[SERE Nate]

I am taking my son fly fishing Walker Lake for his 21st bday.

He has only been fly fishing once on the Spokane River and was skunked.

I'll be fishing there Wed after 2pm and Thurs until 2pm. Staying at DBR.

Has anyone fished there before? Any tips on what flies to use this time of year? I was thinking that streamers should work.

 

[Buzzy]

Surprised @generic has weighed in: water boatman. And @bakerite might suggest a floating dragonfly nymph.

I like both flies and fish them with a type-7 full sink. Do a search and you'll find some excellent information on fishing the water boatman as for the dragonfly nymph; slower than the boatman. But please take my suggestion with a grain of wet salt since I've never been to Walker Lake.

 

[Jim F.]

I've never been there, but nice birthday present - pass-along a birthday wish from me.

 

[wanative]

I am taking my son fly fishing Walker Lake for his 21st bday.

He has only been fly fishing once on the Spokane River and was skunked.

I'll be fishing there Wed after 2pm and Thurs until 2pm. Staying at DBR.

Has anyone fished there before? Any tips on what flies to use this time of year? I was thinking that streamers should work.

Search you tube for Fishing with Ladin. He's filmed a couple shows there.

 

[SERE Nate]

I've watched them all. That's what gave me the idea

 

[lee c]

I fished Walker last fall.......start of oct...........did well on small leech patterns......shades of brown and black seemed to work best.

 

[dbk]

I am taking my son fly fishing Walker Lake for his 21st bday.

He has only been fly fishing once on the Spokane River and was skunked.

I'll be fishing there Wed after 2pm and Thurs until 2pm. Staying at DBR.

Has anyone fished there before? Any tips on what flies to use this time of year? I was thinking that streamers should work.

Its been a few years since I have fished Walker but used to fish it quite often.. don't be afraid to fish shallow as in less than a few feet of water.. 10 ft or less is a good starting point and I wouldn't move deeper than that unless there is no bite to be found there.. but typically there is a good shallow water bite on small leeches (floating or intermediate line) or balance leeches under an indicator.. I would stick with sz 10/12 leech patterns. Color can be important (browns, black, olive, white)...They may be on the move a lot- "hunting" the shallows so moving with them may be a more effective strategy rather than fishing a specific area hard.. If you are stripping vs. indicator fishing only need to make a few casts to an area before moving on.. tight to the shorelines can be very effective there if water levels are good.. not sure what the lake is like though now.. Good luck..

 

[SERE Nate]

Had a blast. We decided to split up the drive and stayed in Leavenworth Tues night. Beers and brats and a good night sleep.

Stopped in Omak at North 40 and went to the fly shop. Bought a few flies, chatted with the staff there. Nice guys.

Got into the ranch right at 2 pm. We paid for 1 full day fishing, and split it up over 2 days. 2pm to dark, sunrise to 2 pm.

The lodge was much nicer than I'd imagined. We had the place to ourselves. Fire was burning in the wood stove, and wood was prepped for a fire in the fireplace as well.

It was raining but we headed out anyways. It was pretty slow for the 1st hour, nothing hitting. After trying a few different streamer patterns, I hooked into my personal best trout. Probably 24 to 26 inches, and I couldn't put both hands around him. He was a a big fish! Easily 5 pounds, probably more, almost pulled my gf out of the boat when she went to net him.

My son was on his 2nd fly fishing trip and wasn't having much luck casting streamers with sinking lines. I managed 2 more fish on the evening, one small 12 inch fish and a hard fighting 18-20 incher.

Day 2 brought no rain, light wind, and overcast skies. It was perfect. I decided to swallow my pride, and accepted the hosts offer of using the fish finder and trolling motor. This trip was for my son and I really didn't want him to get skunked. I had him cast out him both rods and hold on tight. Within an hour he had 4 nice fish landed. Green leaches, black buggers, copper streamer. Probably size 8 or so. One full sink line and one intermediate line. Intermediate was getting more fish.

After 2 hours we had caught 8 fish. All were nice sized. Nothing huge, great fighters though.

Went in for breakfast around 10. Back on the water by 11. Things slowed down and the bite was off. Nothing was working until I switched to some really big streamers. We caught 3 more and called it a day.

Had a great time. He landed 5, lost at least that many. I landed 6.

We're the last group of the year, at least nothing else is on the books. We'll definitely go back when there's bugs around.

 

[Brandon S]

Great read, sounds like fun!

 

[Sourdoughs]

Update - found the info: http://diamondbelleranch.com/accommodations/

I'll be heading up to the ranch & lake this coming springtime and have been doing a bunch of research. One question that I'm not finding an answer to - what's the story on cooking food? Resources say to bring your own food, but doesn't specify whether the cabin provides a kitchen, stove, etc. Can someone fill me in on this? Thanks!

 

[dbk]

There us a full kitchen available in the lodge.. and a bbq grill on the deck..

 

[SERE Nate]

Industrial type kitchen.