Dry Falls Fishing Dried Up?

I am 74 and fished here since 1957 (when I was old enough to hold a rod).

And yes, I fished DF in the late 50's.
 
Last edited:
75. I can't remember the first time I fished Dry Falls.

I moved to Wenatchee from Colville in 1985. I did start fishing it more when my fishing buddy decided it was his GO TO LAKE. I ended up fishing it more with him. I guess that was probably in the 1990's.

I enjoyed fishing it, but it wasn't a favorite of mine. There was a period of five years that I really enjoyed fishing Beda Lake. Then a couple of lakes that were great until they became selective fisheries.

I do wish the basin was safer place to fish these days. Too many dead people showing up in places I use to hunt and fish.
 
Me and Methusula used run float and jigs when water was still coming over the falls...

Now ....frost that...
😁🤣😁
 
Born 1949, started fishing Dry Falls in about 1962. Camped at the lake for opener, lowland lake date. Lake managed with fingerlings to reach 12" by opener, limit three. Oh but the carryovers.... We basically moved to Nunnally late 60's because the fish were bigger and it was easier to fish. Lots of shore fishing, same rules. Have fished both continuously since. Best fish 25" bow DF, and a 23" brown (see avatar) a few years ago. Nunnally same on 25" bow, and 27" tiger. Poof.....
Fished DF May 27th. Used a #14 zebra 'mid over a balanced damsel. All dozen takes in 15 FOW or less under indicator either along a rock wall where it met reeds, or middle of second bay. Most 19" to 20". Then Back to the Wall next day.......:p
 
Clean Willy said:
Do we need a 'Back in the Day' section?
Click to expand...

It would be an interesting thread for sure.

If it stayed on topic and avoided attacks on posters or government agencies, it would be beneficial for 'back in the day' to allow others to understand 'what was'.

Due to certain personalities of members here 'not going to happen '...

Prove me wrong!
 
T
DimeBrite said:
Yeah, oral history testimonials need to be collated into a new subforum, NPR style.
Click to expand...


Got the bumper music ready...

Now for the new forum

Geriatric Glimpses :Memory Lane

lewis and clark~2.jpg
 
assuming the wdfw datasets are accurate, the last adult rainbow stocked in dry falls was in 1998. i don't think any of the triploids planted there were fry.

also, stocking levels really have not changed in the last ten years except to discontinue the tigers. if there are any left, they will be bruisers.

1781711293436.png
 
Last edited:
Fishing went to hell after these were gone...

taken-from-british-zoology-by-thomas-pennant-1812-MYKN5Y.jpg

Eosalmo driftwoodensis
Fun fact, salmo used to be Eosalmo_d
🙂
 
dflett68 said:
assuming the wdfw datasets are accurate, the last adult rainbow stocked in dry falls was in 1998. i don't think any of the triploids planted there were fry.

also, stocking levels really have not changed in the last ten years except to discontinue the tigers. if there are any left, they will be bruisers.

View attachment 186264
Click to expand...
What is not shown is what source hatchery/ies. That might be part of the issue at hand.
 
509 said:
I don't understand why the water level dropped at Dry Falls, since I assume it is fed by water from Banks Lake flowing below ground.

Does anybody know what changed at Banks Lake and its operation that would have resulted in Dry Falls lake levels dropping??
Click to expand...
I have a theory: Approximately 15 years ago they (BLM?) drastically lowered Banks Lake to do repairs on the dam and gates on the south end of the the lake, tighten things up as it were, one of the results of these repairs was less ground water flowing into Dry Falls Lake.
 
WT! said:
I have a theory: Approximately 15 years ago they (BLM?) drastically lowered Banks Lake to do repairs on the dam and gates on the south end of the the lake, tighten things up as it were, one of the results of these repairs was less ground water flowing into Dry Falls Lake.
Click to expand...
Its BOR not BLM. BLM gets blamed for everthing!!

I remember the repairs on the dam. I think, that Dry Falls was drying up before then. But you might be right.

It wouldn't take much water from Banks to refill Dry Falls. Is there anyway to do that??
 
Long_Rod_Silvers said:
I'm probably alone in this, but I like how it's changed.

Mind sharing where you're getting that data? What I'm seeing on WDFW looks very different (format, not necessarily the numbers). The website from what I can tell only publishes the stocking plan, and that's in PDF.
Click to expand...
i pull a csv extract from the link below (it's a wdfw dataset but not the wdfw site) and then work with the data in excel. the format in the snips is just a pivot table. the stocking plan is a different dataset, but i'm guessing it can also be pulled in csv. if not, there are tools out there to convert the .pdf to excel.

WDFW-Fish Plants | Data.WA | State of Washington

data.wa.gov data.wa.gov
 
dflett68 said:
i pull a csv extract from the link below (it's a wdfw dataset but not the wdfw site) and then work with the data in excel. the format in the snips is just a pivot table. the stocking plan is a different dataset, but i'm guessing it can also be pulled in csv. if not, there are tools out there to convert the .pdf to excel.

WDFW-Fish Plants | Data.WA | State of Washington

data.wa.gov data.wa.gov
Click to expand...
Sweet, thanks!!
 
My first fly fishing trip to df was with a friend back in the 90's. Fished a green wolly bugger in a round tube all day on sci ang type 3 and caught a dozen. I was amazed. Original boat launch. At one point I brought a 1977 porsche 911, drove it slowly and made it into dry falls. It was all I had to drive at the time and i really wanted to fish. So I tried an successfully made in and out of dry falls. Testimony to the car. It didn't miss a beat. Got on I-90 on the way home driving 100mph thinking life couldn't get any better. Those were definitely the days to remember.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top