Dusty and a little windy

Kirk Morris, a friend in the ward, texted me earlier in the week and asked if I was free for fishing on Saturday (note that the subjunctive "were" is not used, since the following statement is rarely contrary to fact when fishing is involved). Not wanting to disappoint him, and having just completed putting everything back together from recarpeting two rooms, I had the green light to go. But Friday night, the outlook was grim, with winds forecast at 20 to 35 mph through the early afternoon on Saturday, not good for float tubing lakes as we had planned. We agreed to wait and see how things looked around noon the next day, and maybe hit a nearby lake if things were dying down. Saturday morning when I got up, the wind was barely blowing, well, for the TriCities at least, only 10 to 12 mph, and the weather stations in Quincy looked even better at 5 to 10 mph. So I gave Kirk a call, quickly got gear together, attached braided loops to the lead core line section I had bought a few years ago to go deep at Dusty after Tom schooled me on a similar trip early in the year, and we were off for Dusty.

 

Only three cars in the lot, which ended up being 4 fisherman from the west side who were worried about the wind on Lenice and came to check out Dusty instead. At the lake, I tried fishing the shore first, had a couple takedowns, but felt no fish. Only a few were cruising the shallows, and they showed no interest whatsoever in the fly. So I climbed in the tube and started trolling the standard olive leech and a green damsel while Kirk went to chironomids fishing towards the shore. Today he showed why he is the chironomaster. He landed 31, many from the outside of the weed bed off the inlet point, then a bunch more across off the point that divides the lake. I landed about 8 or so, alternating between chironomids and the leech. Lots of short or soft hits on the leech that were never strong enough to even feel the fish. However, the first one I hooked pulling the leech, I had about halfway in when the line went slack. Unhooked, I thought, until the line came in minus the lead core section I had recently added. The connection to my fly line had come off somehow, leaving the fish to pull around the section of lead core line.

 

Kirk netting one of many

Beautiful location to fight a fish

Nice little Dusty rainbow



The ticket on chironomids was a blackish snowcone, about size 14 or 16, with red wire ribbing. Fished deepish off the point in the middle, about 7 to 9 feet, only 3 feet by the weedbeds at the inlet. Kirk uses an indicator that pegs the line, then pops the line out when a fish hits it so the indicator slides down to the hook, allowing you to fish really deep if need be. Kirk, being a real fly fisherman, has tools that I don't have, like a stomach pump, so he found out the fish were full of really small chironomids, about size 22 or 24, grayish black. Having found that important information out, he proceeded to keep fishing the same fly. They didn't seem to mind the bigger flies.

 

Kirk and a typical dusty rainbow for today

Kirk found some nicer ones



Fish were mostly small and bright (well, Dusty small). Kirk got a few nicer ones and an ugly brown. All in all a great day. Next time fishing with Kirk, I think I will get two sausage biscuits instead of the number 8. That was the ticket today (and maybe a just a little more skill...)

 

Action shot

You call this a brown?

The lovely view of a place I love to visit