Dead bugs littering the surface of Lake CD'A

[TroutCowboy]

Today marked the 2nd consecutive weekend I've seen millions of dead bugs littering the water surface on Lake Cd'A. Anybody seeing this on any other lakes? I still managed to lure some SMB out from under some docks today but from all the fish I saw jumping (probably gobbling surface food) I wondered if fishing in general had tanked because of the abundance of easy food.

Oh, btw, I had a pike chase my jig all the way to the dock and take a 2nd look at it on the next cast. It was at least as long as my arm and twice as thick. I nearly had a heart attack. My heart was racing, it was a real thrill. Wish I coulda hooked into him but today was his day.

Anybody?

[kevinb]

Interesting,...I have no ideas about the bugs.I'm curious to see if anyone has any thoughts.

Nice follow from the pike....Sucks you couldn't get him but you must have been doing something right...follows are small victories for me. Mark that spot and get that bad boy

[gian]

beaver and pine have similar situations in the shallow areas of the lake. it also has a sort of slick surrounding all the dead bugs, but I didn't see any fish feeding on them. there were plenty of live ones flying about. I was using a sinking plastic but was seriously considering throwing on a fly and a bobber after hearing some sizable top water strikes around me. fly fishing for bass sounded strange at the time.

[Anglinarcher]

This time of year it is not all that uncommon to see the bug die off. As the temperatures fall, the days shorten, a lot of critters spawn and die. I guess that is good because the fish use this to fatten up for a long winter.

Can you give us an idea of the type of bugs? That helps a lot to determine exactly what is going on, but again first reaction, sounds pretty normal, maybe a couple weeks early is all.

[zen leecher aka Bill W]

I suspect you saw the end of a fly hatch. The "end" is where they fly back to the lake to mate and end up dead, floating on the surface.

[headley]

I have seen this same die off on Diamond and Sprague Lakes in the Eastern part of Washington.

While driving past Sprague Lake last month (twice) I ran into thse hatches; literally, at 75mph. You could see them rising above larger plants and small trees next to the lake. It looked like a massive orgy in the sky. It was amusing until I couldn't see out of my windsheild; I drained my washer fluid and had to stop twice to wipe them off by hand. The same thing happened the next weekend, both at about 6pm.

The next day I saw the same thing on our lake. The wind was coming from the south (right where the tulies are) and at about 6pm we noticed a huge die off; we were right in their midst. I saw little flys that looked like big mosquitos (stripped bodies) floating by and larger flys that flew up and died in mid-flight.

It didn't change the fact that the fish were biting big. If you check out my posts on Diamond Lake (Pend O'rielle County) you can see that these were greaat fishing days.

[Marc Martyn]

What you are describing sounds like a Mayfly spinner fall. They will swarm in great numbers, looking like a moving cloud and eventually die off.
Here is a great article explaining the life cycle of the fabulous Mayfly.

http://www.troutnut.com/hatch/4/Insect- ... a-Mayflies