Equipment & Check List

Rods: Recommending “the” rod for Rock Creek Lake can open the proverbial can of worms. There is much disagreement on what rod one should use for any kind of fishing. Here are some thoughts on selecting a rod for Rock Creek fishing: using a nine foot or even a 9 1/2-10 foot rod makes sense, since it makes casting easier when sitting in a float tube. What weight of rod is another issue altogether. Many anglers feel you should use a 5 or 6 or even a 7 wt rod when fishing for large fish which you will mostly certainly encounter in Rock Creek. They feel you can bring those heavy fish to hand much faster when using the heavier rods. This is certainly true when your tippet strength is in the 6 lb or heavier range. However, when using tippets of 6x or 7x an argument can be made for selecting lighter rods to tame those large fish faster. The thinking is that you can put much more pressure on the fish with the lighter rod before the tippet will fail. We have experienced this many times while using 3 to 4 wt rods and 6x tippets on Rock Creek Lake fish. Landing fish of several pounds usually takes no more than 5 minutes or so. Whatever your choice please be aware that if you take much more than10 minutes to land any fish you stand a good chance of killing it. It may seem fine after reviving it, but chances are the lactic acid build up will be too great and it will die the next day.

Reels: Most of the reels made today are fine for Rock Creek Lake. A good, smooth drag system can be found on reels in almost any price range. If you are buying a reel the most important thing to remember is to buy at a reputable fly shop and trust what the salesman is telling you. They will try to match you with a reel in your price range and matched to the type of fishing you will usually do. They aren’t about to put you in to any inferior product. In fact, that shop won’t even have any inferior products, and if does, it is not the quality shop you should be patronizing. Other than that, just be sure the reel can hold at least 50 yards of backing with the fly line you will be using (see next paragraph).

Fly Lines: Most of the fishing at any of our private waters is done with floating fly lines, however the variety of these lines available today can be confusing. Once again, the best course of action, if you are in the market to buy a line, is trust your chosen fly shop to give you good advice, or give us a call at The Fly Shop at 800-669-3474. If your budget can handle it you might give consideration to the new high priced floating lines. They do float higher than the less expensive ones and this makes your fishing day so much more enjoyable. You will find it much easier to lift your line off the water for a back cast and, when in a float tube, this is a blessing. Weight forward versus double taper is no longer much of an issue these days. Most shops carry very few double tapers, since almost every angler wants to use a weight forward fly line.

Leaders: If picking out a fly line can be confusing, picking out a leader can be down right frustrating. Here are some things to consider in choosing leaders for lake fishing: buy 10 or 12 foot leaders tapered to 4x if you will be using dry flies or emergers or anything suspended in the top foot or so of the water. Have tippet material, preferably fluorocarbon, on hand of 4x to 6x. The tapered leader can be nylon or fluorocarbon but the tippets should all be fluorocarbon. Attach 2 to 3 feet of tippet material to the leader and you are ready to go. If you are fishing nymphs at deeper levels you can use shorter leaders (7 ft or so) and longer tippets. The tippet length to the first nymph depends on how deep you want that nymph to be. If you are retrieving streamer type flies or nymphs at shallow depths (2-3 feet) use fluorocarbon leaders and tippets. You want the leader and tippet to be under the water.

Miscellaneous Tackle

The only other tackle needs one might have for lake fishing is some type of indicator. Many anglers shun indicators and will use a dry fly instead. They just suspend nymphs beneath the dry fly. If you are fishing at depths much greater than 2 or 3 feet you will find this method unwieldy. You will need an indicator to hold up those nymphs, since most of the time you will be using 2 of them. The type of indicator is really not important, but the size is. We would suggest using the smallest size possible that can hold up those nymphs. Tiny split shot can be a help, especially if you are fishing with tiny nymphs such as midges, etc. You should not need shot when using the larger nymphs. That pretty much sums up tackle needs at Rock Creek Lake.

Other items to consider bringing

*Hat *Sunscreen *Polarized Sun Glasses * Clippers *Hemostats *Camera

Flies for Rock Creek Lake

As is the case for almost any body of water the most productive flies for Rock Creek Lake can change throughout the season, and sometimes what works one year doesn’t seem to produce as well the next. The patterns listed below are ones that have proven themselves over the course of time. These are not the only flies that one can ply the waters of Rock Creek Lake with, but the chances are if you have those listed you can catch fish on any lake anywhere. For the most up-to-date fly suggestions, give us a call at The Fly Shop at (800) 669-3474.

STREAMERS

Richard’s Seal Bugger, #8
Crystal Buggers, (olive,blk,olive), #8-12
Beaded Micro Bugger, (blk,brn,olive), #12
Zacks Zugger Bugger, (all colars), #8

NYMPHS

Zack Attack Damsel, (olive), #14
TFS Damsel, #14 
Zacks Zallibaetis, #14
Poxyback Callibaetis, #16
PT Nymphs, #14-20
CB Micro Mayfly, (blk), #18-20
Red Copper John, #14-18
Chan's Copper Bead Frostbite Midge, #16-18
Chromie, #16
Mercer’s Gidget, (olive,brn), #18
Mercer’s Zebra Midgeling, #18-20

DRIES

Parachute Adams, #16-20
Callibaetis Cripple, #16
Griffith Gnat, #20
Quigley’s Spider Midge, #20
Foam Beetle, #14-18
Oswald’s Parafoam Ant, #16
Black Flying Ant, #14
Chernobyl Ant, #10

To make a reservation, please give us a call at 800-669-3474 during business hours any day of the week. We can give you the answers you need or the detailed explanations to questions you might have.

If you prefer to correspond on-line simply e-mail us at The Fly Shop and well respond promptly.