As the second part of my spring fishing schedule, we traveled to the Okanogan area of Washington. So, many lakes such little time, 25 days. Spring in the are is very beautiful!
My wife and I, and some family and friends, traveled north and east to see if the fish would cooperate. And cooperate they did, at most lakes. We learned again that just because a lake fished good or great last year, this year could be an entire new game. This year we decided to do more exploring of lakes in the area, as the lakes we camped at were just now producing. Some of the exploration was kinda iffy as the roads into some of these places was really rough.
(White caps made it tough to fish after the hike down)
We were also, blessed by the occurrence of the huge Arora Borealis which was the second astrological event this year, solar eclipse then the northern lights!
The winter might have been light in most areas, duration not severity, but the fish in most lakes were healthy and very full and aggressive. Several things that came to mind for me was WDFW planting practices and “local” input to the planting plans. We all need to be involved in providing input and comments on the plan. One lake, in my opinion, was over planted last year because the rainbows were very emaciated on the opening week. The other fish, browns and tigers that were planted in the fall were healthier than the larger rainbows. Another lake that was great last year for many aggressive and hard fighting rainbows and some nice brookies, this year was completely dead. Fished this lake for 1.5 days (x4 guys) and the total catch was 12 fish. The word from a “local” was that the locals had complained to WDFW and they changed the planting practice back to just “Eastern Brook Trout”. This plan was to get the lake “back to the good old days”, because that is what the locals want. Well the issues is that maybe the “locals” aren’t aware that the Brookies that are getting planted are Triploid Easter Brook Trout (TEBT on the plant plan), hence they will never be self-reproducing and so the lake will never be “back to the good old days” and now it is terrible for catching anything, including crawdads. We need to provide input and ask questions of WDFW.
The weather was all over the place as expected in the Okanogan in the spring. We had some 70+ degree days, and some 40-degree days. We had many very cool/cold nights. Several days the water temperatures actually went down. Water clarity at almost all lakes was gin clear.
(Part1)
My wife and I, and some family and friends, traveled north and east to see if the fish would cooperate. And cooperate they did, at most lakes. We learned again that just because a lake fished good or great last year, this year could be an entire new game. This year we decided to do more exploring of lakes in the area, as the lakes we camped at were just now producing. Some of the exploration was kinda iffy as the roads into some of these places was really rough.
(White caps made it tough to fish after the hike down)
We were also, blessed by the occurrence of the huge Arora Borealis which was the second astrological event this year, solar eclipse then the northern lights!
The winter might have been light in most areas, duration not severity, but the fish in most lakes were healthy and very full and aggressive. Several things that came to mind for me was WDFW planting practices and “local” input to the planting plans. We all need to be involved in providing input and comments on the plan. One lake, in my opinion, was over planted last year because the rainbows were very emaciated on the opening week. The other fish, browns and tigers that were planted in the fall were healthier than the larger rainbows. Another lake that was great last year for many aggressive and hard fighting rainbows and some nice brookies, this year was completely dead. Fished this lake for 1.5 days (x4 guys) and the total catch was 12 fish. The word from a “local” was that the locals had complained to WDFW and they changed the planting practice back to just “Eastern Brook Trout”. This plan was to get the lake “back to the good old days”, because that is what the locals want. Well the issues is that maybe the “locals” aren’t aware that the Brookies that are getting planted are Triploid Easter Brook Trout (TEBT on the plant plan), hence they will never be self-reproducing and so the lake will never be “back to the good old days” and now it is terrible for catching anything, including crawdads. We need to provide input and ask questions of WDFW.
The weather was all over the place as expected in the Okanogan in the spring. We had some 70+ degree days, and some 40-degree days. We had many very cool/cold nights. Several days the water temperatures actually went down. Water clarity at almost all lakes was gin clear.
(Part1)
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