Only my second time to this interesting general regulation lake that Billy MacDonald alerted me to. It is a mixed use fishery, with largemouth bass, perch, rainbows, browns, black crappie, pumpkinseeds and brown bullheads.
This was sunset at the lake with the sun lighting up the rain that was falling. Shortly after taking this photo I was drenched in rain along with thunder and lightning.
In the chart below, the fish in the 8 to 11 inch range were the largemouth bass (couldn't find any of the bigger bass), and the ones in the 12 to 19 inch range were mostly rainbows with a couple of 14 inch browns included:
The rainbows were of very high quality, very silvery, husky and for the most part, looked like they had never been caught before. They fought very well and several were jumpers. Even the 13 to 14 inchers were fun to catch.
Here's a photo of one of the browns:
I was happy to see that the water temperature at this lake was in the 57 to 59°F range, so perfect for trout fishing and not too cold for float tubing.
There are lots of deer in this area, as I saw 16 deer driving in and out of the lake, and I also saw lots of deer tracks around the shoreline of the lake. Although there didn’t seem to be many birds at the lake at first, more showed up in the evening and morning, including a Bald Eagle, Northern Harriers, Osprey, a Turkey Vulture, Canada Geese, Cackling Geese, a Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Herons, a Tundra Swan (at first I thought Merlin made a mistake, but then I saw it), an Owl, Mourning Doves, a Yellow-rumped Warbler, Red-winged Blackbirds, Song Sparrows, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Horned Larks, House Finches, Rock Wrens, Canyon Wrens, Spotted Towhees, Black-billed Magpies, White-crowned Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, Ravens, Northern Flickers, and Merlin identified American Pipits (?) which I was unable to confirm.
The wildflowers are finishing up for the year, but there are still some around, like this Common Thistle. The Mullein are prolific at this lake and still blooming. I also saw Pink Knotweed, Purple Loosestrife, White Asters, Knapweed, Rabbitbrush, Canada Thistles, a Penstemon (unusual for this time of the year), Nightshade and Cinquefoil.
This report just goes to show that you don't necessarily have to go to a special regulation lake to find quality fishing. Also, at this lake I only saw one fisherman on the lake on Thursday and on Friday I had the lake to myself, so if you like solitude, this is the place.
Rex
This was sunset at the lake with the sun lighting up the rain that was falling. Shortly after taking this photo I was drenched in rain along with thunder and lightning.
In the chart below, the fish in the 8 to 11 inch range were the largemouth bass (couldn't find any of the bigger bass), and the ones in the 12 to 19 inch range were mostly rainbows with a couple of 14 inch browns included:
The rainbows were of very high quality, very silvery, husky and for the most part, looked like they had never been caught before. They fought very well and several were jumpers. Even the 13 to 14 inchers were fun to catch.
Here's a photo of one of the browns:
I was happy to see that the water temperature at this lake was in the 57 to 59°F range, so perfect for trout fishing and not too cold for float tubing.
There are lots of deer in this area, as I saw 16 deer driving in and out of the lake, and I also saw lots of deer tracks around the shoreline of the lake. Although there didn’t seem to be many birds at the lake at first, more showed up in the evening and morning, including a Bald Eagle, Northern Harriers, Osprey, a Turkey Vulture, Canada Geese, Cackling Geese, a Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Herons, a Tundra Swan (at first I thought Merlin made a mistake, but then I saw it), an Owl, Mourning Doves, a Yellow-rumped Warbler, Red-winged Blackbirds, Song Sparrows, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Horned Larks, House Finches, Rock Wrens, Canyon Wrens, Spotted Towhees, Black-billed Magpies, White-crowned Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, Ravens, Northern Flickers, and Merlin identified American Pipits (?) which I was unable to confirm.
The wildflowers are finishing up for the year, but there are still some around, like this Common Thistle. The Mullein are prolific at this lake and still blooming. I also saw Pink Knotweed, Purple Loosestrife, White Asters, Knapweed, Rabbitbrush, Canada Thistles, a Penstemon (unusual for this time of the year), Nightshade and Cinquefoil.
This report just goes to show that you don't necessarily have to go to a special regulation lake to find quality fishing. Also, at this lake I only saw one fisherman on the lake on Thursday and on Friday I had the lake to myself, so if you like solitude, this is the place.
Rex
