Eastern Washington Fishing Report 08.29.19
Weather is cooling and some of our area lakes are falling in line with lower water temperatures. Depending what lake, it is nighttime temperatures are anywhere from the mid 40s’ to the mid 50s’. As such the fishing is starting to pick up as we come closer to my favorite time of the year.
Current Conditions
Chopaka Lake - Day time temperatures have been in the mid-60s’ to the mid-70s’, with nighttime temperatures in the mid-40s’. I would recommend fishing in the northern part of the lake. The water temperature there stays cooler than the rest of the lake throughout the summer months and the fish will move there because of it. Even with the lake cooling down you should find more fish holding in that area than the southern part. Mornings will be the best time right now.
Even though the temperatures are dropping you should still take a water temperature reading just to be on the safe side. Look for any activity close to shore then keep moving out into deeper water around the 20-foot depth. Matching the hatch is not as important at this time of the year as it is in the spring and early summertime.
Leech patterns in what I call attractor colors are a good starting point but, I wouldn’t give up on the standard leech colors either. Boobie and blobs are other good patterns to be used in a variety of colors. Also, chironomids are still a good choice for this time of the year. There is still some dry fly activity with hoppers, mayflies, and caddis on and off throughout the day into evening. Don’t forget to have a couple of minnow patterns in the box, after all, it's that time of the year when the local rainbows are working on putting on some weight for the upcoming winter.
Blue Lake - Unfortunately, going into the summer months with low water levels is never a good thing. Blue Lake, like a lot of the other area lakes, is down in level and has dropped a little more. Hopefully, fall rains will bring the levels up before the winter freeze. Like other lakes in the area, the water temperatures are starting to drop but double check it with your thermometer to be safe. The main part of the lake in the northern area will be your best location to fish due to the depth and cooler water. Again, mornings are going to be your best time to start in close-in waters in the five to eight-foot range -then keep moving out into the 20 to 25-foot depth or deeper if necessary.
For the brown trout in the lake, they will be starting to get into that transition time as they gear up for the spawning time in October. Even then, there really isn't any natural reproduction in the lake by them. They still go through the steps. With that in mind, they will become more aggressive and should be more than eager to take a medium-sized streamer, leech or booby fly. The rainbows and tiger trout are getting ready to put on the feed bag and are willing to go after just about anything.
Buzzard Lake - Some chunky rainbows are starting to become more active as the waters cool. Mornings, again, are the best time to go after these trout as they are on the hunt for the chow wagon. Streamers and leeches in yellows and oranges combined with black and olive are getting some surprising results. With the water being clear, seeing a chunky rainbow charging after your fly is highly likely. Fish over the weed beds and along the dropoffs with a floating line and long leaders. If you want to nymph under an indicator, the prince nymph was getting the most takes. With the action on the prince nymph, it looks like the waterboatman madness is just around the corner.
Hefty bluegills are keeping us interested the rest of the day until evening. Anglers are finding its large bluegill in and around the lake’s plentiful lily pads. Most fishers are popping dry flies for topwater panfish action using floating lines and 8-9 foot mono leaders. Upgrading your tippet is necessary if you don’t want to lose your flies to these hard fighting fish. I’ve personally lost a few nice booby flies on 5x when these bluegill gulp and go. So, try heavier tippet and just raise the rod smoothly when you see their typical swirl on the fly. If the surface actions slows, bluegill are also taking small streamers twitched just above the weed beds. Juvenile bluegill patterns or olive wooly buggers work for this method in size 4-6. Buzzard’s water is super clear now, and seeing the fish move for the fly is a hoot.
Methow River (WA) - The river is running at about 279 cfs and very clear. Dry fly action is still the norm with foam flies and hopper patterns. While most of the time a #12 to #10 in these two categories are working, some are upping the size to #8. The bigger size eliminates the smaller fish from being able to really hook up. You might catch a few less but chances are the ones you do get into will be well worth it.
Evenings will see a caddis hatch here and there depending on where you are at on the river. Nymphing with a medium stonefly with a small mayfly or caddis is a good combination for most of the time on this river. For streamer/swinging, a #10-#8 soft hackle or small streamer is having some limited good results but should improve as we are moving into September.
Match the Hatch
Top Water: Chan’s Las Vegas Booby (Chartreuse #8), Cactus Cat #10, Micro Poppers Size 10-12. Chubbies #12 -#8 in tan, pink or red, Morrish hoppers #12-#8 in pinks, gold or tan.
Leeches/Buggers: Rowley’s Balanced Leech Olive Pumpkin #10, BH Pig Pen Leech Olive/Orange #8, BH Rickard's Seal Bugger 4 #10, Foissets TWS Bugger Olive #10
Nymphs: BH Prince Nymph #10, Tungsten Jig Bugger B/L Olive #12, BH Rickard’s Stillwater Nymph 2 #12, Zirdle Bug Olive #12, stonefly nymph #12-#10
Streamers – Sculpzilla #8 olive or white, She Demon #6 olive, black or white
Need to fill the box before you go? Order flies online here.
Tips & Techniques
When fish are taking a streamer or leeches/buggers in shallow water or over weed beds, use a floating line with a longer leader then you normally would. The weight of the fly should be enough to get it down into the strike zone.
If you are using Booby Flies on a full sinking like you might want to use Scientific Anglers 5-foot Booby Tip. This will give a little more buoyancy to the fly and keep it up off the bottom and in the strike zone.
Did you know...
If you are in the Twisp area during morning time, stop in at the Cinnamon Twisp Bakery on main street. They have some killer food that will keep you coming back. Their cinnamon Twisp buns are addictive.
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