Over the past while, I have provided readers with information designed to help catch more fish through a better understanding of the different fish species, their food and environmental preferences. In my next few columns, I would like to share some fishing reports with the readers. My intent is to show how I approach fishing for different species at different times of the year under varied conditions. Usually, after every time on the water, I share my experiences with a few folks for current information on any given lake.
In my reports, I record the water temperature; this helps determine where the fish may be located. If you recall, the fish will normally be in the shallows in the spring and fall, and in the deeper water during the summer months as the water temperature heats up and drives them to depths they find more comfortable. I also include the wind direction, as this is quite often indicative of how the fish may be responding to offerings. Of course, I name the lake and areas where I fished.
The following is an example of one of my reports.
Simon Lake, April 18, 2025:
My long-time friend and previous coworker Elia Ganderski came up from Clearwater on Thursday night to spend a day with me on Simon Lake on Friday. After picking up lunch in town, we headed to the lake to find a light breeze from the east already rippling the lake at 10:30.
I had asked Elia to bring up his three-horsepower Torqeedo electric motor so I could try it on my boat. Since I had complete faith that the motor would be good, I left my battery at home, even though I had my electric motor in the truck (it is always there during the open water season).
After getting the boat in the water and the Torqueedo was firmly attached, we pushed out past the reeds. I twisted the handle on the motor, expecting it to push forward with head-jerking speed. Nothing…
Elia came past me to have a look and discovered he had forgotten the button that acts as a key and anti-theft device, so we were dead in the water, so to speak. Oh well, I thought at least the oars don’t require a battery. At this point, I regretted not having put my lithium battery in the truck just in case.
So we rowed into the wind or should I say I even though Elia offered to row, (a bit of a peece offering I thought) and to explain my thinking, the wind was predicted to reach over 15 km/hr later in the day, so I didn’t want to row back into it to return to the launch. I rowed easterly to a spot along the reeds where we could drift our vampire leeches along them.
It wasn’t long before I was into a nice fish of about 1 ½ lbs. It was soon followed by a nice 2 ½ lb’er, then another. Elia still hadn’t had a touch on his vampire leech. After landing my third fish, I was curious to see why Elia was without a take and asked to see his fly. Strangely enough, the only difference was the size of the bead, his was a 3/8 bead while mine was a 7/64. I guess by this time I had forgiven him his senior moment re the Torqueedo and gave him one of my flies. It wasn’t long before he too was into a nice rainbow of about 2 lbs.
The stronger wind never materialized, and as we worked east along the reeds, hooking the occasional fish. The bright sunlight and the warming day drove the fish into deeper water. The surface water too had warmed slightly from 49 to 50 F. The easterly breeze remained fairly steady, shifting on occasion a few degrees, allowing Elias’s fly to drift into a bit shallower water than the 11 feet we were anchored in. As a result, he was hooking a lot more fish than I.
I seriously considered, at one point, taking my fly back, but then realized he was a guest and let the thought go (with some difficulty and constraint). We had learned early in the day that to continually be into the fish, we had to move a bit to stay on the fresh ones. That process started early on along the reeds and continued as we moved out to deeper water.
Around 4:30 p.m. we (I) decided to call it a day and headed in. I had kept a tally of the fish landed and counted 19 (Elia insisted it was 20, so being junior to me, and possessing a younger mind, I didn’t argue). Of course, he caught more because I anchored in such a position for him to be on the fish (or at least that was my best excuse).
It was a fine day with the temperature reaching 19 C and the heavier winds staying at bay despite the approaching rain clouds. The largest fish was around 4 lbs at 52 cm in length. I did break a large one off earlier in the day as I tried to keep it out of the weeds. We probably lost another six or more fish before bringing them to the boat. I am still debating whether to invite Elia back to test his Torqeedo electric motor. I guess I have time to mull that one over.
We did notice a few chronies around as we were loading our gear and the boat, but according to Ken Weins, who motored over to us for a visit later that morning, the fish only had a few small damsels in their throats. Chronie time is approaching!
