I've been doing a bit of bobber watching on some local lakes in the past few weeks. Nothing huge, but the bobber has been going down some. Most the fish seem to be in 12 feet of water or so. Hatches have been sporadic as has the weather. Once we a few nice days in a row, things should really take off. Most fish have been taken on size 14 to 18 chironomids and a few on bloodworms.
I pumped a few fish. Very few chironomids but they were stuff with Daphnia.
Snowcones, chromies and red v-rib patterns have produced the best so far.

Nice. Eastside or westside?

My pram trailer is getting some work done on it (new roller for easier launching) so I have not done any stillwater since the first week in March.

Westside Dave

Good to know that side of the state puts out some quality fish so you don't need to cross the pass every time. That first, spotless fish is pretty unique looking.

Thanks Brian for sharing. I got to get out.

Pretty fish. BTW, whats ........Daphnia ?

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Here you go Chrome. Very common food source for trout.
Good luck tying up a size 48 pattern to match these little dudes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphnia

Is anything more frustrating than fishing a lake full of educated fish that are sipping Daphnia? If there is, I hope I never have to do it.

I have a friend who tried to imitate Daphnia by tying several tiny "lumps" of red thread on a light wire hook. Sort of the same principle (on a much smaller scale) as using a Griffith's Gnat to represent a cluster of tiny midges, I suppose.

It didn't work, but I had to give him props for his effort.

As Stonefish knows, a chironimid pattern, as painful as they are to fish, will carry the day when you resign yourself to thinking Daphnia are the only thing they will eat. Same colors he mentioned seem to work just about everywhere.

Looking forward to those few, consecutive sunny days myself. Spring fishing on lakes is a great, relaxing time after months of laboring through cold, rain, snow, frequent skunkings, and everything else that comes with winter steelheading.

I've always wondered how trout actually eat Daphnia. They are so small, they obviously aren't eating them like they would individual chironomids.

I've been on lakes were you can see clouds of Daphnia. Perhaps the fish just swim through the cloud and suck down a mouthful of them at a time? If anyone knows, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

My guess (probably not worth much) would be that they cruise and filter, much like whales eating krill in the ocean. I'm pretty sure they don't eat them in clumps tied to fish hooks, but otherwise, I am at a loss. It's an interesting question.

Stonefish,

FleaFlickr02 is right. They filter feed. Consequently, when a rainbow trout reaches 16" in length, its gill rakers are spaced too far apart for it to effectively feed on them anymore, so they get no larger unless they have an alternative source of forage, like larger insects or baitfish.

If I remember correctly, daphnia are red clydocerans, the largest of the zooplankton, and critical to the food chain for fish.

Sg

I have seen lots of the little red critters in trout stomachs but even when feeding heavily on them, they can still be enticed to hit a larger chironomid if presented properly.

I agree Dave. I try to pump one fish an hour if the catching is decent. That lets me see if the fish are changing their color or size preference on the naturals.
Here on the wetside lately, the fish early in the day have contained lots of Daphnia with only a Chironomid or two. Later in the day as things warm up, a lot more Chironomids are showing up.
Now if we can just get some stable weather patterns.......

Brain- you hitting danny's lake?

Brain hasn't been fishing that lake Justin, LOL.

XL pink lady chironomid's eh ? I'd like to see a pic of an pupa & adult form if you know of a link.


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Here is an example from last year. The bugs coming off Saturday were slightly larger then the top bug. A size 8 matches the natural well. You can see the red color in the natural. When they hatch, they have a pink color to them, thus the pink lady. I've seen this hatch on a number of PS area lakes.

Very cool pictures of the naturals and the fakes.

Funny that I use the white bead on my flies and do very well for the most part but the naturals don't have near as much white as the bead would suggest.

Either way, the fish don't seem to mind and that is all that really counts.

It has been my experience that trout feeding on daphnia do so selectively; that is they seek out and take individuals much like they do the critters that we more tradtionally match with our flies.

In very clear water I have watch the cruising trout sipping these micro critters rather than swimming around with their mouths open - which is the behavior I would have expected if they were "filter feeding". A number of times I have sample trout that have been feeding on daphnia and consistently found that the individuals consumed were the larger ones in the population - there was a size selection in their feeding.

There are actually several "papers" that have found that in taking daphnia trout (both rainbows and browns) do so by selecting the larger (typcially those larger than something like a mm) and the more darker pigmented individuals. This size and color selection are clear indications that the trout are using visual clues in their feeding.

The good news with trout feeding daphnia and the problem of "matching" the hatch is that the heavy daphnia selection is mostly a winter/early spring issue. We are currently on the cusp of warming temperatures where the feeding trout will be forming "search imagines" for larger critters.

For the record when I found trout feeding heavily on daphnia they can still be caught (at least to some degree) on tradtional patterns. It seems that they sometimes can not resist a well presented bug for a little variety to their diet. While logic would dictate that a slow presentation for daphnia feeding trout (bobber watching) is the way to go a more successful stragety for me has to be go to the other end and fish more aggressively with streamers, attractor patterns or a stripped soft hackles. My thinking that showing my bug to more fish in a given period increased my chances of getting my bug in front of a willing biter; either some sort of reaction take or boy that looks go take.

Tight lines
Curt

stonefish, thanks for the look. Some of those chironomid get much bigger than I imagined, no wonder the fish key on that "meat & potatoes" food supply.


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