Fly Fishing in the San Juans

D

dmcauley

Just Hatched
I'm going to Orcas Island for a week and thought I might like to try fly fishing by wading from shore (or maybe a float tube or rented kayak). The only open fishing now is for bottom fish (green ling, flounder and cabezon). Is it futile to try and catch bottom fish on a fly with limited mobility? If not how would I go about doing this (location and fly). I've only fly fished in salt water a handful of times and it was from a boat. I could also buy a spinning rod up there and try that if fly fishing is just a futile endeavor. I know there are 2 lakes on Orcas but I was hoping to expand my horizons a little with some salt water fishing.
 
dmcauley said:
I'm going to Orcas Island for a week and thought I might like to try fly fishing by wading from shore (or maybe a float tube or rented kayak). The only open fishing now is for bottom fish (green ling, flounder and cabezon). Is it futile to try and catch bottom fish on a fly with limited mobility? If not how would I go about doing this (location and fly). I've only fly fished in salt water a handful of times and it was from a boat. I could also buy a spinning rod up there and try that if fly fishing is just a futile endeavor. I know there are 2 lakes on Orcas but I was hoping to expand my horizons a little with some salt water fishing.
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The San Juan Islands are NOT known for searun cutts. So, trying to fish for them is likely to be futile. Fishing from the rocks in high current areas might give you a shot at greenlings or rockfish (not many cabezon, strangely, in the San Juans). But you will have to get your fly down to the fish and that raises the likelihood of snagging on kelp. The tidal currents can be crazy around the San Juan Islands and I would NOT recommend that you use a float tube.
There are three lakes in Moran State Park, two of which are stocked. The lowermost lake, Cascade Lake, is stocked with catchable rainbows in the spring (and there are some cutts there too) and kokanee fry in late summer. The middle lake, Mountain Lake, is stocked with cutthroat trout fry in the fall. If you have a pontoon boat, I suggest that you hike to the north end of the lake from the parking area and launch there. You can drive up to either of Cascade Lake or Mountain Lake, and I believe that there may be concessionaire at Cascade Lake from whom you can rent aluminum row boats. The uppermost lakes, Twin Lakes, have traditionally held self-sustaining populations of smallish brook trout. These lakes require a 2+ mile hike from the parking area at Mountain Lake.
Steve
 
When my ex-wifes folks had a place up there I really enjoyed the smallmouth fishing in one of the lakes.
 
I grew up fishing in the area. As a kid we could catch rockfish everywhere. Not sure what is relevant anymore but I would guess if you weren’t targeting anything specifically you would have a great time throwing some clousers and seeing what you hook.
 
I'm thinking a slow retrieve of Clousers down deep might get into some sand dabs or starry flounders. Or at least bullheads!
 
Cascade Lake has a LMB problem now. Rent a boat and do some thinning. Mountain Lake is nice as well, cutts galore. There’s a primitive boat ramp for launching and possibly canoe rentals. When I was there (Mntn Lake) last I saw a sign for rentals but no actual boats, you may wish to confirm. Both lakes are beautiful, a good way to spend a day.
 
If you haven't been there before if you can get in a whale watch it will probably be worth it. to go to Orcas and not see Orcas if you only go there once in a lifetime seems like a missed opportunity.
 
Sir Homey said:
Cascade Lake has a LMB problem now. Rent a boat and do some thinning. Mountain Lake is nice as well, cutts galore. There’s a primitive boat ramp for launching and possibly canoe rentals. When I was there (Mntn Lake) last I saw a sign for rentals but no actual boats, you may wish to confirm. Both lakes are beautiful, a good way to spend a day.
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I just spent a few days on a Cascade Lake/Moran family camping trip - returned from Orcas yesterday. So many LMBs (predominantly very small) that is quickly got to a point where it was just silly. Unfortunately it seems bass have taken over the lake over the past X years. They plant trout fry/kokanee fry….the bass eat em. Rinse. Repeat.
 
Cabezon said:
The San Juan Islands are NOT known for searun cutts. So, trying to fish for them is likely to be futile. Fishing from the rocks in high current areas might give you a shot at greenlings or rockfish (not many cabezon, strangely, in the San Juans). But you will have to get your fly down to the fish and that raises the likelihood of snagging on kelp. The tidal currents can be crazy around the San Juan Islands and I would NOT recommend that you use a float tube.
There are three lakes in Moran State Park, two of which are stocked. The lowermost lake, Cascade Lake, is stocked with catchable rainbows in the spring (and there are some cutts there too) and kokanee fry in late summer. The middle lake, Mountain Lake, is stocked with cutthroat trout fry in the fall. If you have a pontoon boat, I suggest that you hike to the north end of the lake from the parking area and launch there. You can drive up to either of Cascade Lake or Mountain Lake, and I believe that there may be concessionaire at Cascade Lake from whom you can rent aluminum row boats. The uppermost lakes, Twin Lakes, have traditionally held self-sustaining populations of smallish brook trout. These lakes require a 2+ mile hike from the parking area at Mountain Lake.
Steve
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Hmmm... I spent every summer in Orcas Island as a kid. Caught tons of greenling, cabezon and rockfish, and an occasional lingcod off rocky points in 10-20 feet of water from a rowboat. Pre-fly fishing, I used mostly silver & white crappie jigs and lead jig heads painted white with rubber tails on a light spinning rod. I'd love to try fly fishing the same spots with a sinking line and some sandlance, polychaete worm and shrimp patterns! That was a quite a few year ago, might be completely different today.
 
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Coho said:
Hmmm... I spent every summer in Orcas Island as a kid. Caught tons of greenling, cabezon and rockfish, and an occasional lingcod off rocky points in 10-20 feet of water from a rowboat. Pre-fly fishing, I used mostly silver & white crappie jigs and lead jig heads painted white with rubber tails on a light spinning rod. I'd love to try fly fishing the same spots with a sinking line and some sandlance, polychaete worm and shrimp patterns! That was a quite a few year ago, might be completely different today.
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Interesting observations. As part of my research on the feeding biology of cottids, I started diving around the San Juans in the early 1980's, especially San Juan Island, the west side of Shaw Island, East Sound of Orcas, and Bell Island. I haven't been diving there since the early 2000's but have colleagues who do. Greenling populations are still strong, but the yellowtail rockfish and black rockfish aggregations that were quite abundant in the early 80's were decimated by commercial fishing in the late 80's. The numbers of these schooling, migratory rockfish have been recovering slowly and very unevenly. More sedentary copper rockfish and quill backs were hit too but have bounced back a bit faster. Lingcod have always seemed to have a boom/bust pattern: good recruitment of juveniles from the sea grass beds some years and not much others. Cabezon are an enigma for me. In SoCal, the juveniles recruit into tide pools, but I have NEVER found a cabezon in tide pools in the San Juans (and I've searched many tide pools). And I might encounter a cabezon adult once a summer (or less). I would more commonly find red Irish lords or great sculpins. Always more to learn...
Steve
 
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I didn't fish a lot when I lived in the SJI but, back in the early 2000s, I did catch one cabezon once, off Sentinel Rock (S of Spieden Island).
 
Cabezon said:
Interesting observations. As part of my research on the feeding biology of cottids, I started diving around the San Juans in the early 1980's, especially San Juan Island, the west side of Shaw Island, East Sound of Orcas, and Bell Island. I haven't been diving there since the early 2000's but have colleagues who do. Greenling populations are still strong, but the yellowtail rockfish and black rockfish aggregations that were quite abundant in the early 80's were decimated by commercial fishing in the late 80's. The numbers of these schooling, migratory rockfish have been recovering slowly and very unevenly. More sedentary copper rockfish and quill backs were hit too but have bounced back a bit faster. Lingcod have always seemed to have a boom/bust pattern: good recruitment of juveniles from the sea grass beds some years and not much others. Cabezon are an enigma for me. In SoCal, the juveniles recruit into tide pools, but I have NEVER found a cabezon in tide pools in the San Juans (and I've searched many tide pools). And I might encounter a cabezon adult once a summer (or less). I would more commonly find red Irish lords or great sculpins. Always more to learn...
Steve
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Thanks for sharing that. I was a fisheries biology major at UW (before I switched to biz school 😂 ) Still fascinated by fish. I did most of my fishing near Point Doughty so I was close to where you did your research. Kelp greenling were my favorite to catch. Such cool coloration. Cabezon were more of a bycatch, but definitely caught them. Caught a Red Irish Lord too. Crazy looking fish.

I also trolled Dick Nites in my rowboat and caught lots of little salmon. That would have been amazing on the fly!
 
Cabezon said:
Interesting observations. As part of my research on the feeding biology of cottids, I started diving around the San Juans in the early 1980's, especially San Juan Island, the west side of Shaw Island, East Sound of Orcas, and Bell Island. I haven't been diving there since the early 2000's but have colleagues who do. Greenling populations are still strong, but the yellowtail rockfish and black rockfish aggregations that were quite abundant in the early 80's were decimated by commercial fishing in the late 80's. The numbers of these schooling, migratory rockfish have been recovering slowly and very unevenly. More sedentary copper rockfish and quill backs were hit too but have bounced back a bit faster. Lingcod have always seemed to have a boom/bust pattern: good recruitment of juveniles from the sea grass beds some years and not much others. Cabezon are an enigma for me. In SoCal, the juveniles recruit into tide pools, but I have NEVER found a cabezon in tide pools in the San Juans (and I've searched many tide pools). And I might encounter a cabezon adult once a summer (or less). I would more commonly find red Irish lords or great sculpins. Always more to learn...
Steve
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We used to fish for quill backs and copper rock fish on the edges of the kelp, we'd keep a couple for dinner. I prefer them to lings for eating. It was a blast but those days are gone.
 
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