Fall 2020 Prognosis for the Northern Sierra ~ Lake Davis ~ Middle Fork Feather River ~ Frenchman Lake

Lake Davis –

As the days get shorter, look for the lake to cool down considerably in the next month. The last brood of Callibaetis mayflies and blood midges will dominate the hatches creeping into fall. Callibaetis will be a size 16, and the blood midges a size 14. Adams Parachute or a Quigley’s cripple for the mayflies, and Jonny’s Blood Midge emerger, or the Martis Midge for the latter. Indicator presentations, slow stripping natural imitations, and dry fly opportunities are all viable options. Once the water temps dip below 53, both of these hatches will wane. The rainbows and browns will start to prowl the shallows and fertile shoals in search of food once the water temps come down into the lower 60’s, and when the water temps come down even further, the trout will spend all day in these areas for both food and comfortable water temperatures. Keep in mind that when the water temps are in the 50’s that most of the trout will be in the upper water column no matter the depth. 

 

October is the best month here. As the arc of the sun dips lower on the horizon the trout will go on the fall grab with reckless abandon. Bigger flies like buggers and leeches, bigger tippet size in 3X, and stripping are the name of the game. Make sure to try both slow and fast retrieves until you figure out what they want. The trout tend to pod up in big numbers during fall, so if you get into some action, stay put and hammer them! If the action dies off they will often trickle down the shoreline or into another cove – They don’t go far. Once skim ice starts to form in the smaller bays, and the shoreline, most trout will move down to the southern end of the lake. Orange and pink can be great late fall colors. Don’t be surprised if you hook into a few bass while fishing for trout throughout the fall months as they will often eat the same flies. 

 

Frenchman Lake –

Same as above for Lake Davis, minus the bass. What differs here is the opportunity to strip minnows in the shallows for aggressive eaters. Lahontan Redside minnows will be balled up and running in schools in the Northern part of the lake. A good tactic is to blind cast parallel to the shoreline and retrieve quickly, or the best case scenario, sight fishing to minnow eaters and leading them. I’ve always done well here using the simple Jay Fair Tui Chub trolling fly. The drive up through Little Last Chance Creek canyon up to the lake with fall colors blazing is one of the high lights here.

Middle Fork Feather River –

Already the water temperatures have come down due to smokey skies. Another observation this summer has been that the rock snot (algae) was not as significant as years prior. Look for the BWO hatches to come on as we creep into September with good spinner falls in the mid-morning when air temperatures are between 57 and 67 degrees. Also there will be a few Isonychia mayflies crawling out and hatching so make sure to have some nymph patterns in your box. With low water conditions, fish the deeper pools, runs, and slots as the trout will be ganged up there. Later into fall the October caddis will be out (look for an upcoming article in California Fly Fisher that I wrote explaining everything you need to know about the Big Bug of Autumn) which is a great game to play. The warmest time of the day will be your best bet for dry fly opportunities with mayflies, caddis, and midge. Keep your head on a swivel and look for surface feeders, and if you see some, go right after them and waste no time in doing so. If we get some early storms that add some fresh sweet water, bigger trout will migrate back upstream from the deep canyons to over winter in the upper watershed.

This is just a sampler of what conditions will be like in the Northern Sierra, I’m pretty much booked up, but please contact me and get on the cancellation list – with Covid conditions, you never know who is going to bail on their trip…See you on the water!