SPRING BROWN TROUT FLY TROLLING

Gold Lake CA

May 27th 2022, on Gold Lake, 6400’ elevation in Plumas National Forest, northern Sierra. Water temperature 52 to 53 degrees. Some sun but mostly cloudy skies, wind varied from a breeze to white caps with up to 2’ rollers. Ideal conditions for trolling browns along the shoreline. Depending on the weather these water conditions can last as little as 1 week up to 3 weeks. The worse the weather the longer they will last.

Due to the wind out of the south starting at 7:30 am we headed to the upwind end of the lake to avoid the worst of the chop and waves.

The plan was to fish Jay’s flies for browns along the edges of the lake. The first fish came to a Tui Chub. I then took an “All Round Best” (yellow) and added a trailing nymph about a foot behind with a 6# leader. Our three largest browns hit the trailing nymph, rather than the larger minnow imitation. The trailing nymph rig is an option for many different trolling rigs. If the fish are eating insects, especially ants, this is worth a try.

I also fished an “Original Jay Fair Special” on a fly rod (below). The line consisted of braid backing, 12’ of LC-13 leaded line and 30 feet of leader. The fish in the below photos was the smallest brown of the day, 16 inches.

The stomach contents of the 19-inch brown included 2 good sized minnows and a wasp. Adding a trailing nymph made a difference on the day. It is a technique that can make a difference for trout in high country lakes. We fished the top of the water column all day. I drove the boat trying to follow the contour line where I could see the bottom on one side of the boat and that dark green on the other side. The food is in the shallows and the trout will be in the shallows or close by in the depths. In the spring with cloudy skies, a wind-broken surface and water temps between 45 and the high 50’s you will find feeding trout on the edges of the lake. The crew included Colin Peirce and Dan Walters.