Fly Fishing a Lake? What am I doing wrong?

[chad steele]

Hello Everyone,
I am new to the site and fairly new to fly fishing. I live in wichita falls Texas, if you dont know where that is just look on a map and find where FLAT meets DRY. Not exactly the ideal fly fishing location. I have been trying to fish this small state owned pond. It is stocked with rainbows every two weeks. The water is around 50 – 55 degrees this week and I didnt get a single nibble. I dont have any experience on a lake and very little anywhere else. Basically I just need any pointers that anyone has. Any advise will be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time and I look forward to having many discussions with yall.

Chad Steele

[Rob Snowhite]

are you fishing from shore or a boat?
as these fish are stockies they are trying to figure out what is edible and what is not in their new home.

this could work in your favor as they might be more likely to put your fly in their mouth to see if it is food or not. lake fish are different than stream fish in that they are on the move looking for food-rather than food coming down to them.

get some smalll, flashy,

[keith b]

Are you fishing from the bank or are you in a float tube/boat?
The only time I have ever fished a stocked lake for trout the guide told me the following things; trout in a lake move in pods so trolling the bait is a good way to find them.

[chad steele]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I on the bank, but I have tried wading out a little. I cant wade to far out because of the mud bottom. It is like quick sand. Thanks for the book title, I am definetly looking into that. Thanks again, everything sounds really helpful. I will try it next week and report back my results. I am off to Lake Fork to catch the pre-spawn. Wish me luck!

Chad

[dusty montgomery]

Chad,
First off, put down the beer. I know you are not talented enough to cast and drink at the same time. Second, leave Plum lake alone (I assume that is where you are going, off of Missle Road?) Leave that nasty water hole to the Power Baiters. I know it is local and fast, but take the time and go to the Brazos River below Possum Kingdom Dam, off of HWY 16. Trout will still be there for a few months, until the water warms too much or the Stripers eat them all.

We will get together and I will show you all the locales worth hitting.
Glad to see you on the site and starting to Fly Fish!

Dusty

[lee church]

I’d say the first thing you NEED to do is get out of WF Tx….lost 6 wks of my life there I’ll never EVER get back!

If they’re stockers….tie up some yellow/orange “egg/pellet” patterns.

[Randy Kadish]

Dave Hughes has a good book on lake fishing.

I find lake fishing harder than river fishing. Lakes are harder to read.
There aren’t as many seams or as much structure.

Randy

[John Bennett]

If you want to keep it simple initially to just enjoy casting and hooking up some, and not get bogged down with techno mumbo jumbo.

I’m going to echo Lees advice, get some black wooley buggers and have fun. Carry some small Adams incase you start seeing some surface activty and that will give a fly to try some surface action. My first couple years Id hit stocked lakes/ponds to practise casting and didnt bother with much else.

Once in a blue moon I might have switched the black Wooley for an Olive 🙂

[Shannon Drawe]

You better take Dusty up on that offer! He will do you right. They stock ponds right here in Denton, and those hapless fish just go to the middle and bottom of the ponds, and are impossible to reach by practical fly fishing. And they’re really not worth the effort – say you catch some, they are so polluted from the water, you don’t want to eat them, and if you throw them back, their brains will fry from the rising temperatures in a couple of weeks anyway.

[dusty montgomery]

What Chad and I have not shared about the particular piece of water he si fishing is that it is a glorified drainage ditch, maybe an acre and a half. The TPWD drops a couple K worth of stocker trout in there every year. Anyone fishing this place would be better suited fishing for cats.

Now, this is all assuming he is fishing Plum Lake, and I do not know why they call it a lake. The only other place I know of in W.F. that they drop trout is a small pond on Southwestern BLVD., which I believe is reserved for children. But knowing Chad, I would not exclude him from those whom poach a kiddy pond ;D

Love ya, Bro!!!

D.

[chad steele]

Well you are correct Dusty, it is plum lake. I know it is a glorified puddle, but atleast I am outside and fishing. The worst day fishing is still better than most days of doing anything else (evening activities excluded). Like i said I am new to the fly world and mainly use it to practice my casting. Occasionally however, I would like to have a reason to reel it in. So tomorrow i am going to take Rob and Lee’s and everybody else’s hints.

Lee.. I regret to inform you that Graham Central closed down a few years back. I know you are dissappointed!  :'(

Dusty! Maybe I will try the kiddy pond tomorrow. If any of those punks try to get in my way, I’ll take them down like I did you at Melvin’s.  Plus I think it is based on maturity level and not age, so i’ll be alright. Spring break is march 16-20. Lets head down to the Brazos, I’ll let you teach me how to fly fish. I need to make up for the day I taught you to dove hunt.

Thanks everyone

Chad Steele

[dusty montgomery]

I need to make up for the day I taught you to dove hunt.

If you flyfish as well as you dove hunt you might as well put your new gear on Ebay now. And the only thing I remember learning that day was how to avoid getting peppered by delinquents with firearms.

A Brazos run sounds good to me, or any other number of places we could go around here. Give me a call.

D.

[regan c. kenyon jr.]

For dry fly action for stockers, tie a micro egg in dogfood brown.

[robert lee]

Chad – make sure you are using a sinking or intermediate line.

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