Lake Report: Reconciliation

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Let's face it, I sorely neglected the lake in September. I made only one trip, way back on September 4. Whatever happened to September, anyway?

So it behooved me to get back there and make amends. I pumped up the float tube and threw the pump in the van just in case the slow leak had sped up any since I last used it. It held up well.

The river is up, the lake is down, way down.

The most obvious effect is that castable shoreline is reduced. I still started with a Stimulator and worked the steeper banks and the edges of the weed beds. Not much shaking; maybe I missed the height of hopper time.

I did finally get this fish to take. Or maybe the lake finally forgave me and gave it up. Good to be back in business at the lake.
The afternoon wind settled and the fish started rising. I didn't see anything all evening except tiny light midges. No mays, no caddis, no nothing.
So I tied on an ant. It was the same one I clipped off when I tied on the Stimulator, the same one that was on my rod when I came home from the Henry's Fork. It still had some mojo left.

I caught a few small fish, and then this nice Rainbow fell for it. He was a runner, and ripped line off my reel three times before I netted him.
The rises increased as evening deepened, but the interest in the ant faded as the fish locked onto the midges. I decided to take some photos of the rises as I let the ant float. So I lay down the rod and took a couple of shots, but the rises were way out and disappeared quickly.

Then there was a nice one pretty close. Just as I snapped the shutter I realized it was on my fly. It was a small fish, but he started to take my rod with him.

I caught six fish all told, not counting the one that took a black leech I was trolling back to the van. I let him get into the weeds, and he finally absconded, with the leech.
It was a good evening at the lake. I think everything's OK between us again.