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Lone Lake - Great and annoying

1K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  Pieter Salverda 
#1 ·
I spent a good part of Saturday fishing Lone Lake with a friend. We drove over from Seattle, were on the lake by 8:15 and off by 4:00. We each ended with about a dozen to 15 fish. Upon arriving my friend had two fish to hand before I was even in the water. Nice 15 inch rainbow with a little spunk. He was tossing against the bank and stripping back with a nymph. We were the only two on the lake for a good 2 hours, but after the first two fish, things slowed for a few hours. We threw most every fly in the box and finally figured out that the correct depth was more important than the "correct" fly. In the end most anything with brown, or with a bit of red, or a bit of yellow, fished DEEP took fish. We caught fish in most areas of the lake, but did particularly well in one spot (thanks Islander! - who came and invited us to come fish with him). It seems we must have been fishing a little shelf where fish were holding, and they must have been deep because of the pretty good wind?:confused: It seemed strange to find them so deep with the water temps seeming so cool. We had a GREAT last 40 minutes or so. I noticed a little surface activity up close to the bank (15 feet off or so) that honestly looked more like spawning salmon than anything. Big fish were kind of rolling about on the surface and can only guess the were taking emergers of a hatch that was coming off (tiny little white somethings). The strange thing is that they were not taking one here and one there, but the fish seemed to come up to the surface and bubble around for a minute then be gone. After watching this for a few minutes I decided to cast past and through the area of activity, then strip my fly through...BAM. 18 inches, 20 inches, and 18 again on three consecutive casts. This went on for about 30-40 minutes, and we ended up getting a great workout. The funny part was that we could cast back to where we just caught a fish and get nothing, but only if we cast to where they were feeding (and literally within 3-5 ft.) did we get a fish. The nice thing was that EVERY time we cast to the right spot we caught a fish. The workout came when the fish would move. The activity would only continue for 30 seconds to a minute, then stop only to start again 40, 50, 60 feet away. We figured we had to kick like hell to get there in time to cast to the correct spot. Anyone watching from the shore would have laughed their asses off at us hooting and hollering when we got a big fish on (22 was the biggest, 18 the smallest, probably 12 in total) then we would sit still, wait for a little activity, then the mad dash was on. Finally this stopped all together and we decided to call it a day.

All in all it was a great day on the water. We did have an experience though that made me question how to handle this situation in the future. There were two guys who were fishing in pontoons and had little hand held radios with them. It was slightly annoying to hear them chattering back and forth (especially when they were within 30 feet of one another) but on three occassions either my buddy or I would catch a fish and one of these guys would kick over to us, ask how big, what we caught it on, how deep we were fishing, slow strip, fast strip, etc. etc. THEN "Hey Bob, this guy just caught so and so on a so and so...You better get down here!" and they would kick to within 15 feet of us and start fishing. The maddening part is there were probably one 7 of us on the WHOLE LAKE!!! :beathead: Soooo...Here is my question. If I am sitting on a good spot on a lake and getting into fish after spending a good amount of time figuring things out, what kind of personal space can/should I expect? I don't and didn't mind answering what flies are working, deep or shallow, that sort of thing, but to then call the gang to within literally 15 feet seemed a little over the top. Just as if someone were to low hole my steelhead run, do I have any right to say to these guys "How about a little space?" I have never experienced this before but would love a little input from the more experienced of you as to how I might handle the situation in the future.
 
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#2 ·
I hear ya. Pass is famous for that as well. No complaints, it's still fun. Best I’ve done, besides going midweek, is show up in the dark and enjoy the first 2-3 hrs. After that anything goes so I just make nice-nice and go the friendly route (I don’t own a “F-off I’m trying to fish” t-shirt yet)…what you experienced sounds about right in the ‘popular spots.’ If I’m dying for solitude I’ll take my tube and hike somewhere.

Good luck!
 
#3 ·
Nice report Pieter, sounds like a fun day on the lake!

Lone Lake has been great the last few weeks. I've noted the same activity you have described, but don't often get out to enjoy it in the boat. Last night I had about 30 minutes of light after finishing chores so I made a few casts off the neighbors dock - I had a fish on the first cast, then the feeding moved outside my casting range and catching stopped.

When I see that feeding activity going on close to shore, I really get the itch to fish!
Jeff
 
#4 ·
Great report, glad you guys got into some good fish. Bummer about the guys with the radios. I think the old "icepick in the pontoon" trick would work in this situation. :rofl:
Another reason to fish mid-week.
 
#5 ·
It sounds to me like they weren't intentionally trying to upset you they just didn't know better. It sounds like they may have been new to the lake and were pretty excited to see healthy sized trout being caught so easily. About 5 years ago I had a buddy who had never fly fished and was struggling at Lone. A stranger was nice enough to give him a pattern and he landed a couple of nice fish that day. He is addicted now. If I am doing well at Lone and someone asks, I usually always give them a pattern. You can never know how much it can mean to them.
 
#7 ·
I fish Lone at least 2 to 3 times a week unless the weather is really crappy. I am very liberal with flies and advise (for what it's worth) on Lone, especially if it's someone who has been there a while and is struggling or has come a long distance. That being said, it still is a little odd that they would fish that close even if they were new to the game. I would be worried about crossing up lines, snagging someones coat, etc.
 
#6 ·
Soooo...Here is my question. If I am sitting on a good spot on a lake and getting into fish after spending a good amount of time figuring things out, what kind of personal space can/should I expect?
Pieter-

My personal rule of thumb for minimum spacing when fishing a lake works like this. Assuming both you and the other flyfisher are anchored, allow a minimum of 2.5 to 3 times the length of a normal cast. That way, neither of your casting activities has the potential to impact the water within casting reach of the other.
 
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