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Coldwater Lake

3K views 21 replies 6 participants last post by  Strike Zone 
#1 ·
Coldwater today
I Was the only guy I saw on the lake today. It was turning greenish so I think it's starting to turn over. Nothing happened till noon for me. Then for 45 minutes the bite came on. Then nothing till 3:00. before the bite came back on again. Fished down to the outhouse. Caught fish from 9 feet, 29 feet and 39 foot depths casting/retreiving slow sink tip and also wind-rifting a hi-density line at 6.5 in/sec sink rate. They hit burgundy woolly buggers, dragonfly nymps, and Wild Billy Lake Specials. Ended up releasing 14. The fish are still smallish. 13--14 inch average. I think after the lake turns over it will be alot more productive. Anyway, I hope someday it will be managed as a quality size fishery so that we might see the old glory days come back up there.
Strike Zone
 
#4 ·
Oh how I love those little wild chromers and how well they fight. When those fish start sipping it's a great game to play chasing pods until you hook the big one out of the pod, then the game changes to try and land this!

I haven't been up since last fall so thanks for the report. I have a new guy I'm getting back into fly fishing so will be up soon for some "PRACTICE" waiting for the green-out would be best for me since they will start sipping here in a couple weeks. trying to fish cloudy days - without wind - is a tough one up there but can be great when it happens.

Did you see any sippers?
 
#5 ·
Oh how I love those little wild chromers and how well they fight. When those fish start sipping it's a great game to play chasing pods until you hook the big one out of the pod, then the game changes to try and land this!

I haven't been up since last fall so thanks for the report. I have a new guy I'm getting back into fly fishing so will be up soon for some "PRACTICE" waiting for the green-out would be best for me since they will start sipping here in a couple weeks. trying to fish cloudy days - without wind - is a tough one up there but can be great when it happens.

Did you see any sippers?
Oh how I love those little wild chromers and how well they fight. When those fish start sipping it's a great game to play chasing pods until you hook the big one out of the pod, then the game changes to try and land this!

I haven't been up since last fall so thanks for the report. I have a new guy I'm getting back into fly fishing so will be up soon for some "PRACTICE" waiting for the green-out would be best for me since they will start sipping here in a couple weeks. trying to fish cloudy days - without wind - is a tough one up there but can be great when it happens.

Did you see any sippers?
Mark: Nope. The fish were not showing anywhere I was at yesterday. I thought I was going to get skunked all morning, Then finally things started to happen.
Denny
 
#8 ·
Hello to both of you.....oood report. Glad you found some fish Denny. I hit Merrill yesterday for just two hours.....but it was too calm and no fish. No sippers other Mark.

I may give Coldwater one more try this week....green or not.

Terry
Terry: Hi there. Hope fishing has been good for you. I was wondering if Coldwater was good to you? I am considering either going up there or trying Merwin this coming week sometime. Have you heard anything>
Denny
 
#7 ·
Terry: Hi. Hopefully Coldwater Lake will have turned over for you by now. It sure has been beautiful weather lately. Wish I could get out myself, but I've got to finish painting here while the sun still shines. Next month tho the fish better watch out. Ha Ha. We are heading way over east to a lake up near Republic somewhere with another couple and their son. It's supposed to have some rainbows that range from 14-26 inches. Hope the reports are right. Talk care. Good luck to you.
Denny
 
#10 ·
Denny....Here is someone's report from Merwin and a link to a website:

http://www.kokaneefishingforum.com/fishing-forums/showthread.php?7314-Merwin-2013-post-it-here/page2

Today was a wonderful morning at Merwin for me. It started of slow. The gate keeper was ten minutes late and the full moon was so bright that you could almost read a paper. As I left the dock about 0545 two other rigs arrived. I headed east and soon found myself right in the middle of a boil. Fish were everywhere! I got my first line out at 0555 and before I could set the second rod I had a kokanee in the boat. I got both rods out and the first rod had another fish. I reset the first rod and brought in the second rod to change gear. I got the second rod half out and the first rod went off. When that fish was half way in the second rod started moving in the boat. I had a double. I got both and now had four fish. The time was 0615. Fifteen minutes later the fifth fish was in the boat. I had struck the mother lode! Every now and then everything comes together: right place, right time, right gear and bait, right depth and speed. All fish were caught flatline at 100ft. Three on a flo. orange wedding ring with a 1.0 silver scale smile blade behind a silver sling blade and two on a flo. orange wedding ring with a #2 hammered nickle Indiana blade behind a UV sling blade. I am surprised how large the fish are for this time of year. The fish measured 13, 13 3/4, 14, 14 1/2, 141/2. They were very fat. I left Speelyai about 0745. There were 17-18 rigs in the lot with more arriving. As a side note, I spoke with the gate keeper and he said they may open Cresap tomorrow. The logging project is scheduled to be completed today.
 
#11 ·
Denny....Here is someone's report from Merwin and a link to a website:

http://www.kokaneefishingforum.com/fishing-forums/showthread.php?7314-Merwin-2013-post-it-here/page2
Terry:

Way to go. Guess I may have to head up to Merwin maybe on Tuesday. The weather is supposed to settle down I think.
Denny

Today was a wonderful morning at Merwin for me. It started of slow. The gate keeper was ten minutes late and the full moon was so bright that you could almost read a paper. As I left the dock about 0545 two other rigs arrived. I headed east and soon found myself right in the middle of a boil. Fish were everywhere! I got my first line out at 0555 and before I could set the second rod I had a kokanee in the boat. I got both rods out and the first rod had another fish. I reset the first rod and brought in the second rod to change gear. I got the second rod half out and the first rod went off. When that fish was half way in the second rod started moving in the boat. I had a double. I got both and now had four fish. The time was 0615. Fifteen minutes later the fifth fish was in the boat. I had struck the mother lode! Every now and then everything comes together: right place, right time, right gear and bait, right depth and speed. All fish were caught flatline at 100ft. Three on a flo. orange wedding ring with a 1.0 silver scale smile blade behind a silver sling blade and two on a flo. orange wedding ring with a #2 hammered nickle Indiana blade behind a UV sling blade. I am surprised how large the fish are for this time of year. The fish measured 13, 13 3/4, 14, 14 1/2, 141/2. They were very fat. I left Speelyai about 0745. There were 17-18 rigs in the lot with more arriving. As a side note, I spoke with the gate keeper and he said they may open Cresap tomorrow. The logging project is scheduled to be completed today.
 
#14 ·
Denny,

From everything I've heard, Coldwater is fishing slow to okay and Merwin is starting to fish very good.

I know one thing for sure, Merwin Kokes taste great!
Paul: Thanks for the report on both Coldwater and Merwin. I volunteered a couple days to take two different families out fishing for a day to help them be able to help pay for some boys going to a week-long campout this summer and some girls going to a girls campout for a week this summer.Both families are looking forward to spending a day on the lake. One I'm taking up to Coldwater and the other I'm taking up to Merwin. So I'm hoping when we go the fish will be cooperative for them. So thanks again for the info you shared.
Denny
 
#15 ·
Fished Coldwater today with bartfly! 25 or 30 to the boat, bite started when we got there at 8:30 and got a little better around noon, left at 2:30 some wind and water was still green but white bead tan chiro's did well and a few other flies under the float. 4 ft. vis. but out in deep water the vis got worse. we would catch 2 to 5 fish and than have to move, same thing everywhere we went, in mostly 12 to 14 ft. water. did find some in an 8 ft. flat and landed around 5 at that depth.

A few jumpers and rollers but not concentrated enough to go softy's!

Got back to the ramp to see 4 people bait fishing (50% of the time I go there people are bait fishing) told them it was no bait - they said "NO" it's no live bait! and that they were using eggs! they pointed to the sign (I didn't read it but know the regs) evidently it says something about no "LIVE BAIT" so I told them no bait and barbless hooks flies and lures only. they said you could use barbs! took boat out and parked in parking lot to put things away and here they came and got in their SUV and left. guess they thought better to be safe than sorry! we are thinking about emailing wdfw to report the sign maybe confusing people and maybe post it better for "NO BAIT" WHAT MIGHT YOU THINK???

Thought the lake fished well but we had to move a lot.
 
#16 ·
Fished Coldwater today with bartfly! 25 or 30 to the boat, bite started when we got there at 8:30 and got a little better around noon, left at 2:30 some wind and water was still green but white bead tan chiro's did well and a few other flies under the float. 4 ft. vis. but out in deep water the vis got worse. we would catch 2 to 5 fish and than have to move, same thing everywhere we went, in mostly 12 to 14 ft. water. did find some in an 8 ft. flat and landed around 5 at that depth.

A few jumpers and rollers but not concentrated enough to go softy's!

Got back to the ramp to see 4 people bait fishing (50% of the time I go there people are bait fishing) told them it was no bait - they said "NO" it's no live bait! and that they were using eggs! they pointed to the sign (I didn't read it but know the regs) evidently it says something about no "LIVE BAIT" so I told them no bait and barbless hooks flies and lures only. they said you could use barbs! took boat out and parked in parking lot to put things away and here they came and got in their SUV and left. guess they thought better to be safe than sorry! we are thinking about emailing wdfw to report the sign maybe confusing people and maybe post it better for "NO BAIT" WHAT MIGHT YOU THINK???

Thought the lake fished well but we had to move a lot.
Mark: Thanks for the help at Coldwater I think I'm going to wait 3 more weeks or so to give the lake plenty of time to clear up completely before I head up there with some rookies. I do plan to hit Merwin on Tuesday tho. I'm pretty green when it comes to kokanee's still, but I think it should be good anyway. I think it will just get better up there as the year progresses. So thanks again for the fresh report. I'll let you know how we do when we ever get up there.
Denny
 
#18 ·
Yesterday Coldwater was good to me. Fished from 10:30 to 2:00 to take advantage of the wind. First half hour used usual 20' HD sink tip line with black or green sparse seal-dubbed bugger. No bites….but wind was perfect. Switched to the gaudiest fly I had. A # 4 black headed muddler with orange and tan body, tan, yellow and silver sparkle wing and tail. Used a full type 6 sink line near the bottom and in just a few minutes had a nice fish……16 " rainbow. Another 10 minutes and had a nicer 17.5" cutthroat. Then I caught bottom and lost that fly…my only one. Put on a big sparkly green wooly bugger and caught a few more but all smaller….In one 200 yrd square area I got 6 in a row…..all 12-14". Moved to another spot to try for bigger fish and caught a few more small ones…….I left two other flies on the bottom. Then the wind died about 1 pm…….no further bites so I left at 2pm. Had 13 fish on and 10 to the net. Actually a pretty good 1/2 day of fishing for me.
I also saw a kid casting a lure in the creek from the walkway way above the boundary marker.
 
#19 ·
Yesterday Coldwater was good to me. Fished from 10:30 to 2:00 to take advantage of the wind. First half hour used usual 20' HD sink tip line with black or green sparse seal-dubbed bugger. No bites….but wind was perfect. Switched to the gaudiest fly I had. A # 4 black headed muddler with orange and tan body, tan, yellow and silver sparkle wing and tail. Used a full type 6 sink line near the bottom and in just a few minutes had a nice fish……16 " rainbow. Another 10 minutes and had a nicer 17.5" cutthroat. Then I caught bottom and lost that fly…my only one. Put on a big sparkly green wooly bugger and caught a few more but all smaller….In one 200 yrd square area I got 6 in a row…..all 12-14". Moved to another spot to try for bigger fish and caught a few more small ones…….I left two other flies on the bottom. Then the wind died about 1 pm…….no further bites so I left at 2pm. Had 13 fish on and 10 to the net. Actually a pretty good 1/2 day of fishing for me.
I also saw a kid casting a lure in the creek from the walkway way above the boundary marker.
Terry: Way to go. Sounds like things are picking up at Coldwater . Great. I hope to maybe get up there next week if the wind doesn't howl. Had a super day at Merwin on the 1st. My partner and I put 24 kokes in the net, released 3 smaller kokes and 3 squaw fish and lost about 15 alongside the boat. Boy it got hot up there in the afternoon.
Denny
 
#21 ·
I tried again yesterday and it was really foggy till 10:30. Could not see Island from boat launch. I got a few fish ....4 to the boat.....but it was slow. I had to leave at 1 pm. It was quite sunny by then. One guy was trolling a spinner and got a few fish.
Terry: Well at least you you a few. Ya could have been skunked. I have been occasionally up there, but I usually can figure out how to entice a few sometime during the day. I'm headed up there on Saturday. I usually try to stay away on Saturday's, but I am taking a dad and his two teenage sons out for a day of fly fishing. So I hope the fish are cooperative. It's to raise money for the boys and girls to go to summer camps. It's a good cause so what the heck. The bite has been really early at Merwin for kokes so we are going to try to be on the lake before daylight. Merwin has been on fire for me the last two times I've been up there in the early mornings.. We had 40 on the first day, but put in about12 hours, and then this Monday we had 30 plus on in about 5 hours. This kokanee fishing is a kick in the pants.
Denny
 
#22 ·
Spent yesterday on Coldwater with three others in the boat. We only saw 2 other boats on the lake all day. We ended up releasing about 20-25 fish, but all were small. 11-13 inches. Mostly caught on dragons down deep or tazmanian devils of various colors down deep. Here are a few.

Strike Zone
 

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