We have finally seen Pyramid slow down after 2+ months of some of the best fishing we have seen out here. While this is probably from multiple factors, the big ones would likely be due to the time of year and the lack of weather. Is there still a chance of having an epic day of catching out here this week? Absolutely, but odds are unless you are really dialed out here, you will probably be working for them until we see the conditions change.

Here are a few ways to up your odds when the conditions get tough out here:

1.)   Fish hard during the early morning window. Often when the forecast is calling for bright, sunny days at the lake, your best bet to find a window of good fishing is before, or during the first hour of sunup. While sometimes the evening bite can be equally as good, we have consistently seen the morning fishing the best.

2.)   After the sun has popped up, fish deep. One of the big reasons that sunny days slow the fishing down is because it often means that the fish prefer to hang in deeper water. This is when looking for beaches with deeper drop offs and setting those flies deeper under the indicator or switching to the sinking line will help get you a few more.

3.)   Give them a moving target. When the lake is sunny AND glassy, this can be some of the toughest times to get a fish. When conditions are like this, we will often switch to stripping flies, as mentioned before, you can fish deeper, but this also is a good way to impart motion on your flies when the lack of chop on the lake doesn’t move your flies.

4.)   Fish smaller flies. This goes for both indicator fishing and stripping. While the fish will more readily remain along the shallower beaches during high pressure days in the spring, there is always a good possibility that there are still a few fish in shallow on sunny days in the winter. When fishing at some of the shallower beaches during these conditions, try fishing smaller sized bugs. While most people will immediately equate this to midges, this will also be the case for stripping flies, leeches, as well as other “trout bugs”. We are a big fan of mixing it up on those slow days out here and have had some really great days on some off the wall fly patterns that we mostly think of fishing in the rivers for trout half the size of these bruiser cutties. Just make sure that the hook is up to snuff and consider lightening up your tippet a bit too, maybe dropping down to 2x.

5.)   Take out a boat or float tube to cover more water and fish deeper. This is another tactic that we see mostly in the spring, but when the fish are hanging just out of reach of shore anglers during these conditions, a float tube is a great way to get in front of them. Just be sure to always look very closely at the weather, keep an eye on the changing of conditions, and use a PFD. Please note that conditions can change rapidly and float tubing on the lake can go from being perfectly safe to pretty sketchy very quickly.

We hope these tactics help those of you heading out to the lake this week. If any of you reading this have some luck using these tips, please give us a shout via our social media platforms, call the shop, or stop in for a good conversation with a celebratory beverage!