Let's talk about Brown Trout at Pass Lake

Jim in Anacortes · Nov 11, 2022

I spent many summers chasing Germans Brown Trout in the Eastern Sierras. This particular fish has long held a place in my heart. I am grateful to live near Pass Lake that has big Brown Trout. Obviously these "eating machines" are gorging on the Fathead Minnows. Also, I have to believe that they are gorging on the crawdads that are very abundant. Personally my biggest Brown (at Pass) was fooled by a slow trolled semi-seal black leech... but honestly I get most of my best Browns up near shore, where they are chasing minnows or lurking under a log. Make no mistake, I appreciate the Rainbows at Pass Lake (beautiful fish) but ,for me, those damned Browns just seem more "bad ass". I'm curious.... do any of you folks out there specifically target Browns at Pass, disregarding the Rainbows to more accurately target just the German Brown Trout?

Islander · Nov 11, 2022

When I first moved to Whidbey, the only reason I would go to Pass was to target big browns. Success varied through the years but I loved fishing for them in the late evening during the summer and fall. My “go to“ patterns were a crawdad I use to tie, my blonde bunny and big sculpins. I have caught rainbows there when I was “just fishing”, but there is nothing like the feel of a stout brown taking you down to the bottom when you set the hook.

Tim L · Nov 12, 2022

There's an entire art to spotting them along shore, at times in 2 feet or less of water, often in the overhang. Timing is everything, but they'll claim their real estate and go about their business sipping mayflies off the surface - these would appear to be smaller trout, nothing special. If you sit and stare long enough you might catch a dorsal or tail fin, sometimes both, and realize that's only half the length...the older/larger browns tend to behave this way so very good odds on the size if you can spot what I'm describing.

This can be midday or early eve, it's not night fishing.

If you have the patience to watch, rig up and play a slow subtle game with your fly, the experience and reward are unsurpassed at that lake and certainly my favorite way to chase browns there. No magic potion on the fly, small emerger, I love Pablo's Cripple for this game, or any cripple/challenged pattern but it needs to be small. Dry fly skills are a necessity all the way to the net.

Look for this opportunity when spring Chironomids have the lake anchored up watching bobbers. You'll be alone, fishless, while everyone around you whoops up the singles and doubles. I know very few who accept and sign up for the challenge, but you can see why no one does it. I've seen maybe two others do it successfully at Pass - and this is not the byproduct you get during a full on Callibaetis hatch. These trout are solo in territory they've staked out for themselves.

It's not for everyone but certainly worth it if you enjoy the hunt, catch or no catch.

Tallguy · Nov 12, 2022

Tim Lockhart said:
There's an entire art to spotting them along shore, at times in 2 feet or less of water, often in the overhang. Timing is everything, but they'll claim their real estate and go about their business sipping mayflies off the surface - these would appear to be smaller trout, nothing special. If you sit and stare long enough you might catch a dorsal or tail fin, sometimes both, and realize that's only half the length.

This can be midday or early eve, it's not night fishing.

If you have the patience to watch, rig up and play a slow subtle game with your fly, the experience and reward are unsurpassed at that lake. No magic potion on the fly, small emerger, I love Pablo's Cripple for this game, or any cripple/challenged pattern but it needs to be small. Dry fly skills are a necessity all the way to the net.

Look for this opportunity when spring Chironomids have the lake anchored up watching bobbers. You'll be alone, fishless, while everyone around you whoops up the singles and doubles. I know very few who accept and sign up for the challenge, but you can see why no one does it. I've seen maybe two others do it successfully at Pass - and this is not the byproduct you get during a full on Callibaetis hatch. These trout are solo in territory they've staked out for themselves.

It's not for everyone but certainly worth it if you enjoy the hunt, catch or no catch.

This strategy is what I used to run on the Truckee river near Reno for big brown trout on dry flies. Sitting and watching for what looked like a single raindrop hitting the water up under bank brush. Then being shocked at how much water moved when you set the hook.

Scott Salzer · Nov 12, 2022

What TL said.

Bambooflyguy · Nov 12, 2022

Tim, you should write a book or two about this......

Jim in Anacortes · Nov 15, 2022

I'll take this opportunity to asks some questions....What should I be doing with "crawdad" imatations? If I know Brown trout, they are not likely ignoring the crawdads (especially along the HWY20 bank ). That being said, I have long been trying to get myself to commit at least a few days trying the crawdad flies that I have already tied. Next question.. Are the majority of Brown trout hugging structure on the bank? That seems, to me, to be the case, however when I get a Brown out in the middle, I wonder what he is doing there. Snacking on chironomids because he's bored????? One more question.... surely there must be some folklore about "flies" that imitate mice, or snakes, or ducklings or something that solely target trophy Browns. I'm talking about something that ONLY a trophy Brown would bite. Those kind of stories would interest me. ..Thanks for any input..and all the input so far. Talking about the Browns in Pass Lake is fun.

jasmillo · Nov 15, 2022

One thing I miss fishing wise living in western WA is Brown Trout. Growing up, targeting big browns on the Farmington River in CT with worms, live minnows and rooster tails was a passion. Fly fishing for them in college in MT, back home in CT after schools and then once I moved to CO became an obsession. Living on the Kitsap side, I have yet to make the trip over to Pass to target browns. @Kfish keeps goading me though and it’s working. I’ll be there a day or two this Spring for sure. It’ll be tough to beat those CO piggies though. Measured pounds, not inches…

This was a decent brown in CO. I caught many bigger fish during my time there.

Kfish · Nov 15, 2022

jasmillo said:
One thing I miss fishing wise living in western WA is Brown Trout. Growing up, targeting big browns on the Farmington River in CT with worms, live minnows and rooster tails was a passion. Fly fishing for them in college in MT, back home in CT after schools and then once I moved to CO became an obsession. Living on the Kitsap side, I have yet to make the trip over to Pass to target browns. @Kfish keeps goading me though and it’s working. I’ll be there a day or two this Spring for sure. It’ll be tough to beat those CO piggies though. Measured pounds, not inches…

This was a decent brown in CO. I caught many bigger fish during my time there.

View attachment 41317

This is why @jasmillo

I tend to catch them early morning, sometimes in the dark near the launch where they feed under the parking lot light. Most of the time they hang out by the banks, sunken trunk, over hangs. Plop a baitfish pattern in there, strip strip wham!

Wanative · Nov 15, 2022

This was my first big Brown at Pass.
They are definitely elusive.
This fly did the damage.

Islander · Nov 15, 2022

I have seen them in the shallows at times chasing minnows, but never really targeted them there. I use to mostly fish for them late evening and night at the west end where all the submerged trees were. They seemed to hang in that cover and attack my crawfish pattern. I would try and get as close to the snags as possible without getting hung up, but that was one of the trade offs. Sometimes you’d think you were snagged and have it be a big brown and sometimes the opposite. Used green for late spring and early summer, then later in the year go to orange or brown. That was back before small digital cameras and cell phones, so I don’t have any pics to show. We do have some nice browns here in Wyoming though and they are just as much fun as the ones long ago from Pass.

Islander · Nov 15, 2022

Jim in Anacortes said:
I'll take this opportunity to asks some questions....What should I be doing with "crawdad" imatations? If I know Brown trout, they are not likely ignoring the crawdads (especially along the HWY20 bank ). That being said, I have long been trying to get myself to commit at least a few days trying the crawdad flies that I have already tied. Next question.. Are the majority of Brown trout hugging structure on the bank? That seems, to me, to be the case, however when I get a Brown out in the middle, I wonder what he is doing there. Snacking on chironomids because he's bored????? One more question.... surely there must be some folklore about "flies" that imitate mice, or snakes, or ducklings or something that solely target trophy Browns. I'm talking about something that ONLY a trophy Brown would bite. Those kind of stories would interest me. ..Thanks for any input..and all the input so far. Talking about the Browns in Pass Lake is fun.

I use to fish my crawfish patterns through and around some type of structure, preferably areas with rocky bottoms. I’m sure you would find browns elsewhere in lakes as they are going to be moving looking for food, because it’s rarely in one constant place. I would use a short jerky motion, if you’ve every watched a crawfish swim, they go backwards and in quick short spurts. I’ll see if I have any of my crawdad ties around, haven’t used them in a long time.

Long_Rod_Silvers · Nov 16, 2022

I've fished it several times in the September - October time frame specifically for Browns. Show up a few hours before sunset and fish until midnight - 1AM (or longer if you want). Throw your streamers tight against any bank structure (logs/submerged trees were my confidence spots) and hang on. Pretty much exactly what @Islander described is what I was doing, except I wasn't using crawfish patterns specifically, just a variety of streamers, anything with some sparkle/flash on it would do the trick. Can be really fun on a starry night with the lake to yourself.

Jake Watrous · Nov 16, 2022

Long_Rod_Silvers said:
I've fished it several times in the September - October time frame specifically for Browns. Show up a few hours before sunset and fish until midnight - 1AM (or longer if you want). Throw your streamers tight against any bank structure (logs/submerged trees were my confidence spots) and hang on. Pretty much exactly what @Islander described is what I was doing, except I wasn't using crawfish patterns specifically, just a variety of streamers, anything with some sparkle/flash on it would do the trick. Can be really fun on a starry night with the lake to yourself.

View attachment 41371

^ this.

At least for me, once I started trolling donuts in front of the launch it soon became a question of how many browns I wanted to catch versus how late into the night it was getting. Not a brag, I was told to do this by someone else and it worked exactly as described.

_WW_ · Nov 17, 2022

That light in the parking area has created it's own little ecosystem near the launch. The older fish are wise to it and will definitely take advantage of it. If you can ever have the launch to yourself predawn, row out some and wait a little bit before casting back towards the launch.

Kfish · Nov 17, 2022

_WW_ said:
That light in the parking area has created it's own little ecosystem near the launch. The older fish are wise to it and will definitely take advantage of it. If you can ever have the launch to yourself predawn, row out some and wait a little bit before casting back towards the launch.

I do exactly that

Jim in Anacortes · Nov 17, 2022

Wow! This thread is producing information. I've always been told that Browns were nocturnal feeders. Before 7:00 am or after 7:00 pm was usually the best times to fish in the Sierras. My experience at Pass Lake is that the early morning (before 7:00am) fishing is underwhelming. I have far more confidence in the "after 7:00 pm" time slot. Both of these "time slots" are typically very inconvenient for us fishermen. I know I've left the lake many times when it was just getting dark and ready to "turn on", simply because it was 9:00pm and I was ready for a hot dinner. Brown trout can mess with your sleep cycle .....and your spousal relationships.

skyriver · Nov 19, 2022

What about the lake down the road? It had decent browns at one point, but not sure these days.

Tim L · Nov 19, 2022

skyriver said:
What about the lake down the road? It had decent browns at one point, but not sure these days.

That's an interesting subject. I used to send illegals there from Pass, saying same kinds of trout and no threat of F&G. On the one hand, everyone hits Pass and ignores that one. On the other hand, any spot in WA that produces tends to get "netted out" (hi NC and IS

!) and I can't see this one staying secret given the location. I know it to fish tough, and am not aware of anyone expert to it. That said, I have my own similar secrets around WA that stay quiet, but in those places I've worked alone, trap shut.