yingina - Great Lake

Summer Prospeting Craig

Rist

My good friend Jim Schofield absolutely loves to fish Great Lake from his boat with his favourite fly rod and a size 10 foam fly. I think it’s the simplicity of this combination that is so appealing to Jim. I have to admit as much as I like the challenge of the Western Lakes; I do enjoy an easy day on Great Lake fishing foam flies from dawn to dusk during the summer months. With so many different kinds of terrestrials being blown onto the water throughout the day these Great Lake fish have become very opportunistic surface feeders during summer. So even when they are sipping down tiny midge they have no problem eating a large terrestrial that has ended up on the water amongst all those midges. It makes perfect sense really, it’s just a bigger protein hit for far less effort.

Early morning midge feeders

On this trip, Jim and I decided to drive up to the lake after work to camp overnight in our swags on the lakeshore. We often do this and it’s a great way to get a few more hours of sleep before we hit the water at dawn for what is often a 16-hour day on the water.

The next morning Jim and I launched the boat in the dark at Swan Bay just as the first sign of light started to light up the horizon. The wind was blowing from the Southeast so Swan Bay was flat calm at the boat ramp. We shone our headlamps onto the water to see if there was any midge on the water, but there was nothing. This was not a good sign so we slowly motored out across the bay looking for potential wind lanes that may have formed and accumulated midge or other insects overnight. As we reached Haddens Bay a wind lane had formed off the point. We stopped and switched off the motor to see if we could see any fish feeding. There was some midge in the air but nothing on the water at this stage and there was no sign of fish feeding at the surface.

By now there was enough light to safely navigate the lake at speed, so we restarted the outboard and got Jim’s boat up on the plane to go over to Beehives Point. This point is always a reliable place to find wind lanes and foam lines that have food and fish in them. We stopped the boat again and used the electric motor to slowly make our way along a wind lane that had formed off the point. A fish suddenly showed itself, as it broke the surface on the outside of the wind lane 20 metres downwind from us. It didn’t rise or tail again so I made a cast in the hope of covering this fish, but nothing. We followed the wind lane for at least 100 metres hoping to find another fish but there was just no food in this lane to hold fish. This isn’t uncommon when there is no food in a wind lane or foam line, so we fired up the big motor again to head towards MacLanachans Island and then up the Eastern shore towards Muddy Bay, which is often good areas to find fish feeding on midge. It soon became very clear that there were no significant midge hatches overnight and we needed to change tack. We decided to go into Elizabeth Bay, where there are weed beads along the Western shoreline and submerged trees and rocks along the northern end of the bay that always holds fish. As we entered the bay we could see a large mass of white foam along the northern shore that had been pushed in from the southeasterly wind overnight. This was definitely worth a closer look. We motored over and stopped well away from the foam line. Using the electric motor we moved closer to check the foam for any signs of fish. A slow head and tail rise suddenly appeared five metres off the bow of the boat. As Jim had already insisted I fish first, I made the cast, landing my size 10 black and orange foam caddis upwind one and a half metres ahead of the rise. The fish quickly sensed the fly entering the water and gently took it from the surface. I lifted my rod to set the hook and my rod bent over under its weight.

There is no better feeling than the moment when my rod loads up on the weight of a fish because it’s the final confirmation that I have done everything right. A typical two and a half pound brown trout was quickly brought to the net. It was Jim’s turn next so put my rod away and took control of the electric motor to put Jim on the next fish.

I had seen another fish rising amongst the foam, while I was landing my fish, so I took Jim towards that general area. As we approached the fish rose again and again in quick succession, Jim made the cast, but the fish didn’t show again. Another fish was steadily rising further downwind, so I repositioned the boat so Jim could cast to that fish from upwind. This time Jim’s cast was rewarded with a snout leaving the water to eat his brown and red “Bruisers Bug”. This fish was hooked close to a submerged tree so I quickly used the electric motor to move the boat away from the tree and out into open water. Another brown around two and a half pounds was quickly scooped up in the net. We changed roles again and I landed one more fish from this foam and despite searching the area for another hour we didn’t see another fish.

Boat - Sight fishing

By now the sun was high enough in the sky to see into the water, so we decided to motor back to the start of Elizabeth Bay so we could drift up the Western shore with the sun at our backs. This drift gave us a perfect view back into the shoreline. We used the drogue to slow and control our drift and the electric motor to reposition the boat when we drifted too close to the shore. This time we could both fish at the same time with Jim on the bow looking towards the shoreline and me at the stern fishing the deeper water and in control of the electric motor. We spooked two fish in close before Jim finally had a legitimate shot. Unfortunately, as the fish rose to his fly it sensed the boat or us and spooked off.

Towards the end of our drift, I spotted a fish hugging the bottom as it slowly swam out into deeper water. I quickly covered the fish with my foam caddis. My fly hit the water with a loud splat which had the desired effect as the fish immediately sensed the fly, rising from the bottom to take my fly.

After a quick coffee and a bite to eat we decided to go over to Canal Bay on the other side of the Lake. Canal Bay is always worth a look, it has many food rich weed beds that hold a lot of fish in relatively shallow water when the lake is not too high. It’s important to remember that this bay is restricted to Lure and fly-fishing only and opens for fishing on the Saturday nearest to the 1st of December to the Sunday nearest to the 31st of March in the next year.

It’s also good to keep in mind that like all rivers that run into Great Lake we are not permitted to fish closer than 50 meters from where the river or canal enters the Lake.

Something big and Something small.

When we arrived at Canal Bay we had the whole bay to ourselves. We did a quick run up the middle of the bay to check out the foam lines for insects or feeding fish but things were still fairly dead out wide so we decided to try a drift along the southern shoreline. We covered a lot of water before we finally found a fish when we hit the shallower Western end of the bay.

This was no real surprise as this shallower area of this bay has many weed beds that create the perfect habitat for aquatic insects and the trout that feed on them. I covered this fish with my fly and watched it rise to my fly, then refuse it at the last moment. Refusals are not good, not good at all, so I decided to increase my odds by using two flies.

I had already noticed some green midge on the water and one or two mayfly duns sailing down the bay. I knew the next fish I presented the foam fly would most likely take it, so I left my black and orange caddis on at the point of my leader and tied on a size 16 green emerging midge on a short 15 cm dropper, 70cm up from my caddis. This little midge pattern has a green seals fur body, a white Hi-Vis wing and a brown hackle clipped underneath to make it ride low in the water. I always wet the body of the midge first and then apply a dry fly floatant to the top of the white Hi-Vis wing and the hackle to ensure it sits low in the water.

When I fish two dry flies, I like to have the fly with the most weight at the point because the momentum of the heavier fly helps me roll out the leader when I need to make a cast into the wind.

We were drifting across the bay in a northwesterly direction with the morning sun shining over our right shoulders. There was also some scattered cloud cover overhead limiting our vision when the sun disappeared behind a cloud and creating that annoying cloud reflection on the water. This meant our view into the water was limited to a small window on the west side of the boat. I was on the west side, so I had the best chance of seeing fish. Jim on the other hand was limited to blind searching on the eastern side of the boat.

When Jim and I fish like this, we split the water evenly between us. Any fish that comes up on Jim’s side, I leave for Jim to cover and he does the same for me. Even though I had the best vision, I still had an area on my right-hand side that I couldn’t see. I always like to make a short cast into this blind spot to cover those fish I can’t see while I’m looking into the water I can see. This short cast also allows me to recast and cover a fish quickly with one or two false casts.

As we settled into the drift, I routinely glanced over to check my flies in my blind spot to see the rings of a rise where my flies were. I immediately lifted my rod to set the hooks, breaking my fly off in the process. No doubt, with my overpowered attempt to set the hook quickly before the fish rejected my fly. In truth, I had all the time in the world. Not knowing which fly was taken I checked my leader and found the midge fly was missing so I tied on another and kept fishing.

Now and then we could see a fish rise to mayfly, I managed to cover one of these rises and again the midge was taken over the foam caddis. The downside of fishing a dropper like this is the occasional tangled mess, which can also contribute to some break-offs. This is why Jim fishes a single Bruisers Bug and is happy to accept a refusal now and then. As I said, he likes to keep it simple and he still catches fish. For me, however, the increased catch rate is definitely worth a few tangles and broken lines. We made several successful drifts across the Bay, each time covering new water and between us, we managed to catch five more fish, some on foam flies and some on my size 16 midge.

Covering Water

After catching or spooking the remaining fish in this bay we decided to give this area a rest and head back out into the main lake to see if we could find fish in some foam lines. Having a boat like Jim’s that is large enough to safely cover a lot of water on a big lake such as this is a real advantage to find fish.

The wind can create some fairly dangerous waves at times on this lake so you need a boat that can comfortably handle these waves. Jim has a 50 horsepower outboard on his 4.5-metre boat, which has plenty of power to get us out of trouble and cover a lot of water to find fish.

We headed south back towards the Beehives finding a foam line hard in against this very recognisable landmark. It was Jim’s turn to catch a fish so I used the electric motor to see if we could find a fish.

We spooked one fish towards the point then I spotted another swimming just under the foam. Jim made the cast and his Bug was eagerly taken with confidence. Jim made no mistake setting the hook, landing another nice fish after a strong relentless fight. It was now 3 pm and there was very little action out in the main Lake. There was just not enough food on the water so we decided to go back into Canal Bay for the afternoon session.

Blind Prospecting

Back in Canal Bay, we drifted the shallows of the Western shore once again. The wind was still blowing from the southeast so this made sight fishing ahead of the drifting boat very difficult as we were forced to look towards the afternoon sun. We had no choice but to fish blind to cover fish that we knew would still be in this area. Fortunately using foam flies that make their presence known when they hit the water is perfect for blind searching with a dry fly. These flies can pull fish from several metres in all directions. Our technique was simple, make a 15-metre cast, leave the fly sitting there for 20 seconds, give it a short twitch, leave it for few more seconds and making another cast two metres to the right or left and repeat until all the water in front of us has been covered. I was still using the black and orange caddis with the midge dropper. Unsurprisingly,

Jim was using the same fly he had on this morning or possibly last season, I wouldn’t put it past him. It didn’t take long before Jim and I saw that familiar brown shape suddenly appeared under our flies and chomp down on our foam, dear hair and rubber leg creations. Once again we made several passes across the bay catching many fish on our foam bugs and a few more on the little emerging green midge.

It was now 5:30 in the afternoon and the week of shift work had finally caught up with Jim as he laid fast asleep on the floor of his boat. I caught another fish while he was sleeping and then I stopped to boil some water for a coffee and something to eat to keep us going for the afternoon session.

The wind direction had changed and was now blowing in from the east. This wind change had formed a large wide foam line out in the middle of Canal Bay. This was sure to have fish in it so after our coffee and a bite to eat we started up the big motor and headed back out towards the main lake to drift back down this foam line with the wind behind us.

Once again we put the electric motor back into the water and slowly made our way closer to the foam line, which was at least three metres wide in some places. There was midge in the air and on the water so there had to be fish out here. Then we saw what we were looking for, that dimple in the middle of the foam as a trout takes something floating in the foam. Then we could see many more fish feeding towards us on the outside of the foam. I made a cast into the foam with my two flies and waited. My line suddenly pulled from my hand as a fish took the midge without me seeing the take. Unsurprisingly the hook instantly pulled free and the fish spooked off. Another fish was nearly upon us so I quickly recast delivering my flies in the feeding path of this fish. The fish took my foam fly and this time I had time to allow this fish to turn down before setting the hook. As this fish felt the resistance of my line, it jumped clear of the water. This was no brown trout as the silver flank and the pink stripe was visible.

Jim and I had an absolute cracker of a session on this foam line that was packed with midge and fish. The daily fish score quickly pushed up over 20 fish by the time the fading light forced us to stop fishing and make the long run back to Swan Bay. We had fished from dawn to dusk, but the day had felt like it had vanished in a blink of an eye, as they do when we are fishing.