I fished Chopaka on the 5th and arrived at the lake a bit after 9am. Winds were intermittent, but very mild and there were damsels hovering iinches over the lake as I was putting in my pontoon, which gave me hope that I might find some trout feeding at the surface. Anticipating that the best opportunity for surface feeding fish would be on the south end, I began to make the long row from the boat launch. About halfway down on the western bank, there were fish concentrated in the cove along the reedlines and out to about 60ft- most were "torpedoing" out of the water after the hovering adult damsels, though every once in a while you would find a fish "sipping" something just at or beneath the surface. At this point in the day, the damsels were beginning to show, but very few were actually in the water. A few small chiros were hatching and there was evidence of a huge chiro hatch that must have happened early in the morning or late in the night. Caenis mayflies (small cream colored bugs that look like tricos) were also present as the dead spinners were floating in the film in pretty decent numbers. It was one of those times that you had to ignore what your eyes and brain were telling you- fish rising consistently around you and a consistent food supply available at surface to trigger a bite suggest that some type of surface presentation (dry fly, emerger, cripple, etc.) would be the most effective tactic. There were a few guys nearby that appeared to adopt this approach, but did not appear to be having much success. At this point in the day, the majority of the surface feeders were targeting the adult damsels hovering inches above the surface, and with few adults actually in the water, they were not going to taking an adult damsel imitation (unless you could get it to "hover" inches above the surface). As the hatch progressed, this would change, but at this point, fish rising around me meant it was time to fish at depth.

The seemingly obvious choice would be to work a damsel nymph or small leech off a slow sinking line parallel to the reedline where fish were actively crusing or along the out edge of the deepest water where fish were less active at the surface, and presumably more interested in feeding at depth. After about 15 minutes without a bump, I decided to conitinue fishing the same area and depth, but switched to a small bloodworm under an indicator. I anchored up in about 4-5' of water and within a few casts had my first fish. It was not a fish every cast, but given the circumstances, a slow but steady bite was good given the attention the damsels were getting. After about two hours of fishing this way (and 10-12 hookups/fish later), this bite died off completely. Iit was about 12:30-1pm and the damsel hatch had intensified with even more fish "torpedoing" out of the water than before, but the good news is that there were also more adults (or mating adults and tenerals) actually floating in the water. You had to pay attention and look for them, but there were fish that were looking exclusively for these bugs and not the damsels hovering inches above the surface. The rise form was a subtle dimple that barely disturbed the water as these trout "sipped" or "gulped" damsels at the surface/in the film with very little surface disruption. These fish were by far in the minority, but they could be caught, as opposed to those fish looking for the damsels above the surface, which a fly fisher cannot imitate. It was difficult to ignore all the activity going on around me, but I began to focus only on these sippers using both a mating damsel and adult damsel imtitation. It took some patience and an accurate presentation to get bit, but in the first hour of fishing this way I picked up 3-4 fish. Around 2:30-3pm, more and more fish began "sipping", which gave me more opportunities for a hookup and the action picked up considerably over the next 2-3 hours of dry fly fishing. Upon leaving the water around 6pm, there were still active fish at the surface, which made it difficult to leave. All in all, a great day on the water with very few other guys around.

Augwen

7/10/2012 6:14:00 AM

Well done report!!! I would have given it a 5!!!

raffensg64

7/12/2012 12:08:00 AM

Just like old times, huh, Dave? Imagine that......you fishing blood worm patterns under and indicator in just a few feet of water!!! That could have been an Amber report from just a few years ago. Great report, wish I could have been there with you.

dbk

7/12/2012 11:57:00 AM

Gary, that was the only thing missing from that day- having you there. Someday... I am not leaving anytime soon and still plan to make it up your way for some steelhead at some point. My dad and I are going to head for Chopaka tonight and camp out for a few days. All indications from past trips of late is that there is a strong chironomid emergence in the early am along with the ceanis, which the fish were keyed in on (based on throat samples). You have to be on the water by 5 or 6 at the latest to hit it, but it offers another possible window of consistent feeding activity until the damsel begins late morning, early afternoon, although with the extremely hot weather we have been having, it may not come off as I am hoping. Truth be told, I am ready for some moving water... Hope to hit the Spokane when I am back in town next week. I'll shoot you an email report if I am able to fish it.

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