Fished another scenic little lake in north central WA yesterday. If you've been there you'll probably recognize it from this photo. The water temperature was in the 46 to 47 degree range, and the water clarity was very good with about 15' of visibility (versus about 5' this past spring). No hatches and hardly any fish rising. Only landed 4 rainbows in the 14 to 17 inch range. Only 1 of the 4 was a good fighter and all looked like they had been caught previously, like this one:
The fish were mostly caught over deep water from about 10 to 16 feet down, mainly while I was waiting for my fly to sink. Otherwise, my usual casting and stripping techniques didn't work at all. I was using water boatman and leech patterns. Slightly disappointed not to catch any 18 to 20 inchers. I wasn't spotting many fish on my fish finder. I wouldn't expect this lake to summer-kill or get fished out, so I'm not sure where all the fish went.
Had the lake to myself all day. Although the launch and parking area were a little trashy (picked up a half bag of trash), I didn't see any Power Bait or fish entrails, so that was good. The outhouse even had half a roll of toilet paper, surprisingly, these days.
Nice spot for wildlife sightings. Saw a deer and heard some Pygmy Nuthatches and about a dozen other bird species. The Merlin app also picked up some Chukar, Canyon Wrens and Red Crossbills. Just south of the lake I saw a large flock of Wild Turkeys (maybe 60), some of which might end up on someone's Thanksgiving dinner table.
Enjoyed a nice sunset on the drive out:
Rex
