Little Nunya

Friday, June 17, 2011 Little Nunya

This day found Sarah and I traveling to Wenatchee for Girls Camp and golf, and since Little Nunya is right on the way (as long as you go the right way!), we made time for a little dad/daughter fishing.

We arrived about 6:30 pm, nobody at the pullout, and no sign that anyone had been downriver for some time. The water was slightly colored (not muddy brown, but good greenish) and quite high, with a good flow coming over the top of the little wall of basalt at the top of the hole above the bridge - an easy 6" higher than the normal level, or more. The barbed wire fence partway to the falls has been repaired, but not posted, so we squeezed through the fence and chased some cows as we made our way to the falls.

We fished above the falls and in the falls, then the deeper hole above the island just below the rapids downstream of the bridge. Sarah fished like a champ, likely catching more than I did, including an in-your-face she hooked a few feet in front of me, although I caught my share, too.




Swarms of really small flies above the water (gnat-like) and lot of takes as the fly hit the water. A small dry or emerger would probably have worked well, but we just dropped the strike indicator to about 9" above the fly and that got us a lot more hook-ups. Fish were on the whole smaller than normal, but fat-bellied, so they should be a lot bigger the next visit.

With the water this high here, I imagine that Nunya will be running high for a while. If I were you, Tom, I probably wouldn't try Nunya until August, maybe September. Since it is such a far drive for you, I figured I would check it out and save you the trip, and after I have three or four 20-fish days, I'll give you a call and let you know it is shape and worth your drive.

Nightmare

Sunday, June 12

I had a weird dream this morning that merits a blog entry. I was with Rob on the Wenatchee fishing for steelhead below the bridge in town. I know it was a dream because there weren't any other people on the river. I wasn't fishing for some reason, but Rob was spin casting a strange-looing yarn ball and reeling it back in and hooking a steelhead every time. I was just watching him (that is what made it a nightmare!). After he had landed several, I realized I didn't have any spinning gear. Rob suggested I drive back to Richland and get my spinning rod (good move, Rob! By the time I'd get back you'd have caught fifty). Anyway, I realized that I could cast my flyline out as far as he where he was hooking the fish, and if they'd hit that thing Rob was tossing, they were certain to take a bead dead drifted. So I opened up my flyrod case and found everything so tangled it was going to take hours to untangle and get ready for fishing (that was doubly the nightmare!). Then I woke up. I tried, but couldn't get back to sleep and the dream to try and resolve it. What an unsatisfying way to wake up. I guess I'll have to wait until next March on the Methow to resolve this one!

Rainbows, and Tigers, and Browns--Oh My!

The boys scouts of Troop 37 from East Wenatchee camped at the Fighting Rainbow Club and began the process of removal of aquatic weeds at the FRC Friday-Saturday, June 3-4. Using the rollers/rake from shore we were able to clear much of the milfoil from the dock around to the southwest corner entrance to the club. Also dragged the cutters behind a boat with oarpower (insufficient) and determined that the cutter works well, but a more powerful method of propulsion would make the task more efficient and effective (understatement). Good to get some experience with those tools so that plans can be made by the club to continue the work begun by the scouts.

Friday night found fishing good with Brian catching a nice tiger trout and Rob missing lots of opportunities to catch other fish. Dr. Rob seemed to have more fun with the fish taking out lots of line, wrapping around weeds, and coming off. Good reason to reduce the weed population some.

Saturday morning water temp was 58 degrees and Rob had much better success from 5-8 a.m. bringing in a dozen nice rainbows. Largest was a 23" triploid that was 6" in depth--fish was in great shape and took a black woolly bugger on a floating line with about 9' of leader and out about 40-50 feet at a very slow troll. The other fly that worked well was a pheasant tail, size 14. Lots of surface activity, but much of it in weeds, so difficult to troll through without picking up weeds.

Once sun got up high and bright, fishing came to almost a complete halt--which made starting the service project much easier.

Opening Day

Saturday, June 4 The Creek

Thanks to Alyssa's baptism, Rick was able to make it to the Creek for another important event - opening day for streams. Well, kind of opening day, because it was clear there had been significant poaching before the opening.

The road up out of Moses Coulee is deteriorating, with one section just as you start up the hill that is just about at the point of high-clearance vehicle only. We parked at the tunnel collapse and were glad to see no sign of vehicles or people down in the canyon. The creek was a little colored and higher than normal, but still wonderfully fishable. We started around the waterfalls, and each caught several.

We then worked our way up to the crossing and up a short ways from there. We found fish, but not a lot. One or two in a hole, and that was it. Size about 6" to 10", but seemed a little more on the small side compared to past years. Perhaps floods cleared out a lot of the fish. Water was murky enough that it could have been hard for the fish to see the fly as much as they normally would. I tried the psycho prince and had some success, but the renegade still topped it here. Some things never change. Together we probably caught 50 fish or so, but it seemed a little slow. All in all a very nice morning together.

Floods had done some cleaning out of the floating mats of grass, but more would be nice. At least three dams/partially broken dams below the crossing. The one monster above the crossing is also still there. From the waterfalls to the crossing has a lot of trees and such that force you in and out of the water, over and under branches. I sure hope when I'm 80 years old that I'll still be bushwacking it like Dad!

Sunfish, Smallmouth, Spinners, and Sums

Friday/Saturday, May 20-21

Tom and the girls came down to Richland Friday to give Elisabeth some time away from the kids and to give the cousins some time together. We met at a small irrigation pond in a neighborhood just up the road that is full of bluegill with a few bass. It is a great place, right next to the residential street, with mowed lawn to the waters edge and a wide open shoreline (watch you backcast or you may hook a pedestrian passing on the sidewalk!). It did not disappoint. The girls and the 3-wts collected a dishpan full of sunfish (bluegill) within a short time. As the girls played, Tom and I intermittently tried to coax a smallmouth from the water. Tom finally found one with a big ugly green fly with rubber legs. After a short fight with a nice sized smally (16 to 18 inch estimate), his line parted and the excitement was done. As we were loading up the cars, we turned back and saw a bass about the size of the one he lost leap a full foot clear of the water, twist in midair, and splash back down, a parting slap in the face to remind Tom who won this battle.

Saturday morning, we all headed to Moses Lake where we dropped Melinda off at the Washington State Math is Cool Masters Championship (the state championships), then the rest of headed to Homestead Lake for a few hours of fishing. Along the way to Homestead, we saw a few bass in the small lake along the way, and Tom managed to pull a smallmouth from the near the shore on a fly. Then it was off to Homestead. Upon arrival, first cast with a Panther Martin (brass blade, olive body, yellow spots) and Tom hooked the rainbow below, then nothing for a long time. There were some fish sipping on the surface in part of the lake, but no action. While I tried different flies with the spinning gear, Tom worked his way to the opposite side of the lake, where he brought three more to hand with the spinner and lost a couple more. All rainbows, about the size of the one pictured or a little smaller. Not a lot of action, but more fish activity than we have seen there in the last few years. Perhaps we'll have a late fall trip to check it out when the fish have grown some more. The lake itself appears to be silting in a lot, and is much shallower than in the past. Some time in the future it may become another cattail swamp unable to support trout.

While we were messing around with spinners and smallmouth (and 'bows), Melinda was working with sums (and products and factorials and story problems....) to win the Division 1 Math is Cool state championship with her classmates. After the awards ceremony, we all visited Arby's together, then said goodbye until our next time together. Cousins are great!

Ultimate Catch and Release in Calf Creek

April 2011 brought a family trip to Southern Utah for spring break. As this was a FAMILY trip, I decided it best to leave the 5 weight at home.

Most of the rivers we passed were running high and dirty, but Calf Creek (NE of Escalante, Utah) was running clear and was loaded with brown trout. (There are also reports of Brook and Rainbow as well, though all I saw were browns.)

We parked and the Calf Creek recreation area and made the 6 mile round trip hike to Lower Calf Creek Falls. It is a beautiful hike with some Native American stuff along the way. We saw lizards, wild turkey and browns galore!

Without my 5 wt, I had to resort to fishing my SLR (no, Rob, that isn't Cabelas new line of fly rods.) I went with the Canon SLR and put a 55-250 mm zoom on the end of it. Attached you can see the result.I have determined that this is the ULTIMATE in catch and release. The fish are all released unharmed and as a plus, I did not lost a single fish that was photographed. It made me feel good to not farm out ANY fish on this trip!

I'd recommend a visit back to this creek with something other than the SLR.

Dinner from Dusty

After a morning of work, I cut out early to pay a visit to Dusty Lake in hopes of catching the spawning trout at their peak near the shore. Sadly, I found only a few stragglers cruising the shallows, but enough to make for a fun afternnoon. Here is the panorama view approaching the lake, dead calm (a rarity in the spring). This place is always worth a visit just for the scenery and the fun of exploring the basalt cliffs and many potholes lakes in the area.

I arrived at the mirror smooth lake and peered into the shallows. There were a few dark shapes moving around, but not the schools and schools that can be present at the right time in the spring. I think the peak was between two Fridays ago and today, as the fish I caught today were spawned out and those two weeks ago were bursting at the belly. A family that had been camping this week indicated they had seen a number of kids walking up the trail with full stringers of fish and powerbait, which could also explain the scarcity of fish in the shallows.

I quickly landed 4 of 5 from the beach, all on the size 12 purple pycho prince (they ignored the chironomid), then action stopped. All fish were about 13 to 15". I got in the float tube and tried fishing deep with a spinning rod and sinkers (like a downrigger almost). No fish at any depth. I switched to sinking fly line, and had a couple soft takes and a couple fish the same size as the others. But tube action was very slow. Finally, I switched to a floating line as there were quite a few fish feeding on the surface, but nothing. Fish from the tube were caught on the small green bunny leech, but both were snagged, so even those takes weren't great. Tried a white bunny, green psycho, green bugger, rubber legged hare's ear along with the leech to no avail. Finally tired of kicking, I went back to the beach.

The wind picked up a little from the west, which I believe helps the shore fishing. It breaks up the mirror surface so the fish near the shore can't see you, and also keeps the flies under the indicator moving slowly through the water. I wanted a fish to eat, so I decided to give the shore one more try. I quickly had a take, then caught another smaller one at 13" to 14". Well, at least I got one more fish, but the "one more cast" urge took over and kept me going for a few more minutes. A good thing too, as within a short time the indicator went down, I lifted up, and felt some solid head shaking. This fish stayed near the bottom, and I could tell it was nicer than the previous fish. After a short fight, I got it to the beach and estimated about 18", nice for a meal (it took the size 16 caddis green psycho, as did the previous fish). I taped it when I got home and was surprised to measure it at 21" and three pounds! A nice finish to the day, and a nice meal for the family.