Good Fishday...

It was a beautiful Good Friday Fishday, leaving town with a Sausage, Egg, and Chesse McGriddle in hand after dropping Mel off at school (#8 for those who don't frequent McD's for breakfast). And the good luck of the #8 meal paid off again today.

Blue sky to the west of the clouds overhead promised good weather, as long as the forecast for relatively light winds held true. I was headed for Dusty Lake, one of my favorite springtime visits, hidden between tall, basalt cliffs in an ancient flood channel. Arriving to an empty parking lot, I gathered my gear, shouldered my float tube, and started down the trail, a pretty and fun hike well worth the time even without the fishing. Without a breath of wind, the mirror smooth lake lay beckoning below.

Dusty Lake, one of my happy places

Arriving at the lake, no fish were to be seen in the shallows where they sometimes congregate in the spring, so I launched the tube and kicked out into the cold water, appreciating again the new float tube that allows me to sit out of the water. Fishing two of my newly tied chewy chironomids, I promptly missed a take down immediately off the launch, then shortly thereafter landed a nice 15" rainbow that was spawning unusual eggs.

Now we know what happens to Power Eggs that get swallowed by the fish

The fish had broken someone off who was fishing illegally in the lake with Power Eggs. The line and swivel were still hanging out the fish's mouth, while a loop of line with two Power Eggs was hanging out the tail end. The hook was somewhere still inside. I cut both ends of the line off to maybe help the fish survive a little longer. It fought well and didn't seem to be bothered by the line passing through it.

After the initial action, there was nothing more on chironos near the launch, so I headed across the lake to the point where Kirk and I had found a lot of fish last spring. On the way, I had five good strikes trolling an olive leech with the sinking line, but no hookups. I finally hooked one as I made a turn near the shore. Tried the chironos off the point, about 11 feet down, but nary a bump. Then I saw the mirror smooth water chop up to the west, and shortly thereafter, the wind was upon me. Not too strong, but enough that it pushed you along at a pretty good clip, making chironomid fishing difficult. So back to the leech to troll to the more protected east bay. Alternating between chironmids and trolling I managed to land another 4 fish, most decent at 13" to 15". Some were silver bright, others beautifully colored like this one.

Nicely colored Dusty rainbow

Hits trolling the leech seemed to stop when the bright sun came out, perhaps sending the fish deeper than my line would sink, and chironomid fishing was difficult with the wind, so I decided it was time to call it a day. As I prepared to shoulder my tube, I decided to take one last look in the shallows off the point, where I saw a solitary fish cruising. That was enough for me. What harm has ever come from a few more casts (well, at least no harm until you get home late again...)? The shore has become overgrown with brush, so I waded out above my belly button, false cast parallel to shore, then angled the final cast out as sharply as I could into the wind to get the fly into the deeper water. I had an olive leech on top, black snow-cone chewy on the bottom, about 7 feet to the top fly. Almost immediately, I had a take-down and a nice fish to hand, on the leech. Then pretty steady action for the next 45 minutes, with 5 more fish to hand, all on the chewy. Then the wind died down and so did the fishing, so it was really time to go now.

Back at the car, not too late in the afternoon, there was now a decision to make. Head home, or check out one of the wasteways that in a few more days would become rushing torrents until irrigation season ends next fall. There was one where Tom had caught a rainbow last fall when it was still running pretty high, but I hadn't found a fish then. Stream 129 was beckoning, and was kind of on my way home (which means, in the same state...). Guess which choice won?

Prime, Eastern Washington trout water! Stream 129

My friend Kirk claims that I have a very loose definition of the word "stream" but when you live in the desert, you can't be as selective as when you live next to mountains full of streams like where he grew up. If water is moving downhill and has trout, it is a stream. And this one met both those criteria. Olive leech and #12 psycho found six silver, identically-sized 11" rainbows here, probably first year fish from last years' plant of fingerlings.

Well trained fish poses for the picture. Say "Cheese!"

I have yet to find brown or brook trout which are also planted in some of the wasteways, but rainbows will work. It was a fun little stop to net stream 129 (even if it is rather straight). I fished up in some likely water but found nothing. Coming back to the starting place, looking at the culvert, I just knew there had to be...

Beautiful, 19" rainbow

Yes, culverts attract big fish! This beautifully colored, 19" rainbow took the leech, then basically swam in to shore. The 11" fish fought harder. Judging by the looseness of the belly, I'd say that it may have recently finished spawning, which could explain the lack of fight.

Needs to work a bit on the abs after lounging about all winter...

A great finish to a beautiful Good Fishday. I packed up and headed for home (after a few more casts, of course), wondering if Tom had found any trout streams in Italy, waiting for Rob to catch a trout in Peru on a fly rather than with his hands. I'm happy to stay at home, especially in the spring.

Christening the New Boat...

Finally opening my Christmas present

OK, so it is kind of small and has no motor, but it is a big step up from the old Caddis donut float tube I have used for years. It was nice having my bottom out of the cold water while fishing today. Which leads to the real reason for the post, no product endorsements here.

With my every-other-Friday-off work schedule, I get to spin the WhatToDo Wheel quite often, and today, just like every other time I have spun it, it directed me to go fishing. Who can argue with that?

I love this thing!

In preparation, I spent a little time this week tying up some of Tom's chewy chironomid patterns. These things look really good wet and in the water! Also tried a couple balanced leeches. The second one turned out pretty good, but is not available for a photo anymore...

Tom's awesome chewy chironomid pattern

Good dad that I am, I sacrificed an hour of fishing, leaving after sunup to drop Melinda off at school, so she wouldn't have to ride the bus. After a quick stop for the #8, I was on my way to Lake Lenice with my new boat (I think it needs a name). Arrived in the lot about 8:30, with only two other vehicles. My fishing buddy Kirk Morris was here last Saturday and was greeted by more than a dozen campers and who knows how many cars. Another nice thing about Fridays off. By 9 am I was on the water, dragging an olive leech on a sinking line on my way across the lake to the shoal by the island directly across from the launch. Nothing. Once at the island, I started with the balanced leech under the indicator, about 10 feet down, as Kirk had much more success with the leech than with chironomids. Nothing. The water was almost flat, and fish were swirling on the surface and swallows were swirling in the air. You know what that means. 

Out came the chironos, tiny purple on top, black chewy in the middle, red brassie on the bottom. Casting towards the reeds, had a couple little twitches of the indicator, but no takes. After quite a few casts, it finally went down and I hooked a solid fish. Definitely a carryover. It stayed down, had several good runs, and would not tire out. Several times I had it close, only to have it take off for another run. Not a good thing when you have a 15-ft leader that tends to catch on the guides at the leader not. About the third time as I was bringing it up to net it, it made another run, the knot caught on the guide, and the fish and red brassie were gone. That would be the nicest fish of the day. Lots of fish all around, but very little action for the next hour and a half. No more interest in chironomids, so I tried the balanced leech. After a number of casts, had a good take down and a bad knot and the fly was gone. No interest in the second leech, or a little black one. Back to chironomids, broke another one off on the hit, one other takedown, but that was it. Then the wind came up a little bit. Two hours, three fish broken off, one other takedown. Tried trolling the leech again, heading west towards the shoal and back. Not a bump. 

Almost noon now, back at the island where I began, the swallows were still darting to and fro just above surface of the lake, so I decided to give the chironomids one more try before heading for home. Fishing 12 feet down to the bottom fly, Tom's chewy on the bottom, red brassie on top. I just west of the point of the island right across from the launch, fishing out towards the deeper water. Suddenly, it was like a different lake. Within a couple minutes,I hooked a bright bow on a solid takedown that ran straight at me with three leaps clear out of the water, throwing the hook on the third leap. Positioned myself back to the same spot, and a few minutes later hooked another that performed similar acrobatics. This one I got to hand, and officially christened the boat with fish slime. Fat, healthy fish!

Nice fat rainbow

For the next hour, I had takedowns about every five minutes, preference for the Tom's chewy was about 2 to 1. By 1 pm, I had five fish to hand and about that many takedowns. Then things dropped off. By 1:30 I was ready to leave, so I dropped the sinking line in for the kick back to the launch, and within 10 yards had another cookie-cutter bow, a nice end to the day. Totals for the day: 6 rainbows to hand, all fat 13" to 15", 4 broken off, and maybe another 5 fought and lost. A few takedowns missed. With most of the action packed into one hour, it made for a few slow hours and one really fun one. That's fishing. My boat is looking forward to the next trip in two weeks to Dusty...