Decided to get out and enjoy the unseasonably warm temperatures out there in central WA at one of our most scenic lakes, which I'm sure most of you will recognize from this photo. Don't let the calm water fool you; most of the time it was quite windy, sometimes so windy I had to anchor my pontoon boat. Fishing was tough on Wed, but much better on Thursday, for unknown reasons. The water temperature was in the 45 to 47 degree range and the water clarity was excellent with about 14' of visibility. The fish I landed were all rainbows in a variety of sizes, but most were very chunky and good fighters. Some were dark, and one spewed a bunch of eggs into my net.
Here's a couple of fish photos:
I hooked all the fish casting and stripping leeches or water boatman patterns. The color or size of the leeches didn't seem to matter. There were some micro-midges hatching, but I only saw 2 fish rise on Wed and 1 fish rise on Thurs. Saw some good-sized water boatmen in the shallows.
There were 8 other guys there on Wed and 10 other guys there on Thurs, but I don't know how they were doing as I arrived late and departed late each day (helps to avoid congestion at the tiny "launch" to do it this way). From what I could see they were mostly fishing indicators.
Pesky mosquitoes have emerged with the warmer temperatures and are biting, mostly around the parking area. There are lots of mud puddles on the road in, so I'd guess that the mosquitoes will really be bad in a couple of weeks.
Be advised that the work on the Vantage Bridge has narrowed the freeway into one lane in each direction (40 mph speed limit). I encountered no backups on Wed or Thurs, but my wife and I went birding on Friday out in the Othello area, and the backup eastbound was 1 hour and 15 minutes, even though the sign said "1 minute wait"! Just make sure you stop at the rest area at Ryegrass before heading down to Vantage.
At the lake and at the Ankeny #1 campsite I saw or heard more birds than usual, including: Peregrine Falcons, Red-tailed Hawks, Northern Harriers, American Kestrels, Turkey Vultures, Sandhill Cranes, Snow Geese, Trumpeter Swans, Canada Geese, Buffleheads, American Wigeons, Common Goldeneyes, Greater Scaup, Mallards, Common Mergansers, Hooded Mergansers, Pied-billed Grebes, Ravens, Crows, Red-winged Blackbirds, Brewer’s Blackbirds, Say’s Phoebes, Savanah Sparrows, Song Sparrows, House Sparrows, Violet-green Swallows, Tree Swallows, Canyon Wrens, Rock Wrens, Marsh Wrens, Bewick’s Wrens, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Dark-eyed Juncos, House Finches, American Goldfinches, Black-capped Chickadees, Horned Larks, Ring-billed Gulls, California Gulls, Spotted Towhees, Killdeer, Western Meadowlarks, Gray Partridge, White-throated Swifts, Virginia Rails, a Long-billed Curlew, Black-billed Magpies, American Robins, Ring-necked Pheasants, Mourning Doves, California Quail and Northern Flickers. Also saw a Porcupine and a Turtle. On the drive I saw Snow Geese, Sandhill Cranes, Canada Geese, Cackling Geese, Mallards, Buffleheads, Coots, American Wigeons, Ring-necked Ducks, Greater Scaup, a Great Blue Heron, Crows, Ravens, Red-winged Blackbirds, Brewer’s Blackbirds, Starlings, 2 Bald Eagles, 5 Raptors, American Kestrels, Robins, Golden-crowned Kinglets, House Finches, Song Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, Northern Flickers, Black-billed Magpies, Mourning Doves, Pigeons and Gulls.
The spring wildflowers have just started to appear. Saw some Sage Buttercups, Buckwheat, Phlox, Balsamroot and Blue Mustard. Should be a good year for wildflowers.
Anyway, hope you can get out there and enjoy the spring fishing!
Rex
