March fishing

March 3 - 10am to 6:30pm - Big Tree / Little Tree Lakes
41 degrees air temp., 41 degrees water temp.
Cold, wet, windy, nasty day. Steady rain.
This time of year is prime chironomid time. The pupae seem to head for the surface when the air temp. reaches 50 degrees. There were sporadic splashy rises, indicative of fish chasing emergers. Unless there is a good hatch going on I prefer to drag or cast streamers (white, brown, or black Bunny Brush Baitfish) and Wooly Buggers (white, black, brown, or olive with a little flash). Tried a new Woolly Bugger color, black with red flash along the sides. Let's just say I need to tie up some more. Caught innumerable fish on Woolly Buggers, all about 17 inches. On successive casts from the fishing platform just south of the pontoon boat launch, I caught a couple of hold over fish estimated to be about 6 and 8 pounds respectively on a white Bunny Brush Rainbow Trout streamer.

March 13 - 10am to 3:30pm - Big Tree / Little Tree Lakes
56 degrees air temp.
Cold, wet, windy. Rain showers, wind, and rough water separated by periods of Sun, no wind, and glassy water.
When the weather was nasty there were sporadic rises and a rising black chiro pupa or #18 Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear worked well. When everything calmed down, the glassy surface of the lake was well covered by a #16 cinnamon colored mayfly. The topwater action was really fun. Later in the day a hatch of chiros joined the cinnamon mayflies. These new participants in the hatch were #20 extremely light blue dun, practically light gray, adult chironomids. The fish had seemed to switch from the mayflies to the chiros. A #20 Griffith's Gnat seemed to be the go to fly.

March 15 - 10am to 4pm - Big Tree / Little Tree Lakes
50 degrees air temp.
Fishing was very tough unless you had exactly the right fly and fishing technique. Nothing else worked except black chiro pupae rising off the bottom. I had one black chiro. I was fishing it below a bead head prince nymph. As the flies headed for the surface a fish apparently came up from under the flies. When I landed the fish I was amazed. Deep in its throat, farther down than I could reach with my forceps without damaging the fish, I saw the prince nymph. Somewhere below that had to be the chiromonmid pupa. Retrieve the last black chiro I had and kill the fish, or cut it loose. Well folks, if you need a black chiro pupa, just catch the right fish. He might be near the south shore of the northern most island.
A fellow club member and fisherman that lives 5 minutes from the lake....wouldn't that be just terrible?.....had the perfect setup and technique for fishing the chiro hatch. Sink tip line and #10 bead head Hare's Ear with a #12 black chironomid trailer. I think the Hare's Ear is there for the weight, getting the chiro pupa down fast. He casts out thirty feet or so and lets the flies get to the bottom. Then he slowly backs his pontoon boat. This causes the flies to rise off the bottom and head for the surface just as the real chironomids are.