Spring weather and fishing have been great the last few weeks, and both the fishing and the weather are going to get even better over the next month. May is one of the best months of the year to fish at Falcon’s Ledge Lodge, and we are excited for the beautiful weather, migrating waterfowl, and spectacular fishing. In this blog, we will share some of the best techniques and strategies for May fishing at Falcon’s Ledge and other trout lakes in northern Utah.
May is a great month for afternoon and evening midge hatches, and midge fishing during the month of May is some of the best of the year. Fish are looking for emerging midges and gnats during the warm afternoon and evening hours. The best fly-fishing technique to imitate these midge hatches is hanging two midges off a strike indicator. We like to tie a sno cone chironomid or red chironomid about 3 to 4 feet below the strike indicator and a smaller midge such as a zebra midge, disco midge, or blood midge below the top fly, another two feet. The larger chironomid in size 14 or 12 will work best when larger bugs are hatching, and the smaller midge in size 18 or 20 will work best when smaller gnats or midges are hatching.
Sometimes you will find that fish are keyed in one color or size of a fly, so if you are not getting bites, change the flies with different colors and sizes to find the color and size the fish are looking for. The sno cone chironomid and disco midge with a silver and red body are our two favorites that seem to consistently produce fish most days. Fish are usually cruising along the edge of weed beds and cattails, so cast along those edges near feeding fish and let fish swim toward your indicator and get a good look at your flies. Adjusting the depth of your flies to make sure fish are seeing them is very important and we like to use slip strike indicators that can be easily adjusted to change the depth of our flies. When your flies are at the correct depth and are the correct color, you will consistently get strikes in May and have some of the best lake fishing of the year.
Woolly buggers and leeches also work well in May on lakes in northern Utah. During the morning and nighttime hours woolly bugger, leeches, and other streamer patterns are a great way to catch fish during the spring in lakes in northern Utah. In April and early May water temperatures are still cold and fish are not moving fast, so work woolly buggers and leeches slow and low on a sinking line near the bottom or hang a balanced leech off a strike indicator and let it sit where fish are feeding. As water temperatures get near 60 degrees in May fish will get more active at chasing moving woolly buggers and leeches and they can be stripped faster on an intermediate line in deep water or floating line in shallow water. Our favorite patterns are black or rust brown woolly buggers and balanced leeches. In late May and early June, we like to use small olive woolly buggers that represent damselfly nymphs that get very active in late May.
Good luck this May and enjoy this amazing month to be out on the northern Utah lakes fly fishing for large trout!
