Rollins Lake 5-2

[gene goss]

Decided to take a look at Rollins and see how the catching was, water temp 63 degrees, visibility 10+ ft......WOW....perfect conditions. Started fishing at 7 am on the south end of the lake, caught about 15 little males in a couple of hours, and by 10 am the bright sun put a end to the catching. I used a intermediate line, 15 foot leader+tippet, with a translucent streamer, for the very clear water.
While i was float tubing along the edge of the steep shore i spotted this deer swimming across the lake toward me which was a very long swim (1/2+ mile), it looked like it was starting to run out of energy, but it final made it to shore and just stood there with its head down thinking, DAM that was a long way to swim but she worth it.
About and hour later here come's another deer swimming across the lake, i was fishing a very steep part of the shore line and didn't see where this deer could get out, but to my surprise it found a rock to stand on next to this sheer cliff and then it was gone....these deer are tough.

[Ryan]

Nice report Gene! Very cool seeing the deer swimming across the river. I am curious, have you tried the float & fly at Rollins? It's doing really good here on Oroville lately, at least in the earlier mornings and shadier banks. I thought it only worked well in the winter but apparently I was wrong. I can tell it should work good at Rollins by looking at the banks in your picture. That's prime indicator territory!

[gene goss]

Ryan......when the water visibility was only 2-3 ft. i used the float & fly to slowly move the fly through prime water.....but when the visibility got 10+ ft. it didn't seem to work that well unless we had some wave actions......I'm learning as i go with this spotted bass fishing but it seem the clearer the water got the fast i had to move the fly, also they seem to like a small sparely tied fly.
Trying to cast a float & fly to shore line targets isn't easy....i been trying some different things.....i took a 2 weight floating fly line and reverse it onto the fly reel, ( floating running line) i now have a very thin floating line, and a water filled float to add some weight. With this set up i can lob a balance fly 50+ ft. to shore line targets. I was using this at Pyramid and got some strange looks. LOL

[Ryan]

For myself, on Oroville, the float & fly fishes the same in clear water. But Oroville and Rollins are two different fisheries for sure. Indicators from a tube would be tougher too for sure. But I think I'm gonna retire the indicators for the season, topwater seems to be starting up strong now. Gonna start doing as your doing with the streamers. Great job sticking 15 stripping though! That's a great day, especially from the tube. And if that 2wt running line works for you then that's great! Haha. Gotta do what you gotta do.