Still Waters 7-8-2011

All our southeast corner reservoirs  (Chesterfield, Daniels, Hawkins, Springfield, Treasureton, and Twenty-Four Mile) are worth fishing for big trout now. Damselfly nymphs are the way to get into the best action. Fish will be hanging close to the bottom to stay in cooler water now that warm weather is here for sure, so a line that gets you down to them is the way to go unless you do some midging or just plain drifting damselfly nymphs, all on a floating line.

A word of caution for the benefit of releasing fish to live another day.  Water temps near the surface are warm, in many of these reservoirs around 70 Degrees F.  That means the longer fish are played close to the surface, the tougher it is on them because the dissolved oxygen levels are lower than their comfort level.  So if we play them quickly, and spend time to revive them their survival chances go up. It may take a while to revive them near the surface, especially the bigger ones, but it sure is worth it when the reason for our visit is to encounter them.