Today I, like many others (I'm sure), seized on the warming weather as an opportunity to turn around my fishing fortunes. I packed up my gear and hit the local neighborhood lake around 11am, but wasn't quite prepared for the disappointment of the day.

I started off by hitting the Western shore of the lake, figuring it would have soaked up more sun and warmed up to the liking of the fish. I started casting a copper john and damsel nymph on my 3wt into some reeds that looked like they might be hiding something - but no takers. I moved along, changing up to a brown wooly bugger and fishing near some structure that was popular with the turtles. That yielded nothing, so I paddled over to the far shore and changed tack again. The water was murky, a green soup, so I tied on a clouser and started flinging it anywhere that looked promising - overhanging branches, half-submerged logs, exposed pipes. All for nothing. In the end, I got fed up and went to the middle of the lake to start practicing my distance cast on my 8wt with a saltwater lure. Screw the fish.

I don't understand what I was doing wrong, but then again I'm not used to this kind of water. I couldn't see anything sub-surface, and I don't know if my interpretation of the water features is correct. Fly choice was often random, and I usually fall back on buggers and nymphs with a bit of flash to them. There was zero activity on the water to indicate any kind of feeding or movement, but I did see some minnows in the shallows when I returned to shore.

I'd feel like I wasted a day on the water, but I did learn more about my yak, and I did get more comfortable with my paddling stroke and gear configuration. At the very least, it was some more experience. Still, it would be nice to know what I could have done to get a fish on the end of the line!

Hey Mac.........it happens to us all at times!..........as my friend says thats why they call it fishing and not catching....lol
Mike

chances are you're not fishing deep enough or slow enough; cold warmwater fish are kinda lethargic; gotta fish deep and slow. fishing a floating line, when the fly is stripped back, it rises; so you must wait and allow the fly to return to the bottom before stripping again or it runs only inches below the surface-p-

Mike, you're right - it was still a pleasant fishing experience, just lacking in the catching, and I'm okay with that for now!

Pearow, you make a good point - if I was doing anything wrong, it was that I didn't fish the bottom. I have real patience issues with slow-stripping and sinking flies deep enough, so that more than likely skunked me right there. If cold water was an issue that persisted any longer than a few weeks around here, I'd get a spare spool set up with sinking line, but I just don't think it's worth the investment for me - as long as I can learn to deep-fish using floating line, that is!

Thanks for the feedback guys, I hope we all see the fishing improve this week!

I fished a small tank absolutely filled with small LMB a few weeks ago. It's the kind of place that you can catch them on a bare hook they are usually so hungry. I only caught a few that day. The water was cold and they were being very picky. The only thing that worked was a heavy-sinking wet fly that I basically bounced off of the bottom. Gotta go deep.

try the teeny T-series; its a long sink tip; the t-130 is my favorite because you can fish it on a 4,5 or 6 weight fly rod; once you get the hang of it it will change your fishing-p-
http://www.jimteeny.com/indexMain.html?content=catalog&page=jtCatalog/catalog/catIntro.html

You can also make your own sink tips.........rio and airflow sell great kits. I use them a lot
Mike

once i learned to fish a sinking line thats all i use now. They are fantastic year round

Great advice all round, I definitely need to sink but a new line/spool is out of my budget right now thanks to medical bills. I need to get 6-10ft down for the lake I'm fishing - I'm thinking of upping the test rating of my flouro leader/tippet and adding a split shot above the head of my tungsten-bead flies. I'm sure it will make casting a challenge, but does it sound like a reasonable make-do solution?

Fishing anywhere near 6 ft with a floating line is very difficult to do effectively. You would need a very long leader to do it, something in the 12 to 15 foot range, lots of wieght, and you'd have to fish very slowly. Personally, I think about 3 is about as deep as a float line is fun to fish with. Trying to fish deeper than that with a floating line and it just stops being fun and turns into work.

Watch places like Cabela's bargain cave and you can sometimes find sinking lines on sale. Another option is to watch for a sink tip only that you can attach to the loop on the end of your regular fly line when needed. They can sometimes be found for less than $15. Not usually fun to cast, but can a usable "poor boy solution" to get you fishing deep on a budget.

Hang in there, in a just a couple more weeks the fish will be shallow and you'll be wanting that floating line.

Good points, Rex - patience is the cheapest option here, but not my strongest virtue!

adding a split shot with a fly that has weight is a noggin knocker and is not that effective because the fly will hang on any obstruction you hit. The sink tip will be closer to the bottom than the fly thus fewer hang ups. As someone suggested, a sink tip added to the end of your floating line is the most economical solution. You can make them yourself for pennies. Here is a source of second lines which are pretty good; the full sink lines can be cut into sink tips-p-
http://www.fortackle.com/index.html

Don't let air temperatures fool you. It's still very, very cold water.

I fish private water that is stocked with bass also. They are being extremely picky as of now.
yesterday was the first day they started biting again.
Stripped a wooly bugger or clouser minnow. real nice and slow.
letting it sink back down for 3 seconds in between strips
bass where inhaling them on the fall

as I was fishing I could hear bass near the bank making huge splashes. In 8-12 inches of water
When do Bass start spawning? They sure were shallow yesterday. which is interesting because everyone is saying fish deep...
what a head scratcher

All that racket was probably the Juveniles taking advantage of the warmer shallow water to have a quick lunch. They are pushing minnows and small perch up to the bank and attacking them. They are fun, and stupid, if you can sneak up on them. Nothing to brag about, usually, but they can get the skunk off.

Kirk