What are your plans for the early opener? I plan to hit Nunally and a few others in the east. Hopefully there will not be ice on the lakes. Last year at Nunally there was just a thin sheet that went out about 6'. it was very fishable but down right cold .But I will be there as I got an itch to fish. :p

I'll probably fish Coldwater Lake starting in March. I've had some good days there in March. I've also had some miserable days there in March, ice, snow, sleet, rain and what seemed like 100mph winds. Come to think of it I've experienced at least two of those things in every month I've fished there, from March thru October. Even so, it's still one of my favorites lakes to fish.

I'll probably hit Lenore in March, provided that the wind isn't too strong. Those Lahontans seem to be a little more active than rainbows early in the year. Fishing a bugger just off the bottom around the islands in the middle of the lake will usually produce some nice 'cutts. The wind can make it seem like the middle of Puget Sound if it's blowing - I last fished Lenore in late November, couldn't stay on the lake in my pontoon boat because of 20 mph winds and blowing sleet. Brrr. But the opportunity to hook into a 5lb+ cutt is just too tempting. :p

Trout Daddy, are the lahatons <sp? coming back well at lenore? I havent fished it since 96.
Yes the wind has allways been a factor there. But then again it can be a problem at most lakes on the east side. ? for you. You dont go around telling the trout you catch and release saying who's your daddy do you?

TM - I've only fished Lenore the last couple of years, but have usually done pretty well. In late November you could see the Lahontans cruising the shorelines in about 6-8 feet of water. Since they're so light-colored, they looked like ghost fish - pretty cool. But you could sight cast pretty well to them too. That's a great feeling when you can see a large cutt take off after your fly that you just chucked in front of him. Yeehah.

As for my nickname, my daughter's name is Brooke. Get it ???? Brooke trout. . . hence, my name.

Good name, What other lakes do you fish? And welcome to this site.

In W.Wa, I fish Pass occasionally, Lone, McMurray, Wilderness (nice browns after dark), and want to try Cady this year. But I prefer to make the trip over to E.Wa if I have time. Over there, I like to fish the Yakima, Lenore, Dry Falls, Aeneas, and a couple of smaller secret lakes. Never been to Chopaka, but from what I hear about the crowds, it's probably enough to keep me away. Every May or June, I will usually head up to BC and fish the Kamloops area for a week or so.

How about you?

Does Grimes open up at the same time. If I can't get a guide for the Quinault in March, still trying, I might head over there for some fun. Only caught two fish on a fly last year, while my son was fishing with powerbait. Edit: No, I wasn't letting him fish at Grimes lake with bait, this was at a local stocked lake.

[ 01-29-2002: Message edited by: Dogfish ]

I fish Nunally alot, Dry falls sometimes(to much wind) another lake that I cant name here, and Aneas ,never been to chopaka(crowds) Ell. And some here on this side. Never heard of wilderness where is that? Havent fished the Yak for acouple years. Some of the werhauser lakes. Pass lake sometimes. Want to hit cady this year also.

Grimes doesn't open up until some time in June. It's a late opener.

Who's this Trout Daddy who lives in my neighborhood?

My brother fished the Yakima this weekend and caught 1, his partner caught 7, I think. Biggest each caught was 23". They floated Near the park in Ellensburg and didn't see another boat on the river.

I'm trying to talk my parents into taking me up to Merril lake. It's fly fishing only and I guess that they take some pretty good bows out of there.

Fishboy5: Don't rush up to Merrill right early in the year. It's a high lake and very slow
to start up in the Spring. I always waited till late May or early June.July good too.

Troutdaddy: I fished Lenora a lot before it crashed. One time years ago I fished it in a
rubber raft. Well it started blowing so hard that the water was lapping over the top
onto my back and I was sitting in 2" before long. I pulled in and dumped it and turned
the raft over and put a big rock on it while I tried to dry out. I looked over and the wind
blew the rock off and my raft started sailing away. I made a run for it and tripped on a rock
and fell flat on my face. Got pretty bloodied up. Only lake that I ever fished that actually
beat me up.The raft blew over a knoll and settled down in a hollow so I didn't have to
walk back.

Fishinfella, I hope you dont get beat up to bad when I out fish you this spring!!!! Ah crap I probably just jinxed myself now! :p

TM when you tie up zonkers, What do you use for the body ? Jim S. :p

JimS opps I mean Old man, I'm having problems with my Zonkers right now. I'm having problems tying the pearl mylar piping to the hook.

ZenL - I'm a lifelong Kirkland resident, live in the Houghton area. I try to fish as much as a hectic schedule will let me. This rainy time of year is pretty tough to endure without gettin' a line wet. Went up to Lone Lake about a month ago, too windy and cold. Caught four bows (all 12"-14") in about 6 hours on a Olive WB with the tail trimmed. Can't wait for March.

FF - sounds like a heck of a time over at Lenore. Last year, I headed out in my pontoon boat in three foot swells (and 20 mph winds) for about 30 minutes. No fish, just a lot of bouncing. So I packed it in and drove over to Dry Falls where it was less windy and the fishin' was a little less strenuous.

Trout Daddy,

What's up? You only just find this board or were you on before with a different name?

ZL - Neither. I just decided to log in and post a reply. Have been following Mike's website for a long time. I check this site most every day. Have occasionally posted the odd fishing report, but never got involved in the reader's forum until recently. Oh, that's not true. One time I reminded a reader that state regs do not allow someone to C&R a fish that's caught on powerbait. I get pretty tired of seeing people with posts where they brag about C&Ring 30 fish caught with powerbait. All I got back from the baitchucking numskull was a slew of insults and him telling me to mind my own business. Whatever. Now, don't all the baitfisherfolks get mad at me, that method is fine, but I just choose not to fish that way. The thing is, most people just don't know that a bait-caught fish counts as part of your daily limit. I think it's OK to inform them of that so the fishing stays productive for everyone. OK, enough of the soapbox.

ZL-I've seen many of your posts in the past, but one thing I've got to ask you is what's up with the Zen thing? Are you doing yoga in your float tube or what? Hey if it works for Stu Jackson (lakers coach) . . . :p I'm not razzing ya, I'm honestly curious where the nickname came from.

Thanks for welcoming me. I intend to be more active in this forum in the future.

Trout Daddy. I've not heard that name in about 30 years, Houghton. I though that area was incorprated into Bellevue or Kirkland. It's not about fishing but it brings back old memories before all the freeways went in. Jim S.

TM I pulled up some patterns on zonkers and mini leeches from westfly. I will now try to tie some. I sure hope they look like the picture. Jim S.

I think Houghton was incorporated into Kirkland a few years back.

Hey, Jim. I've seen that you bought some steelheading equipment lately. Let us know how your fishing has been. Probably the next step for me is to start steelheading with flies. I've got a buddy that fishes the Snoqualmie and the Kalama rivers from his drift boat weekly and has been slaying him lately. He keeps inviting me along, but he's a bait fisherman and I would want to use flies. Any tips would be appreciated . . .

I went out and bought a Okuma 8/9 reel and some cheap weight foward sink tip 8wt line. If I ever get a chance to get back out I will. Too much snow and kids home today. If I deceide that I like it,I will buy some better line. I'm going to try it out on my 6wt. I sure hope it works. I don't want to break it. If I do. Oh well I will just have to buy something that works. Jim S.

my nickname (self-created) came when Jim decided to name himself Trout Master.. and I thought.. not to be outdone I would be the Zen something. I was having lots of luck with leeches and woolly buggers... so the Zen Leecher came into being.

One of my leech preachings is to throw slack to trout nipping at leeches. They then grab the fly. It seems to contradict the tenets of fly fishing...set the hook on strikes.. but it works close to 100%. Don't think it's ever failed me...but didn't want to claim 100%.

I could now be zen chronie master as I fish those lots too. Maybe FishinfellaS would like to be reborn with that title.

I'm in Kirkland at Totem Lake.

I agree. 75% of the time I find that a rainbow will hit a fly a second time if they miss it the first. Let the fly sit in the same general area and usually they'll nail it again.

Now, I'd love to be a Chironomid Master, but the fishin' is a bit too boring for me. Plus, I'm honestly not very good at it. I generally do better with a little action on a wet line. Right now, I'm reading the Morris/Brian Chan book on Lake Fishing hoping to get a bit better at fishing chironomids. Hats off to FF if he's a master.

I thought you were Zen before I was master? Oh well ,Zen I'm home again if you want to try calling me back in about 20 min. Fishinfella is the chronomaster. I tied some chrono uo last night and they look good. We will see how the bows likeum. Trout Daddy i only fished chrono 1 time last year and that was with Micro brew. I did really understand the whole thing stairing at a bobber. But I'm gonna go with it this year.
My 2wt is just begging to have a chrono hanging off it

How the heck can indicator fishing be boring if it's beating other methods of fishing????

I was fishing up in BC two years ago, fishing two rods with chronies and ended up having to put one away as the fishing was that productive. Two rods is legal up there... two flies on the same line isn't.

I was fishing Phil Rowley's chronies... either a Black Sally or a Chromie.

The Chromie is an odd fly as it's got a silver body with a red holographic rib. One wouldn't think a silver chronie would work unless one understood that all emerging pupa have silvery bodies because of gasses under the skin. The chromie is sort of a universal chronie as it works no matter what color pupa is emerging.

I dont think it will be boring, I hope to be sitting there yakking to Zen and Fishingfella!
Besides I think early it will be very effective.

ZL-What did you mean by "throw slack to trout nipping at leaches?"
Do stocked trout hit black or brownish-grey colored leaches better?

Just more boring for me, because I don't catch as many fish with chironomids as I do with other types of flies. Just a simple case of user error. Hopefully, that will change.

Fishboy,

I meant it like you read it. "Throw slack to nipping trout", they come back and grab the fly when it's stationary. Pick up the slack about a second later and they'll be there.

Trout like whatever color leech is in front of them. Usually when they are feeding on mostly leeches, there's not much else around for food. Early spring and late fall are very productive with leeches.

Can't tell you all my secrets... besides... I only have two more.

Only two. You said the Jim had the master to his handle. It was Tom that had it. I'm not a master unless it had baiter after it. Jim S.

Hey Trout Daddy: Chronomids are the #1 food source for the trout in nearly all our lakes.If you aren't using them you aren't fishing when the big hatchs are on. At other times they will always produce some fish,but they aren't a magic bullet. If something else is more avaliable the majority of fish may key in on it.

There aren't any Chronomid Masters except Chan, but they do call me the Chronomid Kid sometimes. Mostly because I'm stuck over here in the snow and tie too many chronies all winter. I carry around 350-400 including size/pattern variations. Sometimes it pays off,sometimes it just makes it hard to decide which one to tie on. I've seen days where any color size will bring action and other days where you got to be right on.

Keep trying them, you'll catch more fish on them than most other flies most of the time.

HOW TO KNOW WHEN TO USE CHIRONOMIDS?????

I remember a trip to Blue lake in the Sinlahekin that may answer the question.
I was fishing the little lake at the South end. It was early July and many adult Damsels
were breeding over the shallow weedbeds. The females were dipping down to lay eggs
and the monster trout were cruising underneath. I think every fish in the lake was in the shallows.
I tied on an Adult damsel and began casting. My imitation was so damn good that I noted
on several occasions Male Damsels would lite on it and try to breed. No Joke!!!!
After an hour or so of fruitless casting I noted the trout were not interested in Damsels
unless they were hovering an inch or so off the water. It seemed to be some sort of game, even spent Damsels were ignored.

WHAT TO DO? Being a chironomid fool I decided to try one. I put on a black/white everglo rib #16
and hung it under a yarn indicator and cast to the area fish were cruising. I noted if I cast near
a fish it would spook. But I just let the chronie sit suspended there about 18" under the
indicator. Soon they would come back. The rest of the day was about a 25 fish day.....all
on chironomids.

Moral of the story: Anytime is the time to try chironomids.

FF - Thanks for the tips. I've made it a goal to try chironomids more this year. Will keep ya posted.

Micro Brew, Fishinfella, are you gonna go to the
****** lake on March 1st? I plan to be there the night of the 1st which is a friday. Fish that lake then maybe hit nunally for a day. Sound like a plan? Zen wont be making it I guess, has other plans with some bait chuckers. I know I will be catching the fish though as I've be tying with the Zen leecher.

TM,

Either you have a real bad case of Spring Fever or you are a real glutton for punishment. March 1st openers are real cold weather over there.

signed,

unwilling to freeze off cahajanes....(my spelling)

I think that he's been sitting at home to long and needs to just get out. He's probly going stir crazy. I was going to try to get out this morning myself but I had to go to Monroe or is it Munroe. Well anyway I wanted to go to the Stilly. But now it's too late so I guess I will try and tie some more flies or whatever. Jim S.

TM - The answer is yes on March 1st. Give me a call as we get closer so we can discuss the trip. I'll be there with spoon man....

Been down in Oregon for a few days, so I have been out of touch..

Zen, I think it is cajonies? Micro brew spoon man? I thought it was fork man? Anyway we will be in Jose's opps I mean super trucha's motorhome if it hasnt sold by then. If it has then it will be in a tent trailer as that is what he wants now.
He is heading to Porto Rico tomarrow am for work.
Then he is off to Boco ratan fla,after that. He's gonna try to do some bone fishing there.
And Zen man naw it not to cold over there 1st of march. It is all a state of mind! Remember if you think warm you will be warm!