06_2025_REELLIFE_digital - Flipbook - Page 8
Last year, in early June, we
fished a small reservoir in
the high desert. Like a lot
of private waters in Central
Oregon, the lake had tules
along one side and willows
on the other.
about how I usually like to
start with a Renegade or
a Brown Hackle or some
other snail imitation.
A person has a chance in
the first hour of daylight
to catch trout close-in to
the tules on snail patterns
We started in float tubes,
backing into the water, then before the fish sense the
vehicle traffic or start to
settling in.
feel pressured by people
My dad called out that
in float tubes. But a lot
he was seeing lots of
of my friends don't want
damselflies. For which
to fish using snails. It is
I thanked him and
not something they think
immediately tied on a
about. Why would fish eat
damselfly imitation.
snails? And what do snails
Kicking away from the
even look like? I think the
launch into deeper water,
real reason a lot of us don't
I observed midges, PMDs,
fish using snails is because
snails, dragonflies, and
we are too restless. The
damsels.
snail just sits there on the
My first fish to the net was
surface or just under it.
a 21-inch rainbow. Dad was
Until a trout eats it. It is so
on the other side of the lake simple to fish snails.
and could not get a picture The best thing to do is walk
for me. While I was using
along the reed beds and
a damsel, I was thinking
scout the weed lines with
polarized glasses. Look for
swirls. Look for shaking
tules. Watch for fins and
tails or the white gum line
as a trout opens its mouth
and flares its gills.
Pattern choice is as simple
as it gets. A No. 10 Woolly
Worm. A Brown Hackle.
A Renegade. These are all
suggestive of snails when
fished at snail speed. Cast
or dap, and let it sit. Wait
for the butt of the fly line
or the leader to move.
The fish will often have to
change course to take the
fly, so as the trout turns, it
will feel the fly and spit it.
Don't wait to feel the take,
set the hook when the
leader starts to move. After
the sun comes up, the fish
tend to retreat to deeper
water, and now is the time
to switch to a leech, damsel
nymph, or dragonfly
nymph.
