I got up to Alice lake around 1015 (Holy smokes, have they been doing a lot of work on that highway!!) Somehow I missed the fact that you can't just drive up to the lake....oh well, I hauled the inflatable, and the gear over to the lake. Inflated the boat, put all the gear in, and was launched by 10:40. I headed over to a shady spot over in the SE corner, and put on a red doc spratley on a type VI full sink line. Cast, retrieve, cast, retrieve..etc - nothing. Changed to some thing that had a bead head, and was kind of green/grey and looked a bit like a small dragonfly nymph. I tossed it many times with no success, and then I was getting into the retrieve with my eyes closed, and half asleep when one of my tugs on the retrieve was met with a return tug. Wake up! too late. Cast again and again, and then when I'm just getting laxidaisical again; Wham! Actually more like "tug a bit"... Fish on. I stipped in the little guy, and let the 6" cutthroat off to swim and be caught by someone else. More casting and dozing, and casting and dozing, when I feel a tug. I tug back...nothing. I wait, and then one stip in... "tug, tug, tug". Hook Set! Fish on. Up comes a 4"
fish, and he has totally swallowed my fly. It's buried. I open the little guy's mouth, and you can barely see the bead on the top. Damn! Cut line, and release fish (probably almost 2x as heavy now with the fly in him
) I wonder if he'll live, or should I have whacked him and retrieved my fly. He swims away well. After that, I couldn't interest anything in anything. Big leach patterns, small leach patterns, A couple of attempts with a dry fiy after seeing something larger than average sip up a fly off the surface, but no luck there either.
By the time I left the lake, it had become a hive of activity. Kids everywhere, all the beaches were packed, and people were swimming all around the shore. Alice Lake was certainly being well used by the campers! There were a few worm and bobber fishermen dotted around the shore, but they didn't seem to be having much luck.
It was a good day, and sunny, with a light breeze, so casting wasn't impossible, and it was a bit cooler. A few fish got their lips stretched. The only downer was that the plastic oar lock on the inflatable boat cracked off, as I was going to try trolling a fly around the lake at the start. I ended up doing some rather funky paddling to keep the boat going straight. Oh well. Perhaps this will convince Mrs. D to get a new (better) boat now
Now...where did I put that aloe vera gel?
Author
Topic: Alice Lake - July 30 (Read 2237 times)