Fishing Report:
Wasn't expecting much other than a spectacular setting. Still, access was good for a float tube, canoe or kayak and I had some time to kill. I thought mostly of taking some photos, mainly some mirror image mess-arounds.
But within three minutes of line out, started getting strikes. Up towards this end and as it was getting darker, you could hear tail slaps of the presumptive beaver towards the inlet creek. Red-winged blackbirds were having a blast in the cattails and reeds. At times the valley this lake sits in was completely, utterly quiet.
All of the fish caught were coastal cutts. The really hot afternoon was about ready to switch to a cool-down, and before it did, the wind picked up. With the breeze, a full-on hatch was blowing clouds of midges out of the reeds and up the lake. The fish were going nuts, so fun to see jumpers all around.
Trout ambushed where the wind compressed around a small point. The feeding opportunities concentrated the hatch in the turbulent air just as baitfish might with water moving around a point. I tied an emerger on and that worked ok, I slow stripped it and the attacks were less frequent than the fish concentrations otherwise suggested, the small cutts were keyed in on the tiny midges and not the lump of brown fuzz I offered them.
The fun part was watching the hatch go off and the cutts jumping.
They ranged in size from 9-14 inches, the biggest were caught deep on beadhead copper leach, I used my larger-hooked salt version of this same fly to select-up bigger fish only. Cutts love a rusty/gold streamer, salt or fresh....
The more adult the fish the darker the coloration and more vibrant the markings.
You know that feeling you get when you fish a new-to-you place with low expectations other than photo ops? Well this place blew me away, way more fun fishing than I was expecting and can't wait to get my son out on it in the tandem!
How the cutthroat got its colors...The gloomy twilight was broken up for a few minutes with this rainbow..
Wasn't expecting much other than a spectacular setting. Still, access was good for a float tube, canoe or kayak and I had some time to kill. I thought mostly of taking some photos, mainly some mirror image mess-arounds.
But within three minutes of line out, started getting strikes. Up towards this end and as it was getting darker, you could hear tail slaps of the presumptive beaver towards the inlet creek. Red-winged blackbirds were having a blast in the cattails and reeds. At times the valley this lake sits in was completely, utterly quiet.
All of the fish caught were coastal cutts. The really hot afternoon was about ready to switch to a cool-down, and before it did, the wind picked up. With the breeze, a full-on hatch was blowing clouds of midges out of the reeds and up the lake. The fish were going nuts, so fun to see jumpers all around.
Trout ambushed where the wind compressed around a small point. The feeding opportunities concentrated the hatch in the turbulent air just as baitfish might with water moving around a point. I tied an emerger on and that worked ok, I slow stripped it and the attacks were less frequent than the fish concentrations otherwise suggested, the small cutts were keyed in on the tiny midges and not the lump of brown fuzz I offered them.
The fun part was watching the hatch go off and the cutts jumping.
They ranged in size from 9-14 inches, the biggest were caught deep on beadhead copper leach, I used my larger-hooked salt version of this same fly to select-up bigger fish only. Cutts love a rusty/gold streamer, salt or fresh....
The more adult the fish the darker the coloration and more vibrant the markings.
You know that feeling you get when you fish a new-to-you place with low expectations other than photo ops? Well this place blew me away, way more fun fishing than I was expecting and can't wait to get my son out on it in the tandem!
How the cutthroat got its colors...The gloomy twilight was broken up for a few minutes with this rainbow..
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