Lake Davis Oct. 5-9

[gene goss]

That storm that came in last week put the fish on a grab for a couple of days, these storm's stir the water up and brings the fish into the shallow water looking for food right after the storm.
The first couple of days of the trip there was a lot of sight fishing in Freeman Bay, ripping my big streamers on a floating line and 15 ft. leader and tippet at trout on the surface looking for some thing to eat, not much of a bug hatching going on.

The next couple of days the trout moved out to the deeper water weed beds (8-12) ft., i used a intermediate line, 15 ft. of leader and tipped and my big streamer to get down to the trout.....the only fly i used for the whole trip was the streamer for 4 to 5 trout a day except for the last day i only got one before i left. For me the best time of the day to fish was from 1-3 pm the warm's time of the day i would find trout cruising around the points in the bays, almost any point will compress the trout closer to shore, so you would stand back from the water edge and wait for a trout to cruse by (look for nerves water). There are lots of points to pick from but hiring a guide (Jon Baiocchi) that does a lot of walking the shore line will know the right place and time to be at for the grab.....i did so much walking on this trip that i wore a hole in my new waders......bummer.....but i learned a lot of new thing by doing all that walking.

Water temp 59 degrees

This is a point, it doesn't take much of a point to compress the trout closer.


Toad caught from this point.

Deep water weed bed are a good place for a tug.

Fire in the sky, and a warm camp fire.

[Troutstalker55B]

Thanks for the props Gene, it was great to run into you. Big wind today, my guest hooked one nice toad and that was it. Sheep Creek special with a sink tip in the Grizzly channel. Back out there in morning. Great report as always! - J.

[Mark Kranhold]

Thanks for the report Gene & Jonny B! Heading up next week and hope to see you out there and better yet get some of those big Davis toads that are BACK!!!

[James W]

I was there at the same time. It getting pretty cold at night, low 30's so I camped at the GSR in Reno.
I did great between 8 and 12, then again after 3. No wind in the afternoon made fishing nice and the days very long.
Fished nothing but small streamers too, but differently.
Netted a lot, lost a lot. Where you find one, there will be more.
New personal best, just over 24".
No telling how much longer it'll be this good.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Are those fish pretty strong?

[gene goss]

Are those fish pretty strong?

Bill......hooking a toad in skinny water can be very exciting, the only place they can go is up or heading for deep water, and then you have the weed beds to fight them through...... 3X tippet is a must.

[James W]

Are those fish pretty strong?

I had a couple of the biggest take me down to just a couple feet from the backing.
4wt with 4X tippet. I think a 3X would have been a good idea. Never broke any off though.

[gene goss]

I had a couple of the biggest take me down to just a couple feet from the backing.
4wt with 4X tippet. I think a 3X would have been a good idea. Never broke any off though.

One of the fishout clinics that i taught at Lake Davis was on how to flight and land a trout as quickly as possible, the less stress you put on the trout the quicker you can revive it for a safe release. I know that it takes more skill to land a big trout on a 4wt and 4x tippet and if you haven't broke any fish off then you must have the skill. I think if you used 3x tippet on that 4wt you will blow up that rod.

[James W]

One of the fishout clinics that i taught at Lake Davis was on how to flight and land a trout as quickly as possible, the less stress you put on the trout the quicker you can revive it for a safe release. I know that it takes more skill to land a big trout on a 4wt and 4x tippet and if you haven't broke any fish off then you must have the skill. I think if you used 3x tippet on that 4wt you will blow up that rod.

I learned my fish fighting skills on the deck of the Royal Star longe-range fishing boat out of San Diego. Fighting 200+ lb tuna standup style from an anchored boat, well, you learn a few things. I've fished with guys from Thailand to South Africa, good times. Fighting fish would be a good panel topic at a fly club meeting. I'm 100% with you, get him in quickly and released asap.

[cyama]

We were out there last week and the fishing was pretty good!! The hot setup was an intermediate camo with a burnt orange krystal bugger. Pretty small buggers like size 10 tied on a tiemco 200. Holographic flashabou in the tail seemed to help a lot. As for tippet you should be using 3x fluoro plus or Seaguar Invisx 6lb test. Seaguar invisx 6lb is .008 in diameter and much less expensive. My buddy was snapping off fish on 4x.

The fish on this lake are mostly from Eagle lake and I can tell you they do rip line. It is very exciting when a 22" fish rips out and porpoises some 80 feet away from you. The important thing is they use a lot of energy during the fight and should be revived and released as soon as possible. Stick with 3X or stronger fluoro.

Fish are also hitting tan soft hackles during the callibaetis hatch which is from 10-2 on cloudy days. A size 14 cripple callibaetis in grey is also a good choice on the surface.