Tips for Catching Fish in Hidden Lakes

July 02, 2008 at 5:00 pm

The following was posted by Arctic_Front. Let’s help him/her out a bit by adding your comments. I can relate, as it is very intimidating and frustrating to fish stillwaters. 

Hi, just found your site.  Nice stuff so far of what I’ve read.

Ok, here is why I am really posting a comment.  I have lived and fished in the yukon for 25 yrs.  Unfortunately, i fish Hidden Lk a lot, but in all these years, Skunked......  lost plenty of lures, been frustrated and often swear I’ll never waste my time there again.....  (lost count of how many times I’ve said that) The being established, I have recently gotten into fly fishing and will give Hidden another try.  My question to you is:

What patterns of wet and dry flies work there?  I’ve heard shrimp patterns, and nymphs, but i have little experience on the local bugs and the times of the various hatches.  I also haven’t a clue what the patterns look like for an emerger or a nymph of the local species of our bugs.

Can you name off a few, or direct me to a source of info so that I may do some of my own investigating?

Thanks and have a great summer.

Dennis here.  The first thing I would add is that fishing stillwater lakes is different than fishing moving water. This means that fish are not sitting in little eddies picking off bugs as they drift by. The fish are spread out a little more within the water column and will have a variety of different options in terms of fish. Here are a couple of random thoughts that I have learned about Hidden Lakes that has helped me over the years....even catch a few Rainbows.

Start with trolling a Woolly Bugger.  This assumes you have a canoe, belly-boat or fishing kayak...but a Woolly Bugger is a great searching pattern when on new water.  It looks like a minnow or a bug and a 100 different things in between.  Try to fish it as deep as possible, even if this means adding a split shot somewhere above it to get it down.  You would want to use a sinking line or if you just have a floating, use split shot as discussed.

Rainbows in Hidden are a little easier to catch in the spring and the fall.  I say this because if you choose the hottest days in July, even the best most experienced anglers may not catch fish.  Generally, they get full and lazy when the lake warms up.

If something is not working try something else.  You could punish yourself and keep trying the same pattern over and over, but if its not working chances are it’s not for a reason.

Think like a fish and watch like an eagle. Look for things like structure (weeds, trees, rocky shoals) or anything else interesting that would look like a transition point where unsuspecting bugs or fry could get gobbled up by a big Rainbow.

I won’t get all latin on you with different bugs at different stages but generally, Chironomids and scuds work in the spring, Caddis emergers and other nymph patterns are working about now, Terrestrials are fun in the summer, and Caddisflies, Mayflies and Mosquito patterns may work when you see fish rising and sipping in or jumping out after fish.  Each one needs to be fished a different way and there are people have written books on each of these but that’s something you will have to figure out.

Fish deep and slow. Unless targeting a hatch with a dry-fly, get your fly down. Use bead headed or weighted flies or add some split shot to get it down. Generally, the deeper the better and that is where the bigger fish hang out. Use a slow but sometimes erratic retrieve for most bugs (they are not that fast) or a little faster if if fishing a minnow pattern.

Trolling is great, especially if your casting sucks.  This is still me to some extent, I am much more comfortable flicking my fly into the water and watching it sink, letting out lots of line and and trying to strip and keep some tension as I cruise slowly around the lake.

I hope this makes sense and that’s what I have top of mind and is only a fraction of what takes a lifetime to master (not that I am even close). I would put together a selection of small, common chironomids, bead-nymphs, leeches, (add a couple water-boatman patterns), dun and spinner Mayflies, minnow patterns and you should have a good start. Sports North carries all of these in his shop.

Just to give you an idea of how this bug/fly imitation thing works. The picture at the top is an example of what I pulled out of a Pike’s stomach from Snafu a couple of weeks ago. It is a freshly digested dragonfly nymph held next to two imitations of the corresponding fly pattern. 

Good luck and anyone out there please add some other suggestions in the comments. 

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