Went back to one of my favorite central WA hike-in lakes this past Thursday. You might recognize the lake from this photo if you've been there:
I got there later than a couple of other fly casters, and I apparently missed out on a good midge hatch earlier on, but I don't really fish midges much these days anyway. I found that the first couple of hours of fishing were very slow. Fortunately, something changed and fish started to become cooperative and I started hooking fish (if you need to know, using a thin BH Dark Olive Rabbit Fur Leech, casting and stripping on an intermediate line, but I don't think the specific fly pattern matters that much). It turned out to be one of my best days at this particular lake, especially in terms of quality fish.
All the fish were rainbows, except for one 18 inch brown:
The rainbows were all very chunky and excellent fighters and jumpers. All the fish were released, so they are still there for you to catch. Here's one of the rainbows:
The mosquitoes weren't too bad, and the profusion of wildflowers made the hike interesting. The Hooker's Onions were the most prolific:
Followed by the Larkspurs:
All in all, I consider this outing to be my most successful quality outing to this particular lake. I have had one outing where I had better numbers, but they were mostly smaller fish. Quality beats quantity most times in my book.
Rex
I got there later than a couple of other fly casters, and I apparently missed out on a good midge hatch earlier on, but I don't really fish midges much these days anyway. I found that the first couple of hours of fishing were very slow. Fortunately, something changed and fish started to become cooperative and I started hooking fish (if you need to know, using a thin BH Dark Olive Rabbit Fur Leech, casting and stripping on an intermediate line, but I don't think the specific fly pattern matters that much). It turned out to be one of my best days at this particular lake, especially in terms of quality fish.
All the fish were rainbows, except for one 18 inch brown:
The rainbows were all very chunky and excellent fighters and jumpers. All the fish were released, so they are still there for you to catch. Here's one of the rainbows:
The mosquitoes weren't too bad, and the profusion of wildflowers made the hike interesting. The Hooker's Onions were the most prolific:
Followed by the Larkspurs:
All in all, I consider this outing to be my most successful quality outing to this particular lake. I have had one outing where I had better numbers, but they were mostly smaller fish. Quality beats quantity most times in my book.
Rex
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