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.