Fishing Moutain Lakes Early Season

Most anglers want nothing to do with float tubes and mountain lakes in the spring time, but early season lake fishing can be really produc...

Most anglers want nothing to do with float tubes and mountain lakes in the spring time, but early season lake fishing can be really productive if you hit it right.

Early?

Early season can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. I am thinking of our local mountain lakes here in Oregon that may be inaccessible due to snow and ice well into April or May or June. Getting there as early as possible can be very rewarding. There are several reasons why I love being the first one into a lake in the spring. The biggest fish in the lake are often found in shallow water attempting to warm up in the bleak afternoon sun. They are often near each other in pods as there are only a few places in many lakes where the shallows and the sun converge together early in the year with such low sun angles.

I am looking for those March/April/May days when it feels like it should be 70 degrees out, but a bitter nip in the air and quickly falling afternoon temps remind you that it is definitely not.

Getting stuck three miles from the lake... no skiing this time

Another reason I love fishing lakes early is the holdovers, or the lack of freshly planted hatchery trout. I love a good hatchery trout, and I spend a lot of time in the summer catching them. But catching 10" recently stocked rainbows all day is not what I prefer. I would rather take one big, wild fish that knows how to fatten up and survive a hard winter. That is what I am looking for, and they are easier to find when there aren't thousands of hatchery planters to contend with.

Then there is the insect activity. What is hatching when the water is still bitter cold? Not much. Maybe some little midges/chironomids that are pretty darn small; they will hatch on those days where the water is warming, even if it is just a little bit. Where are they hatching? Usually I find them in the shallows where the big trout are trying to find some warmer water.

If throwing midges is not your idea of a good time, there is another option. Streamers... Those big fish might not be into midges either, but they do seem to like a big fat crayfish. Crayfish or crawdads start showing signs of life in those same shallows on those same sunny days early in the season. They are slow when the water is cold, but they are there trying to get going for the year as well.

Not the biggest, but she was a pretty early season brookie!

I skied my float tube about a mile through the snow to a popular lake up by Mt. Hood a few years ago. It was St. Patrick's Day, and it was a terrible snow year when we had already started melting out at 5000'.

There was no sign that anyone had fished that lake yet that season. A few cross country ski tracks followed a trail around the lake, but there were no signs of anyone going near the boat ramp.

Complete solitude on this gorgeous lakes was really pleasant, five hours in a float tube in near freezing water was not. Every time my hands touched the water, they stung, bad. But I kept getting them wet... to release nice fish. Dragging a cray pattern around the shallow stumps of this lake produced 4 fish in the 22"-26" range and a handful of fish in the 16"-20" range. In the dozens of other times that I have fished that lake in the summer, I have never seen another fish over about 14" there. But early season, the big ones come out and play.

Aqualux - our most popular lake line

I love my 5wt rod, but that thing usually stays at home for these early season missions. A decent 6wt is my rod of choice for lake fishing, especially when streamers are involved. Temple Fork Outfitters' Impact has been a solid rod for me going on three years now, but there are other great options too.

I like a clear or camo intermediate line for a lot of my lake fishing, including this scenario. I have been fishing a Cortland 444 intermediate for going on 15 years now. I recently replaced the old 444 rocket taper intermediate with the new 444 Clear Camo Small Game. I like it just the same. Rio's Aqualux is what I have for my 5wt if I need it, and I like that as well. Both are great choices, although the clear lines like the Aqualux seem to handle really cold water better than the camo lines, which seem to
have a tendency to coil a little bit, even after a good stretch.

My early season fly box is pretty simple. There are some chironomids and blood worms, including zebra midges from a #16 down to a #22, although I don't see myself really digging that deep to use those tiny ones. I often start out with a #16 Snowcone or BH Chironomid Pupa with a #18 red Micro Larva underneath it on a floating line. I will add a Palsa Indicator if I find that fish are eating it higher in the water column than the general leader length. Otherwise I let it fall and then strip as slow as possible in areas that are less than 10' deep

When that doesn't produce (sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't), I will go to a Crayfish pattern. My favorite early patterns are the Soft Hackle Crayfish Bugger, Soft Shell Crayfish (let that thing bounce around in the mud), and the Thin Mint. I like those fished on an intermediate line, but the floating line can often be just fine if the fish are shallow enough. Like the chironomids, I fish them about as slow as I can, adding an occasional twitch...

One lake I like has stumps that come up to about two to three feet under the surface. You can stand on some of them from your float tube and take a look around. The bottom is usually six to ten feet, so a floating line isn't going to be great if you want to get down ten feet. That's where I like the intermediate line. I have found some really nice fish in and around those stumps early on.

It was early spring, but 2 weeks too late for the big fish here

The dry fly fishing can be great in the early evenings during those chironomid hatches. A Griffith's Gnat will usually get the job done, as well as an RS2 Foamback. I have't run into a ton of those big ones eating little dries, but that doesn't mean that they don't do it. I have had some really nice fish eat a chironomid dry early season. It hasn't been the most productive method that I have tried, but I do keep my options open and will certainly throw that dry when the fish are rising to them.

The most important thing is to stay warm. I wear a pair of 5mm neoprene waders with two pairs of socks, three leg layers (I do a ski-worthy base layer, then a pair of fleece "yoga pants" and then insulated ski pants). Gloves are great, but once your hands are wet, it gets tricky really quick, whether you have gloves on or not. Coffee in a thermos helps a lot,. Whisky in the coffee helps me feel like I am warm, even if it technically isn't helping. If it is really cold, I bring a jet-boil and heat up some soup after a couple of hours on the water. We don't want anyone out there getting hypothermia on a remote lake by themselves.

Early season lake fishing can be stellar, but it can also be a bust. Finding those fish is not always easy, sometimes it is quite difficult, sometimes it is just not going to happen. They can be deeper than you want, or they could just not be around at all. Weather patterns can wreak havoc on fish behavior. I like to see that high pressure sunny situation for three or four days straight before I am really confident that fish are getting comfortable. Afternoon winds can be treacherous, pushing you across a lake that is lined with snow with little prospect of getting back to the boat ramp easily. It is not everyone's cup of tea, but it could be yours with a little effort and some perseverance.