Tried a small seep lake in central WA that some of you will probably recognize from this photo. The water was quite clear, but the shallows were chuck full of weeds that essentially made them unfishable, so the actual fishable area was fairly small. Fortunately, I was the only one there all day, but even then it felt crowded with just me there. I had a fish on my first cast, and then another on my second cast, so I thought it was going to be a great day, but as usual it proved to be tougher than it first appeared to be. However, all the fish I hooked were nice ones in the 16 to 20 inch range, and these rainbows fought really well, about as hard-fighting as any I've hooked this year.
The water temperature was in the 65 to 66 degree range, but the fish showed no signs of needing to be revived.
No hatches of significance, but I did see a few callibaetis spinners, some small water boatman, a few damselfly nymphs, a half dozen adult dragonflies and a couple of adult damselflies. I did see a half-dozen fish rise in the first hour I was there, but after that I only saw 2 fish rise. There were some mosquitoes and deerflies, but they weren't too pesky.
I hooked most of the fish on a Black Rabbit Fur Leech #8, casting and stripping using a RIO Aqualux II clear intermediate full sinking line with a 9' leader down to a 2X RIO Fluoroflex Plus tippet.
Most of the fish looked like this one, although one looked like it had been caught previously and didn't fight very well. No fish were retained, so I don't know what the fish were really eating and I don't do any throat sampling.
The spring wildflowers have tailed off, but there are still some interesting wildflowers out there like Monroe's Desert Mallow, shown above.
Wildlife sightings: On the drive, at my camping spot, or at the lake I saw or heard 1 Deer at the parking area, a Great Egret, a Great Blue Heron, a Black-crowned Night Heron, Osprey, 2 Raptors, Red-tailed Hawks, American Kestrels, Northern Harriers, Turkey Vultures, Double-crested Cormorants, Ring-billed Gulls, California Gulls, Spotted Sandpiper, Crows, Ravens, Mallards, Pied-billed Grebes, a Caspian Tern, American Bitterns, Ring-necked Pheasants, California Quail, Western Meadowlarks, a Spotted Towhee, Say’s Phoebes, Horned Larks, Killdeer, Mourning Doves, Black-billed Magpies, Red-winged Blackbirds, Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Brewer’s Blackbirds, Starlings, Pigeons, Robins, Eastern Kingbirds, Canyon Wrens, Rock Wrens, Marsh Wrens, Common Nighthawks, Cliff Swallows, Violet-green Swallows, Song Sparrows, Golden-crowned Kinglets, House Finches, House Sparrows and Turtles. The Merlin app also identified by sound, but I could not confirm: Nashville Warbler, Bank Swallow, Gadwall, Brown-headed Cowbird, Cedar Waxwing, Northern Flicker, Black-headed Grosbeak, Bullock’s Oriole, Northern Rough-winged Swallow and Lark Sparrow.
Wildflower sightings: On the drive I saw Green Alkanets, Foxgloves, Daisies, Himalayan Blackberries, Spirea, Ragwort, Thimbleberries, Fennel, Hawkweed, Buttercups, Scotch Broom, Wild Roses, California Poppies, Red Clover, Toadflax, Goatsbeard, Mountain Ash, Mustard, Snowbrush, Lupines, Beargrass, Giant White Hellebores, Yellow Desert Fleabane, Balsamroots, Chicory, Yarrow, Yellow Salsify, Whitetops, Showy Milkweed, wild Yellow Irises and Yellow Waterlilies. At the lake I saw Yarrow, Showy Fleabane, Broad-leaved Pepperweed, Munroe’s Desert Mallow, Mustard, Long-leaved Phlox, Alfalfa and Wild Roses.
Back at the parking area I had a nice sunset to cap off the day:
Rex
