Problamatic Lake Fly Fishing

Jim's 16 inch Trout

It was a clear, picturesque day as Jim’s Ford pickup bounced over the ruts and chuck holes that guarded the Central Oregon lake’s rocky entrance. The sky was a deep azure blue with a hint of a little wind and maybe some good luck in our quest for large rainbow trout. But as we bumped up the rocky grade to the lake’s dike, a problem quickly arose. 

Because of the mild winter, the lake’s shoreline was clogged with algae and reed beds that were wider and thicker than normal. Longer casts of 40-60 feet would be required to avoid snagging and to reach fishable water. As we rigged up our outfits, the bulrushes and tall grasses were being invaded by a variety of birds in search of food. We hoped that the fish would be in the same feeding mode. 

Thunderheads Building Up

A first cast hookup was usually a good sign that we might have a banner day. My first attempt gave us hope as I hooked a beauty, but I lost it after a short battle. Jim had a few takes as well but didn’t have any solid hookups. After two hours, we had nothing more than a few good strikes and short takes. As we sat down to eat our lunch, I noticed that a series of large thunderheads were building up in the Northeast. From past experiences, I knew that this could easily indicate a falling barometer and put fish off the bite. I hoped this wouldn’t happen. 

Released this nice trout.

After lunch a brief hatch of emergers surprisingly occurred. I hooked and lost a few trout and Jim finally landed a nice 16 incher and lost one over 20 inches. This gave us renewed hope, but without warning the wind began to pick up and gusts of 20-30 miles per hour whipped the water into heavy riffles. The hatch was quickly put down which further dampened our spirits. 

We decided to wait out the oncoming storm for another hour, but without observing any surface action, we finally called it a day. In some respects it was a disappointing trip, but rather than mope about it, we chalked it up to bad luck and the fickle whim of Mother Nature.