Eastern Washington Fishing Report 04.12.18
Omak Lake
If I have learned anything when it comes to fishing it is this: expect the unexpected. For Omak Lake right now, that seems to be the case. Normally by this time of the year you would see pods of Lahontan cutthroats cruising the shallows close to shore. That is not the case . . . yet. I’m not saying that cutties are not being caught, it’s just not like we caught them in past years. From what I’ve seen and been told, most of the cutts being caught are in about 15 feet of water. A few are being caught close to shore but, you won’t be site casting to them right now. I have had some good reports from anglers in boats fishing just a little out from the shoreline. Some people doing just that have had 20 fish days. Interestingly, I’ve had anglers tell me is how one fly will be on fire, then an hour later the fish turn off of it. This is something I discovered a few years back about Omak’s cutthroats. You may have to go through a couple of flies to find what their interest is and be prepared to change as their preferences do. The streamers that I know are working are a #8 Sculpzilla, #6 brown or olive Sculpinator, #2 olive or tan El Sculpito, and a #8 olive and white Minn-Roe 2.5. If indicator fishing is your choice a #8 purple or black TFP Balanced Squirrel Leech is producing.
Rat Lake
I drove down to Rat Lake on Sunday, but unfortunately a slide had come down and blocked the road, a couple of miles before the lake. It was my understanding that the slide was cleared a couple of hours later and the road in is all good and clear now. The reason why I wanted to get down to the lake was I was getting some good reports. I was told it wasn’t quite fast and furious catching, but it was enough to have a good time. Rat Lake is clear of ice and should have turned over by now. I should mention water clarity is a little off due to runoff coming into the lake. One of my customers reported good success with chironomids fished at a depth of six feet. Also, olive leeches are proving successful. That’s the word from a couple of customers that were in our Omak shop stocking up on them. Based on the reports I would recommend #14-16 red or black chironomids. For a leech pattern I would go with, #10 peacock Simi Seal Leech or a #10 olive RedHead Leech.
Dry Falls Lake
Dry Falls is playing hard to get, at least with me. When I recently fished it I went through a few patterns before hooking up on my first fish, a rainbow of about 14 inches. It was a slow day on the catching part, but a couple of feisty 16-inch ‘bows made up for it. A couple other anglers were having about the same action As weather improves and the winds dies down a little I can only draw from past seasons that fishing will improve greatly. The flies that worked for me were, a #14 black/silver Chan’s Chironomid Bomber, a #10 Pumpkinhead Leech, and a #10 bruised Rowley’s Balanced Leech.
Spectacle Lake
Spectacle Lake opened April 1 and falls under the statewide general rules. The reason I am reporting on this lake is because I had a couple of my local customers come into the shop and tell me about the great fishing they had there. They told me they decided to fish the lake because it was open and close to where they lived. Just because it is a general rules lake doesn’t mean you can’t fly-fish it. From what they told me they had one of their best days fishing in a long time. They fished it for about three hours and between the two of them caught over 20 nice fat rainbows in the 14 to 18-inch range. That alone would make me want to give it a shot. Most of the bows they caught were in 10 feet of water and very eager to take Balanced Leeches 10 feet under an indicator. A #12 olive Pumpkinhead Leech, a #8 olive /chart TFP Balanced Leech and a #8 Blood TFP Balanced Leech worked well, too. Remember, just because Spectacle Lake is not fly-fishing only doesn’t mean you can’t have a great day on the water. Spectacle is located right off the Loomis Oroville road west of Tonasket.
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