In spite of historically low water levels, the fishing was very good all season long.  Finding the fish wasn't difficult as they are all pretty much concentrated in the south basin.  Size was not bad at all.  Early in the season we had a lot of solid 2 to 2 1/2 pound trout and by fall we were looking at plenty of 3 plus pound trout and a few over 4 lbs later in the season.  No complaints.

We never really had a slow day on the pond. It didn't really matter where you fished but we did have to locate the larger fish & follow them on their lake journey.   It had been a fast trolling year.  The faster you trolled the more fish you caught.  During the heat of the summer we did have to drop lines down to 25-35ft deep for a while, but it was mostly a matter of where the minnows were laying.  The tui chub can handle a lot lower dissolved oxygen than the trout care to live in and are often found at 40-47ft and deeper.  The minnows can protect themselves by dropping below the 02 level preferred by the trout, but that doesn't always save them from the trout.  The trout will run down, grab a bite and come back up to their preferred level  but mostly they try to fracture the massive school of minnows.  When they do, every body eats.  Large groups of pelicans follow the suspended bait fish.  The pelicans cant dive deep, perhaps 4 to 6 feet on a stretch.  In order for the pelicans to get to the minnows that close to the surface is by the trout pushing the minnows up from below.  I simply followed the pelicans in late summer and fall....they weren't easy to keep up with but we did catch a lot of fish by doing that....mostly at 8 to 15ft level over water 35 to 50+ft deep.

Our food supply has been doing well.  This is the second season out of the last 5 years that the tui chub minnows did well.  In the past we have had large schools of chubs move up to the north basins to spawn and prolifically at that.  Due to the longevity of the adult spawners who regularly spawned up north, many had never spawned in the south basin before.  From my observation, it took them only one year to learn from the south basins resident spawners.  In that single year, the bait fish were few and far between.  2015 was a stellar tui chub spawn.  It started a few weeks early & the trout took advantage of the early hatch as well as pounding the minnows all season long. 

Bloody leech pattern trolling flies were my best all around this year.  Generally it's a basic brown for me, but this year it HAD to have a hint of red.  Matter of fact, anything with a hint of red worked well this last season.  Once the minnows hit the food court I did well on tui chub trolling flies, but always run more than one pattern at a time....the bloody leech never failed me.  I started tying with more red chrystal flash, red UV inhancements and rubber.  My favorite brown is just a step above black....but I did darken up a little more this year to what I would consider a light to medium black.  The trick with the new UV fly tying dubbins materials is not to use them in their entirety.  I found that simply mixing a little UV into my other dubbin was the ticket.

As of the first of 2016 we have received a little more moisture than we did last year at the same time.  Perhaps gaining a couple inches in the lake.  But the storms are only dropping the snow about an inch or two at a time.  Now we have to look for the rain to come.....so far El Nino hasn't done a thing for us.  But it isn't over yet.  Spring rains will help the lake immediately and no one can take the local water.  However, if we don't get a couple feet, we won't be launching long next season and USFS has no plans of making any repairs or any new launching facility.

I am sure you have all heard about the summer criteria that could close fisheries in the state for the health of the fish in lakes and reserviors.  I wouldn't be alarmed about this lake actually meeting any of the criteria at the same time to force any closure of fishing.  The winds keep us oxygenated and our cool nights and springs keep our water temps from reaching 70F where our fish reside on any given day.  Our dissolved oxygen?  I have never seen it drop below 50% until reaching a depth of 40ft and lower in the heart of the summer.  My concerns for 2016 have everything to do with launching at this point.  I will be dialing everyone in this spring.  I always let you know what is going on when it comes to the creeks flowing....and in some cases what is coming down & what isn't.  LoL!  Text me on my cell phone if you have any questions.  That method works great & I have had many a great conversation with a great deal of folks!  Texting works better than calling but if you do call, leave a message so I can get back to you.  I won't pick up on one bar as I will lose the call immediately.

Good Luck, Tight Lines & I will see you next season.  In the mean time, I update the weather page regularly as I can.  I will start a new photo album soon.