I have access to four stocked high desert trout ponds. They are close to my fishing cabin on the Deschutes River. I find myself drawn to them more and more for their solitude, prolific insect hatches and big hard fighting rainbows. Although these fish are stocked, they are keyed into the hatches, can be very finicky and grow very fast.
I was at the cabin several days this spring, including two weeks at the beginning of the famous salmon fly hatch. There is great trout water in front of the house. A long gravel bar that is wadeable and allows casting to the grassy and tree lined banks, a rarity on this big fast river. I had a couple good morning and evening sessions the first week. However, throughout the day every guide and other boater, would stop there and bang the banks. By the second week i couldn't buy a fish. Then I fished the Indian reservation with a guide, the only way the public is allowed to fish this side of the river. The fishing was slow and I was exhausted after a long day wading and hiking.
I needed some relaxing fishing away from the river crowd so my final two days I spent on the trout ponds. When I arrived the last morning, there were several fish working the surface. The pond is small, spring fed and lined with cattail reeds. From all appearances it's like a spring creek with no current. I climbed in my old donut style float tube and walked myself to the outer edges of an opening in the reeds. Here I could stand and lean on the tube and pot shoot rise forms.
My tie on bug was an adult midge pattern. The fish wouldn't touch it, so after 15 minutes I switched to an emerger and moved it very slowly in the film. It worked very well for awhile. However, suddenly they stopped eating it, but were still rising. Earlier I'd seen a few calibaetis with upright wings around the tube. Thinking maybe a hatch was starting I kept looking for them but never saw more. Then I noticed a calibaetis spinner beside me and realized those bugs seen earlier were probably spinners too.
Unfortunately I didn't have my spinner box with me. However, I had my small mayfly box in the vest, which include some calibaetis patterns. I tied on a convertible with microfibet tails and a cinnamon bear wing. I splayed out the wing and greased them up. For about 20 minutes I had great fishing. Several large bows sucked in the spinner and put aerial shows before coming to the net or a long line release.
That afternoon I stood on the cabin deck and watched a guide friend coach a couple dudes on "my" house water. As they left fishless, the guide waved and asked me if I'd caught them all. I replied, "Not lately I've been fishing the ponds, so there would be more room for you and your friends on the river..."