Made a trip north on Friday to a lake that's been good to me over the years.. the water level was up and clarity was excellent.. arrived around 1030 and there were two guys in Pontoon boats fishing.... first time out this year on this lake and expected to see some chironomids coming off.. throughout the day chironomids were present (saw 4 sizes of shucks) but very few rises and of the numerous throat samples taken only one small bow (12-13") had a few chironomid pupae in it.. of all the samples by far the most prevalent food source being eaten by numerous fish I sampled were mosquito larvae ?? (see attached photo).. given how they move in the water not sure it's possible to replicate it with a retrieve of any kind when fishing an indicator rig... too be honest it's not a food source I've imitated and fished with any patterns in my stillwater boxes.. that being said the throat samples revealed heavy and exclusive feeding on these bugs..
I stayed shallow (6ft or less) all day and never had any success using scuds, mids, balanced leeches, etc.. treating it Luke a daphnia bite I started fishing blobs and began getting into fish.. bite was tough to pick up but landed a dozen or so fish with 6 that ran 20-24".. only 2 of the 12 landed were under 16".. all in great shape and healthy looking... this lake can be ridiculously good when throat samples turn up chironomid pupae in abundance.. hopefully that will be the case next time out.
If anyone has tried imitating mosquito larvae would be curious to know what patterns you employ and how you typically fish them..
I stayed shallow (6ft or less) all day and never had any success using scuds, mids, balanced leeches, etc.. treating it Luke a daphnia bite I started fishing blobs and began getting into fish.. bite was tough to pick up but landed a dozen or so fish with 6 that ran 20-24".. only 2 of the 12 landed were under 16".. all in great shape and healthy looking... this lake can be ridiculously good when throat samples turn up chironomid pupae in abundance.. hopefully that will be the case next time out.
If anyone has tried imitating mosquito larvae would be curious to know what patterns you employ and how you typically fish them..
