This year, the Stillwater Classic will be held on Saturday, August 13th.
Since the fish camp began running the Tournament in 2013, it has become a high-light of our summer. We very much appreciate all of the participants, volunteers, and community support. We look forward to the event each year and have welcomed the suggestions and make improvements year after year.
This year, we have a few major changes! For the first time we will be holding a separate Ladies, as well as a Junior (16 & under) competition!!! There will be separate prizes and trophies for these additional categories, as well as a reduced entry rate of $50!
This will not change the Team category, teams are teams, whether made of all adults, all kids, all ladies, ladies and gents, ladies and kids, ect….
We have also commissioned an artist who is busy making some awesome and unique trophy plaques that all 1st through 3rd winners will receive.
Please tell your friends to come join in on the fun!
www.crowleylakefishcamp/stillwater-classic/
Fishing has been for most on the tougher side if your note being guided and the fish are beginning to get very finicky because of the amount of anglers that are fishing the small area of McGee Bay where the creek runs into the lake. You must be patient and constantly change your midges out every 15 minutes or so if you are not getting enough grabs.
The fish are also concentrating now on the millions of perch fry and damsel nymphs up against the edges of the weed beds. You can also be successful in rotating your perch fry patterns to see which pattern the fish are keying in on that day.
When fishing in a tournament environment like the Classic, I have found that you have more success by trying to break off from the pack and fish away from other anglers if possible. Fish as far inside or outside as you can from other anglers and if you can fish away from everyone on the edges. This has given me and other winners the edge in the past to win these tournaments.
Even with the fish keying in on the fry, the fish are very active on the midges right now. I have been starting out with Black/Red with a Copper head in the morning and them switching up to the Grey patterns once I see a few midges start to come off the water or I slow down on the takes. The Grey and red with a white head has been excellent for me before gone to the Grey and black with white head.
Be patient and if you can corner an area where no other anglers can get in front of you, fish as close to the weed edges as possible. If you can find a small depressions or bowl that just goes back into the weeds just a few feet, fish inside out just outside this area where fish will be moving thru. If the wind is blowing in from the weed line, cast up against the edge of the weeds and allow your midge to move back to you in the current. This makes your presentations look much more real and also lets you know if your midge is getting caught up on any stickups along the bottom. If your indicator is not coming back, move your fly up about 3 inches and try again until it comes out smooth and not catching up on the lake floor.
My best words of advice are this: DO NOT BE AFRAID TO MAKE CHANGES OFTEN AND MOVE AWAY FROM THE PACK. You will be surprised to see you will catch more and larger fish when you are not around other anglers.
Good Luck Anglers,
I do love me some “Stillwater” fly fishing…..Ernie