Dusty Lake

Me, at Dusty Lake

This time of year, the weather doesn't always cooperate on the Western slopes of the Cascades (which is why we call it the "wet side"). So Vlad and I jumped in his new Forrester and drove over the pass to the Quincy Wildlife Area to fish Dusty Lake. Dusty has always been a favorite of mine. Its not quite a "drive-to" lake; upon reaching the trail-head, you must hike down about a mile along a dusty trail.

The Dusty Trail

Once upon a time such a hike was sufficient to keep most other anglers away, and one could be assured of having Dusty mostly to oneself. Like other lakes in that area (Dry Falls for one), Dusty is surrounded by towering, crumbling basalt cliffs. Something in the water (alkaline?) bleaches the rocks around the lake giving the whole scene an otherworldly feel.

Vlad Karpinskiy

Dusty has grown in popularity over the last few years as tales of its largish trout got out. Also, sadly, there has been constant poaching by people of all backgrounds. I am hoping that this explains how Vlad and I both got skunked on this trip!. We fished for a good 5 hours; Vlad had two strikes. I had a giant fish on for about 5 seconds (and then he was gone).

Launching

At one point, there was some serious yelling and shouting on the lake from a party that had arrived after we did and had set up on the rocks. They were hootin' and hollerin' because a woman had caught her first fish ever. I approached the group and I got a picture of her in her bikini with the fish. She was very excited; at age 44 she had caught her first fish ever! How about that.

Dunno who she is, but it's her first fish ever

If you go: Remember, no bait, no barbs. One fish limit.

McLeod Lake

McLeod and backdrop

Some days it seems like all the bad luck comes at you at once. Friday, May 14th was one of those days. I've had some ill-fated trips but this one was so bad its almost funny. 

McLeod lake is only 20 minutes from my house, and its a 5 minute walk from the road through the woods in the Hancock Tree Farm.  Again, I decided to take a Float Tube, this time my largish Fat Cat 4, which had just come back from the repair shop.

The comedy of errors began immediately upon my arrival at the parking spot.

10:30am - I open the back of the truck only to find that I'd forgotten half my fishing gear. Fine, so I drive 20 minutes home, get the rest my stuff, stop for a smoothie, and I'm back to the parking spot at noon.
12:00pm - While pulling on my waders, something goes POP in my back.  I'm overcome with a paralyzing pain.  I can't breathe; I'm thinking "this is it, I'm dying in the bed of my pickup with my waders half on, just like I always knew I would."  Eventually the pain subsides enough for me to breathe and move, very, very slowly.  Should I go home?  No, Amy is having a girl party and I don't want to crash it.  Besides, I took the day off, and I figure, if I can get to the lake the water will support my weight and I'll be fine.  So I finish getting ready, very slowly, and proceed to walk to the lake.That 5 minute walk takes 35 minutes as I have to stop every few feet to rest my aching back.
1:35pm - At the lake now.  As I put my float tube down I hear a "POP-fssssssssssssssssss".  The float tube seam has popped (again) and air is rushing out.  I will not be floating in this float tube.   Look up the sky.  "God, am I not supposed to be fishing today?"  No answer.  Well, I did bring a spare tube, and I did take the day off.  So I begin the painful trudge BACK to the truck to get the spare tube.
2:30pm - The round-trip to the truck, which normally would have taken 10 minutes, took almost 60 because the wrenching pain.  I sit down and put a fin on my left boot.  SNAP, the strap that holds the fin onto my boot breaks.  That's never happened before.  I decide that if none of the above things was going to stop me, then a missing fin wouldn't either.  I'd kick around with NO fins if necessary at this point.

Four hours into the trip and I'm just getting wet!

The good news is that once in the water, I felt no pain. The water suspended me and I forgot all about my back. Fishing was extremely slow, though. I caught one fish, on a large snowcone about 12' under and indicator. In fact, it was very nice fish, one of the largest I've ever caught in the tree farm. McLeod can make them bigger than most of the lakes up there for some reason.

I took a picture of the fish.

But I lost my camera somewhere on the way home.

Of course. What a trip!

Fontal Lake

If you look closely at the pictures, you might recognize this as a "secret" lake that I didn't want to divulge last year. However, I'm naming names today, and this one is Fontal Lake north of Duvall.  If you can hike your way in there, you deserve to fish it!  Its about 45-60 minutes by foot, and your GPS will not really help you. Good luck!

On the trail to Fontal Lake

I took a Friday off to enjoy the weather and get in some "adventuring", by which I usually mean hiking and fishing. The fishing is much more enjoyable if there's a measure of planning and effort that must go into it. Fontal Lake is a good starter lake for this kind of trip; it's a relatively flat walk but long enough to keep the hordes away. It's remote enough in that if you were to twist your ankle you might be in serious trouble; I couldn't get cell reception out there. Lastly, in the past there have been nice fish taken there, though I haven't seen any (which is why I'm not afraid to name names today).

I didn't see another soul on the way, or at the lake. I arrived and unpacked my gear. Even though this was the location where I was introduced to the magical Trail Boat, this time I brought my trusty Float Tube. You see, there aren't a lot of fish at Fontal, and you might only get one chance, and if that's the case its nice to have both hands on your flyrod. Vlad and I discussed this strategy and he agreed.


To my dismay, my waders had a gushing leak right at the small of the back. I fished while FREEZING COLD, listening to Fresh Air on my iPhone to pass the time. I was wet and so cold that my legs were numb and my teeth were chattering. As I said, there's aren't a lot of fish in Fontal, and you might get only once chance. As it happened, I did get only only chance and I made the most of it. I landed a very pretty Brook Trout.

After kicking around the lake for over two hours I got out, ostensibly to warm up and have a snack. As I dried off I looked back at the lake and decided that I didn't need to catch any more fish. If anything, I confirmed that my winter waders have seen their last days and that I should get a new pair. I changed my socks to the dry pair I'd brought, loaded my gear into my pack and hiked the hour back out to my car.

On the way home I stopped in Duvall at a place that sold Espresso and Ice Cream and got some of both. I like Duvall, nice town. I hope that our street renovations in Snoqualmie make it look more like what they've done up there. When I finally got home (about 8 hours after I'd left) I was surprised at how tired I was.

It was a good start for "Adventuring".

Flies for the Snoqualmie Valley

Our April fishing trip has inspired me to get some tying done. I only tie about six different types flies; these are most of them. From the top left around clockwise...

• A black Bunny Streamer. Also tie them in Olive.
• 5 diffent types of Carey-Specials.  Amy swears by the two on the right, the Olive Willies.
• Five San Juan Worms.  So easy to tie, ahhh.  The key is to use a lighter on the ends.
• Blue Winged Olives - The only dry I tie anymore.
• Snowcones - black, red, silver and olive, in sizes 14-18
• A Hares Ear - really need to tie more of these, they are so versatile
• 5 Prince Nymphs - Actually use these in the Yakima more than anywhere else

In fact, I'm thinking of blogging a series of "Flies for the Snoqualmie Valley." If you have some recommendations, please send them to me and we'll talk!

Rattlesnake Lake Report and Controversy

Stumps

Rattlesnake Lake, off of Exit 32 in North Bend can be a really exciting fishery.  On a good evening you can catch fish after fish on a dry fly when a mayfly hatch is going off.  Its also a local favorite fishing hole.  Over the years that I've fished there I've seen more and more fly fishermen until now it is almost ALL fly fishermen.  They are attracted by the beautiful scenery, the insect hatches, and the occasional large triploid trout that get put in there.

In a very exciting (but controversial) development, the regulations for Rattlesnake have changed from a seasonal "put-n-take" fishing hole to year-round catch-and-release fishery.  Like any change, this one too has its cheerleaders and its detractors.

From the cheerleaders: Designating a fishery as catch-and-release vastly decreases fish mortality (of course) allowing the fish to get larger (and smarter).  Also, it costs the state a lot less, because it doesn't need to get stocked as often.  Lastly, there is not a single catch-and-release lake in all of King County, which has millions of people.  Surely we can afford ONE?  That still leaves hundreds of put-n-take lakes in the County, many of which are year round also!

Rebuttal from the detractors: North Bend has exactly ONE public lake in which you can fish.  Now it is off-limits to those would bait fish (kids, kids at heart, etc).  Try telling the bait fishermen who lives in the neighborhood next to Rattlesnake Lake that he now has to drive 30 minutes (each way) to fish. 

I'm not going to offer an opinion on this one; there are merits to both sets of arguments.

On the 4/25, I fished the lake during the evening hours with about 40 other fly fisherman and a few spin fisherman.  There was a nice midge hatch going on and the smaller fish were rising everywhere.  I fished a mayfly pattern on the top and caught six fish; all very small and agressive. I bet Amy would have caught 24. LOL.

I beached the jon boat to go home around 7:30pm.  There was a game warden there who was just chatting with people as they came out of the water.  Two guys starting telling him what they thought of the new regulations (not in a good way). 

"I've fished here for 20 years and never had a problem catching fish!" yelled one guy.  I'm not sure what his point was but he sounded angry.  The other guy said "Some fly-fishermen snuck this change through with no public comment!"  (I don't know the veracity of that statement).  Then they got their stuff and left.

After a few more minutes, another, younger, guy beaches his craft, and approaches the game warden and warmly says "So the lake is being managed for larger trout now, yes?"

I felt bad for the Game Warden; it wasn't his decision and he'll likely be the one having to give out the tickets and all the bad news to people who disagree with the new policy.

Spring Break Day 4: Fighting at Amber Lake

Years ago I read a fishing report about this magical place named Amber Lake, where the lucky fly-fishermen of Spokane go and catch only giant trout. I added Amber Lake to my "must visit" list. This trip appeared to be about just finally getting there but ultimately ended up being about peaceful surrender.

Gearing Up

Amber Lake seems way out there in the middle of nowhere - its like the The Shire. One minute you're driving through tree-less, rolling hills and then the next you come over a rise and there is the lake in a hollow, amidst old barns and evergreens. The boat launch is very tidy with lots of parking and good facilities.

The Fish Master

Of course, Amy immediately started catching some REALLY nice fish. Within 30 minutes of launching she had landed a 16" and a 17" trout, one of which is above. I helped her land the first.... and then we got in a HUGE fight. I mean we were YELLING AND SCREAMING at each other in the boat, for 20 loud minutes. She thought that I was giving her the cold shoulder now that she was catching fish, and I told her I was just trying to retain some dignity after getting ridiculously out-fished every day (tally so far on the trip was 33 to 8)..

Finally she put her rod down and yelled "Fine! Take me home!"

And I roared back, "We did not drive all the way out here just to go home!"

And then I had an ephiphany. I was being a jerk! But why? There could only be one reason: I had been trying to hold on to the idea that I was the better fisherman and it was getting harder and harder (impossible actually) to maintain that position in the face all of all this contrary evidence. So I let it go and admitted to myself that she was now a better fisherman than I was. And I felt a sudden peace.

We made up. I asked her to inspect my line and give me some tips on what she might be doing differently. I even had her set up my rig for me at one point. We got along great the rest of the day. She still totally out-fished me, getting strikes constantly and ultimately landing 5 fish. Me, I caught only one fish, but it was a pretty good one.

My One Fish

At around 2:00pm, the lake just turned off. Even Amy stopped getting hits. Everyone, including ourselves, left beautiful Amber Lake. Amy and I drove to the other side of Spokane and spent the evening in Liberty Lake, as I had some business there the next day.

On the way home we passed 50 miles of hard-blowing snow and sliding cars over Snoqualmie Pass. It was some of the nastiest driving I've ever had to do in Washington state. At one point, my truck lost traction and we were sliding completely sideways down I-90. I turned into the skid, which over-corrected and then we were sliding the opposite way down I-90. I turned into the skid again, and we corrected just right but not before I think I had a mild heart attack.

But back to Amy. She can tie her own knots. She chooses her own flies. She can even attach a tippet to a leader with a blood knot. She can cast farther than I can and concentrate for longer than I can. She is, in the ways that are important, a better fisherman than I am. I'm okay with that. As long as I'm still her best fishing buddy, that is.

Final Trip Tally: Amy = 38 fish, David = 9 Fish

Spring Break Day 3: Dry Falls Lake

Dry Falls Lake is one of the premiere fly-fishing destinations in all of Washington State. The Lake was formed during the great American flood, where a wall of water 1000 feet tall swept across the desert, ultimately flushing through the basin area, creating the incredible 400 foot cliffs of Dry Falls Lake. Its an amazing venue, and the fact that the fishing can be quite good only adds to its charm.

Dry Falls Launch

On Day 3, a Tuesday, we arrived at the lake around 10:00am, and we were surprised to find the lake packed with anglers! I counted two dozen other fisherman, mostly in pontoon boats and water masters and prams. Doesn't anyone work anymore? No worries, fly fishermen are an easy-going lot as long as you aren't mistreating the resource. We launched our craft and headed out through the shallows into the deeper water.

Catching fish

Everyone was catching fish on that day. About half seemed to be fishing indicator setups and the other half a mixture of subsurface flies or woolly buggers. After querying the only other woman on the lake, Amy started fishing a black woolly bugger down deep. She immediately began catching fish. Fish after Fish. Amy really put it to me.

Rex Takasugi

We ran into Rex Takasugi, who was putting on a clinic on the far side of the lake. He gave me some flies and gave us some pointers about where the fish were lying. Amy used that information to really start putting on a show. By now Amy had caught 15 fish. I had caught 1, and I was getting kind of steamed about it. Fortunately, I was able to put Rex's advise to work and I caught 4 fish, including the biggest fish of the day, this 18" trout.

Trout of the Day

Amy caught 21 fish, which is by far her record of most fish caught in a single day. My personal record is only 27. That last fish of hers was one of the nicest of the trip! A beautiful 17" fish, what a way to cap off the day!

Victory!!!

Day 3: Dinner and Lodging
We stayed at the Super 8 on the outskirts of Spokane. Do yourself a favor and stay someplace a little nicer.

Tally for Day 3: Amy = 21 Fish, David = 5 Fish.

Congratulations to Amy for her record day of fishing!