

Just back from two days at Davis. Perfect conditions Friday, with overcast and light chop, Saturday full sun, winds to 10 mph. Friday: Three of us fished for almost six hours with exactly two bumps. We used floaters, intermediates, dredging lines. Stripped, trolled, slow retrieves, fast retrieves, no retrieve, and fished depths down to 15'. Nothing worked. About an hour before dark we actually hooked one! Lost on a series of acrobatics. Half an hour later I landed a nice 19" fish. A few moments later, hooked another who thought tail walking through the weeds would same him, and it did. All fish were top quality, great fighters, and hooked with either a chiron or wet fly, 1'-3' below the surface in 2'-4' of water. Da in da weeds.

Saturday we fished for only about 2.5 hours, not a bump, and we were home bound early. Talked to five bankies, all using PB. Four fish hooked, but from 7am - 8am, and after that, nothing as of 1:30 PM.

Worse than this report is of those we talked to, we did better than most on Friday. We did not talk to one fly fisherman who had brought a fish to hand, and one fly guide with frustrated clients actually started throwing Mepps, and did land one.

Hope it gets better, and good luck out there! ~John

[James W]

Not too dissimilar to my trip. Wednesday afternoon weather was rotten, tried, gave up, went shopping for long underwear. COLD!

Thursday never could get it put together, three solid hookups on small streamers on intermediate line, all lost before the net to hook pulls. I think I've gone overboard downsizing hooks on my streamers . . . doh! What an idiot, good sized fish need good sized hooks.

Friday, more of the same, more people too. Two more lost before the net, called it a day and went to Sierraville for a nice lunch.

Saw very, very few hookups, even fewer being landed.

[TPO]

I fished Davis Friday afternoon, all day Saturday, and a few hours this morning. It was slow, and others we talked to had a similar experience. Conditions seemed really good, water in the 51-55 degree range, and good weather, but the fish didn't cooperate. Fished the Camp 5/ Jenkins area mostly in tubes. Two fish landed on Friday, one other hooked/lost, and the same tally on Saturday; this morning, one hookup, not landed. All fish caught took blood midge patterns in size 12 fished on floating/ intermediate lines. Had some hookups on burnt orange wiggle tails/ wooly buggers. Things seemed to improve after about 3 PM, with most of the action between about 4-6 PM. Great to be out there but I guess its still a little early. Would love to go back in a few weeks, not sure I'll be able to make it. Bummer.

Tom

[TPO]

I fished Davis Friday afternoon, all day Saturday, and a few hours this morning. It was slow, and others we talked to had a similar experience. Conditions seemed really good, water in the 51-55 degree range, and good weather, but the fish didn't cooperate. Fished the Camp 5/ Jenkins area mostly in tubes. Two fish landed on Friday, one other hooked/lost, and the same tally on Saturday; this morning, one hookup, not landed. All fish caught took blood midge patterns in size 12 fished on floating/ intermediate lines. Had some hookups on burnt orange wiggle tails/ wooly buggers. Things seemed to improve after about 3 PM, with most of the action between about 4-6 PM. Great to be out there but I guess its still a little early. Would love to go back in a few weeks, not sure I'll be able to make it. Bummer.

Tom

I should add that the quality of the few fish caught was excellent. One fish was smallish (by Davis standards, about 15", presumably a more recent planter?) but a hard fighter. The others all went 20'+, an estimate since the ruler in my tube only goes to 18". All very fat, hard fighting, a few jumpers in there, and all looking very healthy. Takes a little of the sting out of the small numbers.

[Scott V]

Caught about to 16 or so fish between Saturday and Sunday. Lost probably about 7 or 8 on top of that which LDR'd. Smallest was 17" and the biggest was 23". I will not tell where I was fishing so don't ask, but I will say that I was using a floating line with a size 8 frog snot fly that I tie. Basically an olive type of wiggle tail. All fish caught stripping!!

Fishing is incredible if you know where to fish.