The stars aligned and I was able to fish March 1-4. Spent a couple days at walk in spots and a couple days in my pram. During parts of the trip I fished solo but I was joined by @Irafly @bakerite @b_illymac and @VanAllen on other days.
***Breaking news: Ira packed in a tube and left the boat behind for a day! He sure whined beforehand but he survived and, I think, may even be open to doing it again.***
Anybody that had to drive west over Snoqualmie had a rough go on Sunday as the pass was closed most of the day. I know Ira and VanAllen were impacted.
On to the good stuff:
The walk-in spots had little to no traffic and fished well. Water temps were still in the low 40's and some rotten ice remained in the shady spots. We all required mandatory breaks to regain feeling in frozen feet. There was little bug activity; just a few chironomids popping at the warmest part of the day. I fished chironomids in a few instances but only found success with a couple nice rainbows on a black buzzer pattern in the last ½ hour of fishing on Sunday afternoon. I think these lakes are primed for good chironomid fishing over the next several weeks. Leeches were the flavor of the day just about everywhere we fished. Depending on the lake and time of day, we found fish everywhere from up against the shore in 3 feet, out to 25-30' deep. Most of the time the fish preferred an active retrieve over an indicator presentation. Billy's hot head leeches caught a lot of fish and Ira debuted a new leech that was hot all weekend. He can describe it in full because it's the BEST Leech and it caught some YUGE Fish
The weather was fine 3 out of 4 days. Thursday was cold and overcast but calm. Friday started out the same, but man it was a lot of work once the W started blasting out of the southwest in late morning. Keeping control of the boat was about as difficult as keeping warm! Eventually I turned over the controls to Ira and we found fish in the windward shallows over the rocks. We had a couple hours of really fast fishing stripping leeches, which made up for a slow morning. Friday evening Billy hosted Ira and me at his house. It was great to meet his family and eat a warm, home-cooked meal. Saturday we headed to a walk in spot and enjoyed the warmest day of the trip with just occasional periods of breeze to scuff the surface. Billy cooked up a batch of venison chili lakeside that made for an amazing shore lunch. Sunday started as a copy of Saturday but a fresh weather system moved in later in the day and temps dropped as we loaded out in a light rain.
The red wing black birds were making a racket in the cattails. Spring is close!
***Breaking news: Ira packed in a tube and left the boat behind for a day! He sure whined beforehand but he survived and, I think, may even be open to doing it again.***
Anybody that had to drive west over Snoqualmie had a rough go on Sunday as the pass was closed most of the day. I know Ira and VanAllen were impacted.
On to the good stuff:
The walk-in spots had little to no traffic and fished well. Water temps were still in the low 40's and some rotten ice remained in the shady spots. We all required mandatory breaks to regain feeling in frozen feet. There was little bug activity; just a few chironomids popping at the warmest part of the day. I fished chironomids in a few instances but only found success with a couple nice rainbows on a black buzzer pattern in the last ½ hour of fishing on Sunday afternoon. I think these lakes are primed for good chironomid fishing over the next several weeks. Leeches were the flavor of the day just about everywhere we fished. Depending on the lake and time of day, we found fish everywhere from up against the shore in 3 feet, out to 25-30' deep. Most of the time the fish preferred an active retrieve over an indicator presentation. Billy's hot head leeches caught a lot of fish and Ira debuted a new leech that was hot all weekend. He can describe it in full because it's the BEST Leech and it caught some YUGE Fish
The weather was fine 3 out of 4 days. Thursday was cold and overcast but calm. Friday started out the same, but man it was a lot of work once the W started blasting out of the southwest in late morning. Keeping control of the boat was about as difficult as keeping warm! Eventually I turned over the controls to Ira and we found fish in the windward shallows over the rocks. We had a couple hours of really fast fishing stripping leeches, which made up for a slow morning. Friday evening Billy hosted Ira and me at his house. It was great to meet his family and eat a warm, home-cooked meal. Saturday we headed to a walk in spot and enjoyed the warmest day of the trip with just occasional periods of breeze to scuff the surface. Billy cooked up a batch of venison chili lakeside that made for an amazing shore lunch. Sunday started as a copy of Saturday but a fresh weather system moved in later in the day and temps dropped as we loaded out in a light rain.
The red wing black birds were making a racket in the cattails. Spring is close!