Headed back to West Medical today in an attempt to target some larger rainbows. Anchored my pontoon boat in 23 feet of water and fished chironomids, AP emergers, hare's ears and other nymph patterns near the bottom with a type IV sink line. Initially got four small fish on the AP emerger pattern. There were about 7 other fly fishermen around me, all were catching some fish. I then switched to chironomid patterns but struggled. After 30 minutes or so, I noticed the midges coming off were very small, about size 20, and went to an old standby, a size 18 black zebra midge. Hit an 18" fish on the first cast and got snapped at the boat on the next cast, this fish was nearly 20". As I reached for my box to replace it, I saw the bug I was waiting for, a mayfly, followed by another. Immediately tied on a size 10 hare's ear (an old classic!) and went deep and slow, getting two 18", two 17", a 20" and 22" trout to net in the next hour, with a couple other nice ones lost. All takes were strong and decisive. During this time, from roughly 11:00 to 12:00, all were catching fish and one gentlemen got one that looked every bit of 24". No more big ones after that but finished up with about 15 fish. Not bad at all......and today's trip confirmed there are still plenty of larger fish in West Medical despite the tremendous pressure it receives.

---