A fishing report that isn't

Big Meadow Lake. When I moved to the tundra 24 years ago I was blessed to have this wonderful lake just 8 miles from my door. Back then it was a jewel, an hourglass shaped lake with a 5-7' deep upper end and a much deeper main body of water. It was all open water except for a small patch of lily pads in the shallow end. It had healthy populations of good rainbow up to around 16'' with a few reaching 19''. Summer may fly hatches were abundant and I often went up in the evening for the late hatch and fished till dark. I remember 5 of us being on the lake one summer day and caught and released over 120 fish. Fall fishing could be spectacular as fish bulked up for winter and greedily inhaled most any chironomid pattern.

Then it started to weed up, the upper shallow end first and eventually spread to the entire lake. There were still nice fish in there but they often were lost in the weeds and it was very difficult to operate any kind of kickboat in those weeds. I abandoned it because there were better lakes nearby that didn't have weed problems. I didn't fish it for years until last year when Northern and Fishin' Girl were here and I took them up to see if maybe 3 rods could unlock some fish. Northern hooked the only fish that day so we didn't waste much more time there.

Today I went up to see if there was any open water hoping I could get out into the deep section and maybe hook some of the big fish that should still be there. But the margins are so weedy that I would get caught up in them and not be able to move around. And weeds now appear to cover most of the lake. And by the time I got up there the wind had come up and was blowing a gale directly out of the shallow end of the lake. I think there must be fish present but they are difficult to fish for and you would need heavy tippets to deal with them. But with a boat that could skim across the weeds you might be able to locate some open water and still find some worthwhile fish. Give it a try and don't be afraid to hotspot. It would be great to hear any positive news about this once great lake.

 

[skyriver]

Sucks to lose productive water, especially when it's local. Those places are so special to the ones that know them.

 

[krusty]

Big Meadow Lake. When I moved to the tundra 24 years ago I was blessed to have this wonderful lake just 8 miles from my door. Back then it was a jewel, an hourglass shaped lake with a 5-7' deep upper end and a much deeper main body of water. It was all open water except for a small patch of lily pads in the shallow end. It had healthy populations of good rainbow up to around 16'' with a few reaching 19''. Summer may fly hatches were abundant and I often went up in the evening for the late hatch and fished till dark. I remember 5 of us being on the lake one summer day and caught and released over 120 fish. Fall fishing could be spectacular as fish bulked up for winter and greedily inhaled most any chironomid pattern.

Then it started to weed up, the upper shallow end first and eventually spread to the entire lake. There were still nice fish in there but they often were lost in the weeds and it was very difficult to operate any kind of kickboat in those weeds. I abandoned it because there were better lakes nearby that didn't have weed problems. I didn't fish it for years until last year when Northern and Fishin' Girl were here and I took them up to see if maybe 3 rods could unlock some fish. Northern hooked the only fish that day so we didn't waste much more time there.

Today I went up to see if there was any open water hoping I could get out into the deep section and maybe hook some of the big fish that should still be there. But the margins are so weedy that I would get caught up in them and not be able to move around. And weeds now appear to cover most of the lake. And by the time I got up there the wind had come up and was blowing a gale directly out of the shallow end of the lake. I think there must be fish present but they are difficult to fish for and you would need heavy tippets to deal with them. But with a boat that could skim across the weeds you might be able to locate some open water and still find some worthwhile fish. Give it a try and don't be afraid to hotspot. It would be great to hear any positive news about this once great lake.

Even though it was a long drive from Spokane I fished it quite a bit, and was my favorite place to take new flyfishers because one could count on plenty of action.

It's obvious the lake is on its way to becoming a true meadow as it enters the final stages of normal lake life-cycle eutrophication (excessive nutrients). I wonder if the process accelerated after the concrete dam-like roadway crossing at the discharge end began to trap nutrients from being flushed out during late winter snowmelt. I don't think they even installed a culvert in the concrete to facilitate outflow (particulate nutrient transport requires some velocity). And it's likely successive years of low mountain snowpack didn't help the situation.

Big Meadow may have become a man-made impoundment, which are notorious for creating conditions that support aquatic macrophytes (science talk for plants that extend from the bottom to the surface). Too much available plant food residing in the bottom sediments...in a shallow lake with plenty of sunlight penetration for photosynthesis.