DAVIS Lake 7/1-7-3
The GOOD the BAD and the UGLY.
I fished 3 days. 8am till 5pm or so. I quit today the 3rd at 2 as it was brutal.
The GOOD. The lake has filled up nicely. Water is high and clear for the most part. The weeds haven't even come close to breaking through the surface yet. Not even close. It has been cool and windy at the lake. I almost had to put on a jacket every afternoon when the wind comes up. If the lake isn't drained too much and we get some warm temps the weed beds will fill in fast. The water is perfect temps right now for fish to be working the shorelines and feeding. The lake looks good and is setting up nicely for next year.
The BAD. With the high water and cold spring and summer temps once again the bugs are 2 months behind easily. What should now be the end of the damsel hatch is just the beginning and it will be a poor hatch that ends in the next week or two. Damsels just won't hatch much more this late in the year en masse as they do in june. There will be bugs hatching but overall this is a sub par damsel hatch. Hopefully we get some warm temps and windless days to get more bugs to hatch. They are migrating and have a long way to go to get to shore. There are no caddis coming off as you would normally see every morning with fish sporadically rising 8 am to 9-10 am prior to the damsel hatch. There are some small midges but not many and none of the large midges. I did not see one blood midge in three days around cow/fugawee.
THE FISH. More BAD. There are not many fish around at all. I got into some fish on THU but most were the dink sardine sized 14" trout. I got a few that were around 16" and they were covered with parasites. FRI I was against the bank and saw 2 fish working the shoreline. Just 2 fish. No POds of 3-4-6+ as is normal with multiple pods. I had a fish swirl a few times and made a cast and watched the fish swim over to my bug in 2 feet of water and I was hooked up. Sweet,,, as good as it gets. This was 2 pm for my first fish. He grabbed my bug and it was sweet watching a fish charge my bug in a few feet of water. It turned out to be a nice 19" parasite covered fish but strong and it swam off strong. At 2:30 another fish worked in front of me off the bank and I hooked up again on a damsel nymph casting to the swirl with another nice fish a bit bigger 20" or so. It appeared to be another hold over fish working the shoreline but it was scarred up with sores and parasites.
Sat am I had my best fish of the year a fish that ran and ran in the skinny water and I thought would get into my backing at 10am. I had 4X so I put the pressure on. Nice run and a decent 19" fish. I saw one fish working ONLY ONE and I tried and tried but couldn't get a hook up. He would just come up for one rise every 15 minutes at best and I just had to sit and wait. There were bugs crawling up on my kayak. Just 3-4 but there were bugs. JUST NOT MANY FISH! I don't know where they are. I question the fish population in the lake. There just weren't ANY fish working what was good water and callibaetis and scattered swimmer damsels. Perfect conditions but no fish.
THE UGLY. Well lack of fish is the problem. There was a trickle of damsels just the right amount for an early MAY scenario but now it is July 1st. Perfect amount to get fish interested and them being aggressively grabbing bugs. Problem is there just isn't many fish around. Fish should be popping up all through the coves from cow to fugawee but they aren't. CADFG needs to put some decent fish in this lake for the fall and future. The fish are few and far between and what is in this so called TROPHY TROUT lake is 14" and parasite and sore covered. Time for a new plant of decent quality eagle lake trout and some fish that can take this lake back to its quality fishery. Right now there is just 14" parasite covered hatchery schwag with an occasional decent fish. Plant it with some HEALTHY fish and lets gets this fishery back to its former glory and where it could be. The WATER is perfect for a jump start and it just needs a healthy dose of good quality fish.
MORE UGLY To the individual (you know who you are, I know who YOU are, I'll leave it at that) in the boat who passed me while I was on the point and south side of fugawee first point. PLEASE do not ever come blasting past me 100 feet from shore full throttle screaming around the point charging into the back cove of fugawee. Your wake blasted waves all over the point while I was stalking a fish (one of the few) and put down that one fish and tossed me around. Many folks like to work the shoreline either walking/wading and screaming past the shoreline 100 feet blasting into the back coves is a really shit way to run your boat. You are responsible for your WAKE if you didn't know it. That is the LAW. Read some boating regulations besides it being simply poor boating and fishing etiquette. IF Your WAKE capsizes another boater you are responsible. Next time I will file a complaint. End of story.
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Originally Posted by Littletruckee
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