My SIL and the guys in his family have camped every year near Curlew for deer season and I started tagging along 4 years ago. I don't hunt (yet) but I love hanging out at camp, walking the woods with my SIL, and leaving a couple days early to tap into the endless stillwater possibilities between home and camp. Last year my goal was to get my first Tiger, which was a success, along with a few other species, and a shit-show of vehicular misfortune including a failed thermostat, blown head gasket, hitting a deer, spending all of camp under the car, and babying the radiator the 300 miles home, with the only tire blowout of my life as the cherry on top halfway home. That was last year: https://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/threads/tiger-quest.167674/#post-1737018
This year, I combined data-driven research with totally irrational expectations to map out a 3 day, 6 lake, multi-species extravaganza. Left early Weds and drove to my first destination which the WDFW data says should have "quality" Brookies and Tigers. Google maps says there are two routes in with a short walk from the gate to the lake either way. I liked the approach from the South but it turned out to go through private property. Seems like the kind of thing Google could know. Anyway, I burned a bunch of time doubling back, driving around the other side of the mountain, and coming in from the North. Got to the lake to find it very depleted by drought and choked with vegetation. I had some expectation of low water but what I found looked like it might not support trout. I watched for a few minutes and saw some swirls so I slid my pontoon in and navigated to one of 3 small surface areas not choked from top to bottom with veg. I caught a number of bright little Tigers, nothing real impressive. I suspect the Brown genes help them tolerate the warmer water, and maybe the Brookies all succumbed to the heat. A little disappointing after putting so much thought into choosing this particular lake, but a good lesson learned. Meanwhile the weather was glorious and I was very happy to be out in it and catching some fish.
On the way out I stopped at a more accessible, larger lake that I'd noticed on the way in. Lots of surface activity and I felt I could just run down to the edge and make a few casts from shore just to see what was in there. I had a couple strikes right away and then broke my fly off on a set up....then I had to know. I went back to the car and got my bag and that led to about 3-4 hours of walking the banks trying to crack the code. These fish were acting odd and I ended up concluding it was related to spawning behavior. They were Brookies quite tight to the shore all the way out to beyond where I could reach them. There were a couple big pods of them, and then a number of solo cruisers. I could sight fish the cruisers, and locate the pods by surface swirls. But it took me a while and several fly changes to find something they would take. It was an odd setting and odd behavior and it kept me fascinated way longer than I meant to stay. But I got a few of them, and I also had one of those bizarre occurrences - a hookup that felt weird right away...when the fish got close I could see it was a stocked legal bow and I couldn't understand why I could see my whole fly about 2" from it's face. It had a bait hook in it's jaw and a length of mono coming off of it that looped back to a swivel that was somehow embedded in it's maxillary. Anyway, somehow my hook found that loop and that's how the fish came in.
I had planned to chase browns at my next destination in the evening, and then camp there, about 1.5 hours down the road. But between my routing issue in the morning and getting caught up chasing those Brookies, I had to scrap that and fish the second lake the next morning. The fish were there, and I had a number of follows and short strikes, but I wasn't connecting and never really figured out what presentation they were looking for. I got humbled there and probably should have cut bait a lot sooner. I obsessed over trying crack the code too long and then realized I was hurting my chances to get to my next destination in time to fish the evening. I wasn't quite skunked, but I felt skunked.
I realized I wasn't going to make my next lake before dark, and decided to bail and head all the way up to camp and join the guys and then drive back out to my next spot from there Friday morning. This would allow me to clear some gear and food out of my rig and make launch and takeout quicker. So as of Thursday night I was 2/4 on planned destinations and 3/4 on planned species, with nothing over ~12". I was a little frustrated and I realized that was 100% based on unrealistic expectations and poor time management. I tried to remind myself I'd had a chance to knock some rust off of my casting and reflexes, and learn some needed lessons, but I was little bummed. The power of chasing the imaginary picture in your head and missing the real treasures right in front of you.
On the stretch run to camp, about 20 minutes from where I hit the deer last year, I came around a corner to find a big critter in the middle of my lane. This time I had more time to react, and as I braked the unmistakable shape and tawny color of a big cat caught me by surprise. First cougar sighting for me, and it was close enough to really get a look as it turned, loped up the shoulder a few steps, and then bounded over the brush into the woods. Awesome. It was nice to roll into camp and get settled, have a beer, reset for the morning. Nearly full moon high in the sky, sensational array of stars, and pure, glorious silence.
In the morning I drove about 40 minutes to what I had hoped would be my 5th lake, but was instead my 3rd. A multi-species lake that I've wanted to explore for a while. I decided to just commit my day to this one and not think of trying to fit something else in for the evening. I got some very helpful intel from @Tim Lockhart that saved me a lot of time, and went straight for the area he highlighted for me. I wasn't connecting right away but after I got acclimated to the zones where I was seeing fish, I started finding them in pods and action was consistent for aggressive Tigers in 10-11" range. I was seeing plenty of larger fish, including a huge trout I'll guess was ~23"+, but could not get them to commit. I ended up picking up a little bit larger bow of maybe 14", and a couple baby smallmouth. One fun thing about a multi-species venue like this is noticing the nuances of how fish feel when hooked, knowing you've got something different, but not knowing for sure if that's because it's bigger, or it's foul-hooked, or it's a different species than the last fish. Both the bow and the smallies were instantly recognizable as something different by the way they fought. Didn't get any big fish out of the outing but had a nice, unhurried time on the water trying to focus on observing and figuring things out. Next time at this lake I'll make an earlier start and stay later.
The next day I tagged along with my SIL in the morning and afternoon searching for deer. Didn't see a single animal and only heard 3 shots in the morning and two in the afternoon - plus a frenzied mag dump from someone who must either have been a real idiot, or else fighting for his life.
Sunday morning, I took my time packing up and decided I'd drive a while before I made up my mind where to fish on the way home. I was either going to return to another little lake close to my day 1 spot, or else try a nameless pond I got a tip about years ago in the Winthrop area. My next gas stop, I had a thought to check another area and noticed a lake I hadn't looked at previously. WDFW's site made it sound promising, it was pretty close to the road, and I thought I could get in and out in good time and take a little gamble on something new. This was the best decision I made all week. I rolled up on the spot with no expectations and just aiming to enjoy the weather and the final hours of my trip in solitude. I had the small lake to myself, geared up, and launched. I picked out some structure I wanted to get to and set out rowing/trolling to get there. After maybe 5 minutes I had a hard strike and dropped the oars in time to connect. Felt solid but it came unbuttoned and I continued down the shoreline working over about 10-12 feet of water and nice veg. A few minutes later I saw a couple of cruising fish down below and they were clearly Brookies and easily larger than my personal best. I made a turn and hooked up again and again lost that fish. I tried casting/stripping the likely areas without success for a while, then doubled back and trolled back toward the launch. Got a very comitted take and knew I had a heavy fish. Every brookie I caught yesterday would have been my personal best any other day of my life, but the first one was the biggest, about 16.5" and I was thrilled.
From there I worked my way around the perimeter of the lake mixing up between slow trolling and cast/strip but didn't hook another fish till I'd reached the far end of the lake where I noticed small pods of really nice cruising fish moving between a shoal of about 3' to a drop off of perhaps 11'. The sun was on this area in a way that made visibility excellent with polarized glasses if I stayed in the right relation to the light. I worked on these fish for a while with several flies casting and stripping. Plenty of follows but no eats. Then I switched from streamers to a size 12 or 14 hares ear soft hackle. That hooked a fish on the first cast and as I played it it got buzzed but something REALLY big. Clearly not a Brookie, and when it saw me it curled off. I lost that brookie and gathered up my line to cast. Then that big fish cruised by within about 10 feet of me. It angled away once it saw me - not in a hurry but just away toward the shallow water. I made 1 false cast and led it by about 8 feet and waited. Once it felt like the fish would have reached it, I lifted my rod tip gently and slowly and came up snug. I figured weeds but set up firmly just in case - and I had him. One of those big-fish, wallowing, headshaking situations for the first couple minutes. Then a couple of short runs. Then more headshakes at the surface. I didn't have a good look until he was almost in the net - I knew it wasn't a Brookie cause the color was so pale by comparison. Once I thought it was ready I shortened the line and levered him in and scooped him on the first pass.
This one taped out right at 20". As I played him, a hen of the same size buzzed around him the whole time. I unhooked him and tossed the fly/line into the water while I took my time reviving him and getting some pics. After he swam off, I took a breath and gathered my line and came up tight - again I assumed weeds as the fly had been dangling over shallow water for several minutes at this point - but instead my rod started bucking and and a slightly smaller but much more colorful brookie came in.
I connected with a couple more Brookies and then it was time to head for home.
Here's to having a plan but also managing expectations and letting the game come to you. Was a great way to end a great week. Two new personal bests for me and a new fishery I'll spend a lot more time exploring next season.
Dave
This year, I combined data-driven research with totally irrational expectations to map out a 3 day, 6 lake, multi-species extravaganza. Left early Weds and drove to my first destination which the WDFW data says should have "quality" Brookies and Tigers. Google maps says there are two routes in with a short walk from the gate to the lake either way. I liked the approach from the South but it turned out to go through private property. Seems like the kind of thing Google could know. Anyway, I burned a bunch of time doubling back, driving around the other side of the mountain, and coming in from the North. Got to the lake to find it very depleted by drought and choked with vegetation. I had some expectation of low water but what I found looked like it might not support trout. I watched for a few minutes and saw some swirls so I slid my pontoon in and navigated to one of 3 small surface areas not choked from top to bottom with veg. I caught a number of bright little Tigers, nothing real impressive. I suspect the Brown genes help them tolerate the warmer water, and maybe the Brookies all succumbed to the heat. A little disappointing after putting so much thought into choosing this particular lake, but a good lesson learned. Meanwhile the weather was glorious and I was very happy to be out in it and catching some fish.
On the way out I stopped at a more accessible, larger lake that I'd noticed on the way in. Lots of surface activity and I felt I could just run down to the edge and make a few casts from shore just to see what was in there. I had a couple strikes right away and then broke my fly off on a set up....then I had to know. I went back to the car and got my bag and that led to about 3-4 hours of walking the banks trying to crack the code. These fish were acting odd and I ended up concluding it was related to spawning behavior. They were Brookies quite tight to the shore all the way out to beyond where I could reach them. There were a couple big pods of them, and then a number of solo cruisers. I could sight fish the cruisers, and locate the pods by surface swirls. But it took me a while and several fly changes to find something they would take. It was an odd setting and odd behavior and it kept me fascinated way longer than I meant to stay. But I got a few of them, and I also had one of those bizarre occurrences - a hookup that felt weird right away...when the fish got close I could see it was a stocked legal bow and I couldn't understand why I could see my whole fly about 2" from it's face. It had a bait hook in it's jaw and a length of mono coming off of it that looped back to a swivel that was somehow embedded in it's maxillary. Anyway, somehow my hook found that loop and that's how the fish came in.
I had planned to chase browns at my next destination in the evening, and then camp there, about 1.5 hours down the road. But between my routing issue in the morning and getting caught up chasing those Brookies, I had to scrap that and fish the second lake the next morning. The fish were there, and I had a number of follows and short strikes, but I wasn't connecting and never really figured out what presentation they were looking for. I got humbled there and probably should have cut bait a lot sooner. I obsessed over trying crack the code too long and then realized I was hurting my chances to get to my next destination in time to fish the evening. I wasn't quite skunked, but I felt skunked.
I realized I wasn't going to make my next lake before dark, and decided to bail and head all the way up to camp and join the guys and then drive back out to my next spot from there Friday morning. This would allow me to clear some gear and food out of my rig and make launch and takeout quicker. So as of Thursday night I was 2/4 on planned destinations and 3/4 on planned species, with nothing over ~12". I was a little frustrated and I realized that was 100% based on unrealistic expectations and poor time management. I tried to remind myself I'd had a chance to knock some rust off of my casting and reflexes, and learn some needed lessons, but I was little bummed. The power of chasing the imaginary picture in your head and missing the real treasures right in front of you.
On the stretch run to camp, about 20 minutes from where I hit the deer last year, I came around a corner to find a big critter in the middle of my lane. This time I had more time to react, and as I braked the unmistakable shape and tawny color of a big cat caught me by surprise. First cougar sighting for me, and it was close enough to really get a look as it turned, loped up the shoulder a few steps, and then bounded over the brush into the woods. Awesome. It was nice to roll into camp and get settled, have a beer, reset for the morning. Nearly full moon high in the sky, sensational array of stars, and pure, glorious silence.
In the morning I drove about 40 minutes to what I had hoped would be my 5th lake, but was instead my 3rd. A multi-species lake that I've wanted to explore for a while. I decided to just commit my day to this one and not think of trying to fit something else in for the evening. I got some very helpful intel from @Tim Lockhart that saved me a lot of time, and went straight for the area he highlighted for me. I wasn't connecting right away but after I got acclimated to the zones where I was seeing fish, I started finding them in pods and action was consistent for aggressive Tigers in 10-11" range. I was seeing plenty of larger fish, including a huge trout I'll guess was ~23"+, but could not get them to commit. I ended up picking up a little bit larger bow of maybe 14", and a couple baby smallmouth. One fun thing about a multi-species venue like this is noticing the nuances of how fish feel when hooked, knowing you've got something different, but not knowing for sure if that's because it's bigger, or it's foul-hooked, or it's a different species than the last fish. Both the bow and the smallies were instantly recognizable as something different by the way they fought. Didn't get any big fish out of the outing but had a nice, unhurried time on the water trying to focus on observing and figuring things out. Next time at this lake I'll make an earlier start and stay later.
The next day I tagged along with my SIL in the morning and afternoon searching for deer. Didn't see a single animal and only heard 3 shots in the morning and two in the afternoon - plus a frenzied mag dump from someone who must either have been a real idiot, or else fighting for his life.
Sunday morning, I took my time packing up and decided I'd drive a while before I made up my mind where to fish on the way home. I was either going to return to another little lake close to my day 1 spot, or else try a nameless pond I got a tip about years ago in the Winthrop area. My next gas stop, I had a thought to check another area and noticed a lake I hadn't looked at previously. WDFW's site made it sound promising, it was pretty close to the road, and I thought I could get in and out in good time and take a little gamble on something new. This was the best decision I made all week. I rolled up on the spot with no expectations and just aiming to enjoy the weather and the final hours of my trip in solitude. I had the small lake to myself, geared up, and launched. I picked out some structure I wanted to get to and set out rowing/trolling to get there. After maybe 5 minutes I had a hard strike and dropped the oars in time to connect. Felt solid but it came unbuttoned and I continued down the shoreline working over about 10-12 feet of water and nice veg. A few minutes later I saw a couple of cruising fish down below and they were clearly Brookies and easily larger than my personal best. I made a turn and hooked up again and again lost that fish. I tried casting/stripping the likely areas without success for a while, then doubled back and trolled back toward the launch. Got a very comitted take and knew I had a heavy fish. Every brookie I caught yesterday would have been my personal best any other day of my life, but the first one was the biggest, about 16.5" and I was thrilled.
From there I worked my way around the perimeter of the lake mixing up between slow trolling and cast/strip but didn't hook another fish till I'd reached the far end of the lake where I noticed small pods of really nice cruising fish moving between a shoal of about 3' to a drop off of perhaps 11'. The sun was on this area in a way that made visibility excellent with polarized glasses if I stayed in the right relation to the light. I worked on these fish for a while with several flies casting and stripping. Plenty of follows but no eats. Then I switched from streamers to a size 12 or 14 hares ear soft hackle. That hooked a fish on the first cast and as I played it it got buzzed but something REALLY big. Clearly not a Brookie, and when it saw me it curled off. I lost that brookie and gathered up my line to cast. Then that big fish cruised by within about 10 feet of me. It angled away once it saw me - not in a hurry but just away toward the shallow water. I made 1 false cast and led it by about 8 feet and waited. Once it felt like the fish would have reached it, I lifted my rod tip gently and slowly and came up snug. I figured weeds but set up firmly just in case - and I had him. One of those big-fish, wallowing, headshaking situations for the first couple minutes. Then a couple of short runs. Then more headshakes at the surface. I didn't have a good look until he was almost in the net - I knew it wasn't a Brookie cause the color was so pale by comparison. Once I thought it was ready I shortened the line and levered him in and scooped him on the first pass.
This one taped out right at 20". As I played him, a hen of the same size buzzed around him the whole time. I unhooked him and tossed the fly/line into the water while I took my time reviving him and getting some pics. After he swam off, I took a breath and gathered my line and came up tight - again I assumed weeds as the fly had been dangling over shallow water for several minutes at this point - but instead my rod started bucking and and a slightly smaller but much more colorful brookie came in.
I connected with a couple more Brookies and then it was time to head for home.
Here's to having a plan but also managing expectations and letting the game come to you. Was a great way to end a great week. Two new personal bests for me and a new fishery I'll spend a lot more time exploring next season.
Dave
