Hit a popular westside C & R lake today. There was a decent chironomid hatch going on throughout the day.
I never really got it dialed in, but ended up with a dozen or so fish to hand. One fellow had it dialed and seemed to have fish on every time I saw him.
Best bug today for me was a size 16 chromie. Most of the fish were 16-20' of water. Nice day on the water with good fighting fish.
A few pics from today.

Nice day on that lake even with a bobber;) Ill be out there next weekend looking for some surface action as temps look like they will be 60ish by Friday.

Might have to take a break from boat maintenance and come drop the db in with you, Keith. Boris and Sony might be in for that too.

We walked a salt beach last night around sunset and watched a couple of 3 pound resident silvers jumping around eating bait just within casting range. Made me wish I had the 6wt with me.

-AP

Keith & Aaron,
There were a few cruisers line feeding on adult chironomids when the wind died down.
A Raccoon or Lady McConnell pattern would have done the job. The warmer temps later this week should help get them looking up.

Maybe we should get a posse up there and smoke them damn troots out of their caves!

Not all day. And probably not early morning.

Oh shite! You're right!

KK, that sounds like a good plan to me. Let's talk later in the week when the weather report isn't so far out. Maybe filter out some of these subhuman bait-soaking heathens and round up the few dignified PP'ers for a few hours?

By golly its nearly trout season. Tickle me tippets.

Stone,
Thanks for posting a real fishing report with great pics. Not much of that on here lately. I've been trying to dial the fish on my home lake but haven't figured them out yet. Bait and trollers are working the planters but fly fishing is tough. How did you figure out they were at 16-20 ft? I would have expected shallower since surface temps are near 50. Really liked your pic of the brown!

Jam,
I made a simple device that allows me to measure the water depth. I generally fish two flies and always try to set my bottom dropper fly a foot off the bottom. If I measure 20' of water, I'll set my slip indicator to make my leader 19' long. If I'm not getting strikes, I adjust the indicator down to shorten my leader.
I've found that on lakes with good numbers of carryovers, this works very well. The carryovers seem to be more oriented towards the bottom keying in on chironomids and bloodworms, while the recent stockers play closer to the surface.
I hope this helps.
SF

What slip indicator do you use SF?

Is it a pain to cast a 20' leader and indicator?

SF,
Thanks for your reply. I have a depth finder so obviously know how deep it is, but have been looking for fish in 8-12 ft and didn't realize they would still be deeper this time of year. Goodwin usually has decent carryovers...18-20 in fish so your technique should work. Hoping to get out sat and try again, thanks for the tips.

RR,
I'm standing up, so casting a 20 foot leader isn't that difficult even with the indicator.

These are the type of indicators I'm using.
http://www.flyfishingtechniques.co/2011/02/fly-fishing-quick-release-indicators/

The indicator sliding down the leader also makes it really easy to land the fish because it shortens the leader so much.
I doctor them up by glueing a bead in the bottom. I use a small rubber bobber stop below the indicator so I never lose the pin if I get snapped off.
Here is a example of how I set them up with the bead and bobber stop.

I hope this helps. Off to Dry Falls for some Bows, Tigers and Browns.

I got it that is a cool idea. It has a loop that pulls out . . . Clever. For some reason I was picturing a "slip indicator" the same way as a slip bobber for gear fishing and was trying to imagine how much weight you needed on your leader for that to work.

I think the reason Stonefish tolerates chironomid fishing so well is that he has developed a system that yields consistent action, so he doesn't have time to get bored. I have always fished them off a stationary indicator, so I probably have spent a lot of time out of the zone. Nice setup, SF.

Just say NO to Flyplunking!

I thing Stonefish quite enjoys chironomid fishing!

If you're in shallow water, a fixed indicator is OK. YOu can still move it up and down to stay in the zone. But fishing 20 feet deep, SF bobber set up is GREAT!. I've begun using a variation to his set up, and has made fishing chironomids more enjoyable.

You can also substitute the chironomid for a size six worm hook through a night crawler lathered in wd40.

Its on like napalm in the mekong...DRY fly fiesta!!

Say NO To FlyPlunking!

Well SF's method does work.
Nice 21in Rainbow tonight on a bloodworm @ 18ft