Partner and I linked up at Amber at 0945. Finally, my first day minus snow flurries, sleet, or heavy cold winds! Initially fished the south end shallows. Very few takes on chironomid pattern so I switched to a Skip Nymph, a pattern which has fished incredibly well this year. Resulting takes were lightning quick and violent, not the usual, slow indicator pull down. Landed approximately 15 fish in 3 hours, mostly small, with only one exceeding 14". When this bite stopped, we moved to 25' of water immediately across from the boat launch, and began fishing chironomids deep with full sinking lines. This technique once again proved ultra-effective, yielding a dozen fish to net and several more lost, most of which were in the 18-21" range. At one point the bite stopped and I switched to a still water nymph, which I fished in that same agonizing slow fashion. A half dozen hook-ups and four landed in 30 minutes, then nothing. Went back to chironomids, first black....nothing, then red and got right back on them. The fish seemed to feed all day, however the trick seemed to be matching the hatch. Be prepared to change and change often.

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