A lot! It was my 84th year and 71st year of fly fishing and I did all I could. Early spring found me on local lakes fishing all of my favorite haunts. Krusty's retirement in late 2021 improved his status as part time fishing buddy to full time and meant more frequent trips than years past. Fishing in Idaho and Montana with East Side Scott for days at a time added to the total. The Obscure Lakes Program with Krusty produced some amazing days of fishing including one day near a highway that produced a grand slam of rainbows, cutthroat, tiger and brook trout and probably about 25 fish apiece. On 2 lakes that we have done well in before we completely struck out.
I think I fished in about 5 different weeks with my little sister Freestone including the 2 weeks+ annual birthday bash in July/August. We fished at least 12 of those days,maybe more, and had memorable days of creek fishing that involved miles of walking, wading and beating the brush for native cutthroat on dry flies. The most rewarding fishing of the year as it required our best to locate fish and present flies to them. We also fished the river and hammered smallmouth in the evenings after a tough day of stream fishing.
Two trips of Okonogan County for a total of about 3 weeks provided numerous opportunities at a variety of fish and our favorite general regs lake put big grins on our faces with fish over 20''. Big lahontans were on the menu at another lake and we did well both in spring and fall.
Two trips to a mountain lake produced obscene numbers of cutthroats, many on Olive Willy's. This was a lake that Freestone had to be escorted off of, she was catching so many fish on dries that she lost track of time! The lake was great in spring and the fish were even bigger in the fall.
Another mountain lake that we always frequent up a narrow dusty road produced far less than expected with smaller than usual fish. The return trip in the fall didn't seem worth the pain but we'll try again. Other notables were a hike in lake that Scott, Krusty and I wheeled our boats into-about a half mile walk. It hadn't fished well in recent years but all reports indicated it was returning to it's former glory. We confirmed that with several large fish and some impressive breakoffs. Going back in the fall with Freestone revealed some 20''+ fish taking flies in spectacular fashion right against the bank. Wonderful fishing!
Another put-n-take lake nearby maintained it reputation as a big fish producer in October. Mostly neglected after the first month of the season and only having one tiny spot to bank fish, the fish grow like crazy all summer and by fall are in prime shape. I fished this lake several times this fall with various friends and also alone and every time had excellent fishing for powerful holdover fish. Two years ago I met a lady on the lake that landed a 25'' rainbow, my biggest this year was 21'' but good numbers of fat 16'' to 19'' fish were present. On another nearby lake we fished that seldom gets any attention I caught my biggest tiger ever and think I may have figured out where the fish are at last. It will get another try in 2023, in 2021 I fished it for about 3 hours and got one bite- a 20'' rainbow on an orange/pink Booby.
Finally, the last fishing day of the season found East Side Scott, Krusty, Old 406 Kid and I on our favorite zipper lips big fish lake. It didn't disappoint as Krusty and I both caught our biggest fish of the year to wrap up a great season.
Now into my 85th year I am going to scale back my travel schedule for the new year. I have fished in Okonogan County for over 35 years now but the drive over 3 mountain passes has become really tedious. I do have 2 Montana trips penciled in and of course the obligatory trip or two to the NFCDA but by and large my goal is to fish more local water with my retired friends and spend less time en route. Small creek Tenkara is high on my priority list in the New Year.
Happy New Year and Tight Lines, Ive
