The feel of fall was in the air as it was cool overnight. The LacleJeune webcam was showing a water temperature of 61F so I guessed that the mid level lakes were likely below 65F and the fish would be more active.

I thought I'd take a gamble and visit Red lake. The last time I saw the lake in July it was pea soup green with a thick carpet of algae covering the surface like a blanket. The only fish I saw were belly up gasping for oxygen. I was curious to see if this had cleared up. Checking last year's fishing journal I could see that I had caught small ones last Aug 24 so it was worth a try.

The drive to Red Lake is often very interesting with all sorts of wildlife along the way. I normally see California Big Horn rams above Tranquille with lots of mule deer and the odd bear, bobcat or bird of prey along the way.

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I reached Red around 9 am and could see heat rising off the lake into the cool morning air. I could also see rings from rising fish off the launch area. I checked the water and the lake had cleared up quite a bit. There was still bits of green algae in the water but it was no longer a choking cloud.

There wasn't much insect activity so I started with a leech. I had one tug and caught and released a small brookie but that was it for the leech. Over the next few hours I tried several chironomids and bloodworms, a booby fly and a dragonfly but only caught one more small one.


A few other boats joined me in the south bay. Two folks in one boat were having very little success while their friend in the other was catching fish on a blue shrimp. Unfortunately for his friends, he had purchased only one at Surplus Herby's and described it as navy blue nylon about an inch long.

I had a similar looking shrimp in green that I don't normally use since I prefer the more subtle smaller patterns. Since I was desperate, I gave it a try and on my second cast managed to catch a nice fat 16 inch fish. Around noon I noticed small mayflies coming off and the brookies became very active at the surface. I switched to a small mayfly on both the floating and sinking lines and managed to catch a decent fish on each before calling it a day.


The fishing was very slow for Red and I didn't see any monsters at all. I would conclude that the bigger fish need another few weeks of cooler weather to move into the shallows and become more active.