Lake Report: Holding Pattern

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We're in the home stretch now; the season closes on Sunday.

I rolled over the ridge on a different road this afternoon, one that provides this overlook of the valley I call home.

The hunters are gone, and the campgrounds were deserted, except for one full of grazing cattle. I hoped I'd see a big buck strolling through a campground.
Things were blessedly quiet. As I neared the south end of my lake I was hoping the fishermen camped there were also gone. They were. One even left a nice stack of firewood. I helped myself, this being wood scrounging season.
So I and the trout and three Great Blue Herons had the lake to ourselves.
I was eager to try out Little Bomber 2. I got the colors right this time, but maybe left the head a little big. Didn't seem to matter; I wasn't able to get any surface strikes today, on any fly, even though the fish were up and feeding enthusiastically.

So I tied the soft hackle on as a dropper fly. That worked, as long as I was moving it. 

And as long as I had it somewhere near a fish. The rises were sporadic, and fish seemed to be moving around a lot.

But the two I caught were nice.

I still wanted one on top, so spent some time trying the CDC caddis, a black mayfly pattern, and a tiny BWO pattern. I thought each one was a pretty fair imitation of the midges--some fairly big--on the water. But the fish didn't think so, and the rises slowed down and then quit completely before dark.

I wasn't ready to head for home, so I trolled a black micro leech until after dark and caught two more.

So one more trip in the books. So far the cold weather is holding off, the truck is holding together, the float tube is holding up, and I'm holding fish. I hope that holding pattern holds for just a few more days.