I fished pass and agree with Ford Fender. Lots of midge action on the surface and the fish looked like small planters. My best luck was trolling deep. Overall fishing was slow for me, but I picked up a few good sized rainbows and two browns. Both browns over 20 inches. One brown was a legitimate 24 inches but fought like a dead log. Go figure, smaller rainbows were a better fight. JOE
That Drunken Dragon is one hard fly to tie. I used to be able to tie up a few, but since I quit tying I forgot how it went. It sucks being old.
Had some early morning trouble that changed my plans today. As I grabbed the pram trailer to push it to the truck the right wheel bent out then fell completely off the axle. That sucked. Glad it happened in my driveway at least. Tried to get the pram into the truck but it was too hard by myself, plus I am not at my strongest right now. Frustrated I threw the toon in the truck and headed to my favorite local lake. Chatted with Mike (wabowman) as I was gearing up and got on the water around eleven thirty I think. Pretty slow for me. Landed one rainbow and lost a real nice one. Had quite a few short strikes but not much solid. Saw a guy land a 25" rainbow that really put on a show for a good 15 minutes Great fish. Got tired of the wind and inability to anchor and pulled out around 4. Was nice to be on the water after the past couple weeks but was frustrating not to get to use my pram. I have come to enjoy fishing out of it so much that it really makes it a pain to use the toon. I know it will fit in my truck just need to figure a way to lift it into the bed. Maybe slide it up a sheet of plywood or something. At least till I can figure out the trailer.
I stand by my logic regarding lenice and Nunnally at 46 degrees, but I have no opinion about other basin lakes. The freshwater science usually is stated like this* :. Under the ice the water is 39F (4C) throughout the water column except right near the surface. On ice out the surface layers warm up, and once they reach 39F , the water column has the same density throughout. there is no stratification and hence nothing to stop the water from circulating if something gives it a push. We have had plenty of wind to give it a push. In my view the biological observations are consistent with this turnover having happened. If it had not happened, the water should be crystal clear and no daphnia clouds, contrary to reports from lenice. This does not mean there will not be more algal blooms as the sun intensifies and the water gets even warmer and dead vegetation rots. Maybe we are talking about two different things ? Jay * "the water near a lake’s bottom will usually be at 4°C just before the lake's ice cover melts in the spring. Water above that layer will be cooler, approaching 0°C just under the ice. As the weather warms, the ice melts. The surface water heats up and therefore it decreases in density. When the temperature (density) of the surface water equals the bottom water, very little wind energy is needed to mix the lake completely. This is called turnover. After this spring turnover, the surface water continues to absorb heat and warms. As the temperature rises, the water becomes lighter than the water below. For a while winds may still mix the lake from bottom to top, but eventually the upper water becomes too warm and too buoyant to mix completely with the denser deeper water."
Hi Paul-It was great to meet you and share some good times around dinner and the campfire. Both Scott and I had a tough time hooking up, and my total was 6 fish for two days. A couple were in the 18-19" range and definitely footballs. A well fed bunch of fish in there and later in the season, there should be some stellar days! Rick
Nunnally Sunday. The wind was gone, beautiful sun, breeze to wind to calm. Some surface action late. Fish on Hale Bopp, either quick retrieve, or under an indicator. Go figure. Fish were either 8-9", or 16-18". All very solid strong fish. Pumped fish had daphnia and tiny green wigglers. Only one chironomid. Short day stopoff on the way to the tricities. Ronbow
I've been noticing bright green bloodworms also. Nearly chartreuse. All the ones I saw this time last year were bright red.
Amber Lake Water Temp, 38 Air temmp 40's sunny with sustained wins wsw 8 mph gusting to 20 1-3 pm One strike to black bunny leach one 20:inch bow to hand. ate a wingless prince nymph, 3 feet under about 4 feet from the bank. my first amber fish
My buddy and I plashed my new drift boat yesterday in Lake Cassidy. I was surprised to see the lake level up to the middle of the road approaching it. It was windy and I saw no evidence that fish exist there. One other boat on the lake (a bass boat.) The good stuff: the water stayed on the outside of the boat. Man it was chilly in that wind.
Jay, I think I have to agree with scottflycast about turnover. If I understand your explanation correctly, water temps need to be at 39º in order for turnover to occur. While the lakes in your area likely all get that cold (or colder), there are lakes on the west side that don't. Yet they still turn over. Your thoughts? K
I haven't fished Nunnally and Lenice for a number of years, but noticed the Discovery Pass required sign???! Really? I thought this was a WDFW site. ?? Now I'm really confused.
Oh whoops. (regarding Discovery Pass, I always overlook the "small print" where it says "or vehicle access pass").
Discovery pass required. You have to remember that you are traveling through BLM land to access the WDF land. The guys in the red truck (BLM) were there. Just put both out to be safe. The entrance sign has Discovery Pass required. Just get the pass and no big deal.... Discovery pass is different than WDF that you get with the fishing license.... MB
If it is BLM (U.S. Bureau of Land Management) land, then it is federal land that you are traveling through and no Washington Discovery Pass is required. Steve
I thinks Scott may have meant to state that the surrounding land is owned by DNR, not BLM. DNR, Parks, and WDFW are the state's largest beneficiaries of revenues from the sale of Discovery Passes. K
on Turnover, responding to Kent: I suppose turnover is defined as any time the water at the bottom and top of the lake mix. Stratification prevents waters from mixing. http://www.waterontheweb.org/under/lakeecology/05_stratification.html The spring ice out and turnover, when there is no stratification at 39F, is what I always read about when I search this topic on the internet, along with fall turnover On further research I see that some lakes only turnover once in the winter spring, some turnover twice, spring and fall, and some may turnover multiple times. So I suppose if a lake is not too badly stratified it could turnover at higher temperatures, and/or more than once. I would expect that lakes that do freeze, in locations that are windy, will turnover around 39. I suppose they could turnover again when conditions push the water enough and the water is not too stratified. I have never found anything specific on studies of washington state lakes and turnover. but this newsletter has an article on turnover that indicates turnover can occur in temperatures from 39-50F http://www.olympicflyfish.com/newsletter/2004/Off 04-04 Newsletter.htm This discussion begs the question of what observations and logic does one use as indicators to know that a lake has recently turned over? Jay other threads that discussed turnover here: http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/board/showthread.php?31447-Lake-Turnover http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/board/showthread.php?78069-Nunnally-april-24&p=634639#post634639
