East Lake on Tuesday was actually quite good. Yesterday was really poor. There are barely any callibaetis hatches that I have seen, so the normal hatch of the 2nd brood has not started. Let me explain that a little. The callibaetis that hatch early in the season are the 1st brood. Those nymphs are ones that spent the winter under the ice cover, and when they begin hatching in the spring they are the most robust of the 2 broods, due to the extra time spent as a nymph it has more time to grow. Biologically, it might need to be bigger to survive all of that. But the spring hatch of callibaetis lay eggs that incubate to mature nymphs pretty quickly. The 2nd brood are callibaetis from the hatch earlier this year. They are smaller and often way more abundant. My guess on the latter is because of the easier life they would have as a nymph in summer conditions and not having to endure time under months of ice cover.
Usually August is one of my favorite months to fish East Lake, partly because of the 2nd brood of mayflies, and also excellent chironomid action and terrestrial fishing.
This week Phil from the shop fished on Monday morning, and reported to me a strong caddis hatch near the East Lake campground. I went there Tuesday morning and it was indeed awesome. These caddis trend toward a charcoal color, especially the wing. They are commonly called Longhorn Caddis and are recognized by their long antennae. They are common hatchers on most of our lakes in the summer, and from time to time they become a very good food source. My good freind Jesse uses a caddis pupa on lakes much more often than most of us would remember to even try it. He’s smart. But this week the fish were up eating the emerging adults and fishing was good using small dry flies in a #16 to imitate the emergers. X Caddis and CDC Emergers were successful for us. Phil from the shop also did well stripping callibaetis nymphs on his hover line over the weed beds.
I did not have success on the damsels despite seeing fish actively taking the adults hovering the surface.
Beetles were our best dry fly the rest of the time, BUT the areas the beetles are most productive are shallow areas near rocky shorelines. In the heat of summer those areas of the lake are the 1st places to warm past the threshold of responsible and safe fishing. Shallow water warms fast, and add the heat from the rocks baking in a relentless August sun and our favorite bank water quickly becomes unfishable.
68* is likely lethal, so when it hits 67* I am looking for deeper waters to nymph. At 30 feet in East Lake this week it was 62*. When the wind blew across the lake most of the lake ran 66* or under.
Last year in August the deep dangle method was on fire, so far this year I can say it is fair but not crazy good like it was last season on these same weeks. The fly that has been the best is a #12 Chartreuse Ice Cream Cone with a Red Butt and a Silver Rib. I am tying it on the Talon Chironomid Hook that is silver. It is a pattern Phil Rowley showed me last year when he fished with me on East Lake in June. A few fish have reached the net with the Blob in their lip, but the Ice Cream Cone has been best.
Let’s all keep fishing here but also be cool about watching out for the health of the fish. Alternate methods, fish deep or only stay until lunch time and call it a day when water temps rise above 66 or 67* if you can’t fish effectively in 30 to 35 feet of water.