White Lake Shoals

I finally got an opportunity to take Sheena out to work with her on her fly casting and we couldn't have asked for a better day. The sun was out and the fish were up feeding on the shoals in about 10' of water. We set out and cruised the shoals looking for the areas where the fish were working and actively feeding on chironomids. Once we found fish feeding, we quickly anchored up and began figuring out what size and colour of chironomid they were feeding on. We could see a real variety of fish up on the shoals and tempting them to take our flies seamed easy. We spent the afternoon enjoying the great weather, sun and a mild breeze, which helped us boat 10 fish and miss a few others. The Anti-Static chironomid worked best for us landing about 4 fish around 16"-17" in size but not the larger fish that we could see swimming past and under our boat. I switched to a green micro leech with a silver bead head and started hitting those larger fish right away. The best fish that we released came off the micro leech and measured 21.5" and would have weighed 4.5-5lbs. We also had some may flies hatching and took a few fish around 19" on may fly nymphs. Sheena landed a couple of nice fish and one came on her new Sage "Grace" rod. This is a special edition rod that Sage has released to support cancer awareness and comes in an 8'6" pink 5wt with a nice light pink case to protect it while its not hooking fish.

This is one of the best months to fish White Lake in my opinion. The fish are active and feeding shallow which really ads a lot of excitement when you can see them dart in and take your fly. The fish are swimming just off the bottom along the weed beds and rise up in the water column to feed on the emerging chironomids and may flies. Work your dry line and set an indicator to limit the dept of your fly. I like to use a small size 18 swivel at the end of my 12' tapered leader with a minimum of 3' of fluorocarbon tippet attached. The swivel helps to sink my chironomid quicker and this also saves my tapered leaders from being cut up every time I change flies. The second trick that I like to use is a Homer Rhodes knot for my chironomid. This loop knot will allow my chironomid to hang suspended in the water as though it were naturally emerging.

Come down to the shop and we will gladly show you what flies we are using in the local lakes and the knots and techniques that we employ to hook the big ones. If you see us out on the water, please feel free to say hi and ask us what we are using and how we are using it. We are more than happy to share and we have no secrets here, I have even been know to give away the odd fly out on the lake so that someone can enjoy the same success that I am having.

Showing off the fish of the day, a 21.5" beauty.Another post spawn fish from White Lake.

Sheena with a nice 16" fish.

Enjoy Your Outdoors!