My Friday fishing partner, Kim, and I decided that since spring was in the air, and the high mountain streams were still covered in snow, it would be a good day to fish at one of our favorite area lakes located on the Southern Ute Reservation, Lake Capote.
The reasons Lake Capote is one of our favorite float tube destinations are many. The park is beautiful, well-maintained, with lots of wildlife to entertain you when the fishing slows down. Most of our days on Lake Capote have resulted in our catching large numbers of bass on poppers, and lots of trout using hoppers. The keyword here is most. On arriving at Lake Capote, the weather was windless and shirt-sleeve-warm. It seemed to be perfect for lots of top water action for bass and trout.
After the first hour neither of us had had a strike. I changed my popper to a Chubby Chernobyl, while Kim went to a hopper-dropper set-up. After the second hour, and lots of casting practice, it was decided a Woolley Bugger (WB) would be the fly of choice. I chose a black WB with some sparkle, while Kim went with purple. We resumed our casting practice. Both long and short casts were made with varying depths before a retrieve was started. We each had a strike or two, but no hookup. It was now either go home or figure this out; we chose the latter.
The only retrieval left was a “jig” retrieve. For those of you who don’t fly fish, a jig- retrieve is done by lifting your rod tip as you are retrieving your line after making a cast. Once you lift your rod tip, stop retrieving your line. Now, lower the rod tip to allow the WB to sink. Once the WB has sunk a foot or two, retrieve the line several feet. Now repeat this until the fly is back to you. Once the fly is back to you, cast it out and repeat the above sequence.
The theory says, and I think it is true, the jig-retrieve makes the fish think the WB is injured and therefore easy prey. When using a jig-retrieve, experiment with different depths and rates of retrieve. Once Kim and I started experimenting with the depth and speed of the retrieve, Kim quickly hooked a fish that was large enough to break her line. I found that being patient, difficult for me, and letting the WB sink deep before starting the retrieve and jig worked best. I further found the fish would strike the WB on the up motion of the jig, close to my float tube. I surmised that being closer to the tube the WB had a more pronounced vertical motion. Whatever the reason, my cast, retrieve, jig, retrieve helped me to catch one of the largest trout I have ever caught on Lake Capote. Kim and I also caught several small mouth bass using the jig motion.
Obviously, it took a long time for us to figure out the best way to catch fish that day. Hopefully, the next time things seem to being going slowly, we won’t be so hesitant to mend our ways. I hope this column has you reaching into your bag of tricks sooner than we did, and not just packing up and heading out.