Still Waters, October 17th, 2023

Blue-green algae growth has ceased on nearly all our still waters. Such conditions for this decrease include fewer sunlight hours, cooling water and air temperatures, and time result in this good situation for anglers and animals be they pets or livestock. It’s really god news for fish because decreasing blue-green algae means more dissolved oxygen in hosting water as well as a lesser impact on available food. Our irrigation reservoirs ( ie Island Park, Twenty-Four, Mile, Treasureton, Chesterfield, Paul’s Reservoir, and even Henry’s Lake) are particularly subject to this bloom because of draw-down during warmest months, but natural lakes also host these algae (Blair Lake, Aldous Lake). So expect improvement in still water fishing success coming up.

Incidentally, there is a particular indicator that large fish are present in any still water. That is the presence of snails as indicated by their shells along the shoreline. Such as Sheridan Reservoir, Treasureton Reservoir, Hebgen Lake, Little Valley Reservoir, and Aldous Lake are examples. Jack Gartside’s Wet Mouse drifted under an indicator is an excellent pattern for imitating a dead and drifting snail in such waters.