With “Hirudinous Lake” suffering from overexposure, a friend and I decided to head to another special mountain spot that we’ll call “Icewater Lake”.
We had figurative blast. From the socked-in lowlands, we rose into the sunshine above the coastal clouds and the mountain appeared.
Per usual, I rigged 3 rods. My Sage 5 wt. was set up as a tolling rod with a full-sinking line and a brown seal leach and an olive seal leach. My Redington 4wt. was a nymph rod with a floating line and a Callibaetisnymph and a damsel nymph. My Redington 3wt. was rigged with a floating line and size 10 chubby Chernobyl.
I started out trolling with the 5 wt. from the boat launch into the meat of the lake. Short after hanging a left between the island and the boardwalk, I had my first strike. The fish put up a good fight and I wished to take some pictures of it at the surface. But I was startled when out of the corner of my eye a dark shape dove at my trout – an adult bald eagle. It missed the trout on the first dive but it made several more passes.
While this aerial attack was underway, I relieved the pressure on the trout and it dove until it 8-10’ underwater. Just when I thought that danger had passed as this eagle headed back toward the island, a second adult bald eagle swooshed by for its shot. But with the trout too far underwater, its ambitions were thwarted too. After both departed to sulk on the island (fine white dots)
(and later to harass my friend when he was fighting a trout), I was able to net and release this 12-13” rainbow. It had taken the trailing olive seal leach.
Back on the troll, I soon picked up a second fish, san eagle interference. This appears to be a 12-13”coastal cutthroat (maxilla extending beyond the eye, slash under the throat, fine spotting overall). It took the brown seal leach. All day, the fish didn’t appear to have a strong preference between the two.
This fish would be a descendant of the survivors of the catastrophe that blasted the region on March 27, 1980. After a few pictures, I released it and it bolted away.
While it is always a bonus to catch a fish or two while trolling on this lake, for me, trolling is primarily a means to move me to a spot where I can cast a dry fly to the edge of a dropoff. This is an oligotrophic (low primary productivity) lake; the self-sustaining trout in this lake have a soft spot for terrestrials (e.g., mid-late August grasshopper splats or a Western tent caterpillar fall)... When I reached the submerged shelf, I let the south wind and my fins carry my pontoon just off the edge as I cast the chubby Chernobyl. The goal is to splat the fly just where the shelf drops off into deeper water; it pays to be thorough as you never know where a fish might be along the shelf…
And today this strategy worked out very well. The fish were very willing to hit the chubby. Some exploded on the fly as soon as it landed, while others subtly sipped it off the surface.
Interestingly, I did not have any strikes while slow-trolling the chubby at the surface, a strategy that has worked here in the past.
Not unusual for this lake, the winds were a pain in the ass at times. The forecast was for light winds, in the 5-6mph range. And maybe that was the average wind speed for the day. However, the velocity swung from dead calm to sustained winds in the middle teens all day. When the latter were blowing, I had to kick quite hard with my fins simply to hold my pontoon’s boat position. And occasionally, the winds would change directions 180 degrees just to add some additional excitement. To be honest, the gusty winds may have given some verisimilitude to my chubby (large terrestrial mimic) splatting on the lake surface. It was enough to fool a tree swallow that swooped down to the water and picked up my fly off the surface before dropping it. Twice, I switched flies to something more “natural”, a foam beetle pattern or a Callibaetis parachute. But these options didn’t float well enough under these gusty conditions. So, back to the chubby.
I veered off from the shelf to probe the edges of a submerged rocky reef. The windward side was very productive. I elicited four strikes in six consecutive casts, hooked three, and landed them all.
I trolled my way back to the start of the shelf, picking up another two fish on the way, each on a different colored seal leach.
The antics of a family group of spotted sandpipers along the shore were amusing.
They were unconcerned by my presence as they searched the lake shoreline for tasty morsels and played. Multiple male yellow warblers sang from the tree tops deep in the dense stand of alders along the shore. From the hillside to the west, I occasionally heard the booming call of a male grouse.
Back at the submerged rocky reef, the fishing was hot again. And this time we were seeing rises. While hard to see clearly amongst the blizzard of willow fluff, there appeared to be a hatch of chironomids coming off.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a fish rise. I retrieved my fly, dropped the chubby where the fish had risen, and was rewarded with an explosive strike. Fish on.
A short while after, I caught one of the more unusual trout that I have encountered. While fighting the fish, I kept seeing flashes of bright red on the head of this fish. Once I netted it, I could see that it was missing both operculae (gill covers).
On rare occasion, I have caught a trout, especially a hatchery trout, that was missing a single operculum or had a shortened operculum that didn’t completely cover the gill filaments. But this wild fish was missing both. From the photographs, you can see that there doesn’t appear to be any trauma to explain their absences.
I suspect that this was a result of an issue during the fish’s development. In spite of this, this nice 12” fish was quite healthy.
All in all, a very nice day on "Icewater Lake" with a great friend (who had a solid day as well).
Steve
We had figurative blast. From the socked-in lowlands, we rose into the sunshine above the coastal clouds and the mountain appeared.
Per usual, I rigged 3 rods. My Sage 5 wt. was set up as a tolling rod with a full-sinking line and a brown seal leach and an olive seal leach. My Redington 4wt. was a nymph rod with a floating line and a Callibaetisnymph and a damsel nymph. My Redington 3wt. was rigged with a floating line and size 10 chubby Chernobyl.
I started out trolling with the 5 wt. from the boat launch into the meat of the lake. Short after hanging a left between the island and the boardwalk, I had my first strike. The fish put up a good fight and I wished to take some pictures of it at the surface. But I was startled when out of the corner of my eye a dark shape dove at my trout – an adult bald eagle. It missed the trout on the first dive but it made several more passes.
While this aerial attack was underway, I relieved the pressure on the trout and it dove until it 8-10’ underwater. Just when I thought that danger had passed as this eagle headed back toward the island, a second adult bald eagle swooshed by for its shot. But with the trout too far underwater, its ambitions were thwarted too. After both departed to sulk on the island (fine white dots)
(and later to harass my friend when he was fighting a trout), I was able to net and release this 12-13” rainbow. It had taken the trailing olive seal leach.
Back on the troll, I soon picked up a second fish, san eagle interference. This appears to be a 12-13”coastal cutthroat (maxilla extending beyond the eye, slash under the throat, fine spotting overall). It took the brown seal leach. All day, the fish didn’t appear to have a strong preference between the two.
This fish would be a descendant of the survivors of the catastrophe that blasted the region on March 27, 1980. After a few pictures, I released it and it bolted away.
While it is always a bonus to catch a fish or two while trolling on this lake, for me, trolling is primarily a means to move me to a spot where I can cast a dry fly to the edge of a dropoff. This is an oligotrophic (low primary productivity) lake; the self-sustaining trout in this lake have a soft spot for terrestrials (e.g., mid-late August grasshopper splats or a Western tent caterpillar fall)... When I reached the submerged shelf, I let the south wind and my fins carry my pontoon just off the edge as I cast the chubby Chernobyl. The goal is to splat the fly just where the shelf drops off into deeper water; it pays to be thorough as you never know where a fish might be along the shelf…
And today this strategy worked out very well. The fish were very willing to hit the chubby. Some exploded on the fly as soon as it landed, while others subtly sipped it off the surface.
Interestingly, I did not have any strikes while slow-trolling the chubby at the surface, a strategy that has worked here in the past.
Not unusual for this lake, the winds were a pain in the ass at times. The forecast was for light winds, in the 5-6mph range. And maybe that was the average wind speed for the day. However, the velocity swung from dead calm to sustained winds in the middle teens all day. When the latter were blowing, I had to kick quite hard with my fins simply to hold my pontoon’s boat position. And occasionally, the winds would change directions 180 degrees just to add some additional excitement. To be honest, the gusty winds may have given some verisimilitude to my chubby (large terrestrial mimic) splatting on the lake surface. It was enough to fool a tree swallow that swooped down to the water and picked up my fly off the surface before dropping it. Twice, I switched flies to something more “natural”, a foam beetle pattern or a Callibaetis parachute. But these options didn’t float well enough under these gusty conditions. So, back to the chubby.
I veered off from the shelf to probe the edges of a submerged rocky reef. The windward side was very productive. I elicited four strikes in six consecutive casts, hooked three, and landed them all.
I trolled my way back to the start of the shelf, picking up another two fish on the way, each on a different colored seal leach.
The antics of a family group of spotted sandpipers along the shore were amusing.
They were unconcerned by my presence as they searched the lake shoreline for tasty morsels and played. Multiple male yellow warblers sang from the tree tops deep in the dense stand of alders along the shore. From the hillside to the west, I occasionally heard the booming call of a male grouse.
Back at the submerged rocky reef, the fishing was hot again. And this time we were seeing rises. While hard to see clearly amongst the blizzard of willow fluff, there appeared to be a hatch of chironomids coming off.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a fish rise. I retrieved my fly, dropped the chubby where the fish had risen, and was rewarded with an explosive strike. Fish on.
A short while after, I caught one of the more unusual trout that I have encountered. While fighting the fish, I kept seeing flashes of bright red on the head of this fish. Once I netted it, I could see that it was missing both operculae (gill covers).
On rare occasion, I have caught a trout, especially a hatchery trout, that was missing a single operculum or had a shortened operculum that didn’t completely cover the gill filaments. But this wild fish was missing both. From the photographs, you can see that there doesn’t appear to be any trauma to explain their absences.
I suspect that this was a result of an issue during the fish’s development. In spite of this, this nice 12” fish was quite healthy.
All in all, a very nice day on "Icewater Lake" with a great friend (who had a solid day as well).
Steve
