Throat Samples Over the Course of 6 hours on the Water

It is quite interesting to see what trout dine on over the course of a day. It is early fall and trout will be starting to put the feedbag on as the water temperatures start to drop. Today was very telling. We were on the water at 10 am and got off of the water about 4 pm. The day started off slow.  I was casting and retrieving flashbacks and Karen was using a shrimp imitation under an indicator. I was hooking up regularly and Karen's indicator was just bobbing on the surface. Throat samples suggested that the rainbows were eating daphnia and shrimp. One trout was dining on immature damsels, that was interesting. Karen switched to fishing blobs and I started to use a Tokaryk Special. We both caught fish about evenly. About 2 pm, the rainbows were chasing boatmen (smaller) and backswimmers (larger). Karen put on flashbacks below her indicator and I continued to cast and retrieve with flashbacks, size 12.  By far, casting and retrieving got the most attention of the trout! I tie my flashbacks with rainbow and red beads. Thanks Larry for that idea. They certainly get the attention of the trout! It was a beautiful day on the water. Do continue to take throat samples during the day and do not assume what they are eating, you might just be surprised.

Shrimp and damsels!

This trout switched from Daphnia to Boatmen and Backswimmers

 

Cow Lake, ...I Finally Got to Fly Fish There

Dr. Bill Young and I spent yesterday exploring Cow Lake. The rumours that there are some decent trout there spurred us on! It took us about 60 minutes to reach the boat launch. The launch is in excellent condition and there is plenty of parking. We launched his 14 foot Marlon and Dr. Bill fired up his 15 hp Honda. We were off. The lake is shallow, real shallow. There is very little structure so we decided to fish the edges. We used Tokaryk Specials that were small (size 12 and 14). What struck me right away is the low visibility in the lake at the moment. I suspect wind had churned it up. I finally got a take. It was an 18 inch rainbow. Shortly after, Dr. Bill hooked a rainbow. I then hooked up with the rainbow pictured above. I was pleasantly surprised to see a 5 or 6 pound rainbow. We continued to work shoreline. We were broke off by pike several times. We did hook a few more rainbows but we kept losing them. By the way, we set our indicators only about 2 feet down. The edges are about 5-8 feet deep.

I did get a telling throat sample from one rainbow that had backswimmers and shrimp in its throat!

Cow Lake is definitely worth exploring with a fly rod. I would recommend staying mostly in the northern part of the lake.

 

Backswimmer and Water Boatmen

 It is that time of the year where we encounter boatmen and backswimmers. This special presentation by Phil Rowley and Brian Chan is a comprehensive discussion of these great little critters that the trout definitely key into this time of the year! Get a coffee and take a look!