IMPORTANT Our September 15 meeting featuring Bill Keister will be held in room F-3 instead of the ballroom we have been meeting in recently. F3 is located next to the office for the facility.
LAKES
Trout streams are easy. They have bumpy surfaces, currents going every which away and they are sometimes small enough so that you can look into them and see the trout. But lakes are different. You look at the surface of a lake and it is one big blank surface. The best way to learn about a lake is to just fish it. But this is a long process. There are some things you can do to make fishing lakes easier to crack. There are techniques and strategies you can use to improve the odds of your success when fishing a new lake. Over the past 20 years I have fished at three trout clubs in the USA which have given me the opportunity to stumble across ways to catch trout in lakes. And during those same 20 year I have learned to catch trout in lakes in Chile and Argentina. I will talk about tackle and tactics as well as strange trick I have stumbled over.
Lake Fishing for Trout Experience
Bill Keister
I caught my first trout when I was twelve. I fished fanatically through high school and college and during my service in the Navy. Then I gave up fishing for work and competitive rowing. With my pending retirement planned for April 1st 1999, on the Saturday before Thanksgiving in 1998 I made the academic decision to return to fly fishing, I took some old 1950’s gear back with me from home when I returned to Minnesota after thanksgiving. Between that time and March 1st (early opening of trout season in Michigan) I tied over 150 flies, build 4 graphic fly rods discovered genetic hackle, synthetic tying materials and new plastic fly lines. I was blown away.. And, on March 1st I went over to Michigan for early season. I caught nine trout and rest is history.
I have caught trout and salmon in Chile nine trips, Argentina sux trips, Russia Kola and Kamchatka Labrador, Newfoundland and three other provinces and fifteen states. I am an FFF certified master casting instructor. I tie my own flies, and I have built over 60 flyrods.
With the exception a small percentage of the Argentina fishing none of the above qualifies me to talk about Lake fishing. But I have had a fair amount exposure to lake fish in the following situations. First I was incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to fish Lake Mansfield Trout Club over a twelve-year period. Mansfield is built around a brook trout lake. All native fish. Feed like little piggies every morning at the same time that the anglers are getting their breakfast. Second I have been a member of Lake Wantastiquet Trout club for about 15 years and before I became a member, I was a guest for six or seven years. And finally (and the least) I am a member of Limestone Trout Club. Frankly my brother can out fish me any day at Limestone but is there much more than I am, but he is good.