by The Troutist, April 24, 2013

For my first couple of trout outing’s this year I chose a few Thurston County lakes to get back in form. St. Claire was the first one on my agenda. This is a lake that I have worked only one time and that was years ago. This seemed like it would be a good challenge and a great way to spend a few afternoon hours. Before I delve in on our adventure I would like to comment on the bank anglers here. I can’t say I have ever met a nicer bunch of guy’s anywhere. Not one of them tried to make it difficult for the boaters to put in or take out, in fact on a few occasions they even helped out. Two thumbs up guys!! This just shows me and others that the two styles can get along fine and work in harmony, the true sportsman’s way.

My friend, Olympia resident Josh Breyfogle and myself hit the water about one in the afternoon. The weather was overcast for the most part with a chilly breeze just to make it interesting. The water was very high and a speed limit of 5 MPH was posted for the whole lake. Usually the southern portion, the larger part of the lake is wide open for recreational boaters who choose to ski amongst other activities. The northern portion or what I like to call the fingers of the lake has a 5 MPH year round speed limit. If you would like to see a map of the lake go to washingtonlakes.com.

We started in the southern end mainly so I could get some photos and see if we could hit a few suspended trout. The water at this end reaches depths of over 100 feet. I tried working in the 25-35 feet range starting out with a bronze and brown Smile Blade Fly and Josh with an olive and green one. I received one hit as we made our way around this section of the lake. We scanned the water in search of some type of movement and only seen one trout break the surface. Our attention soon turned to the fingers with Josh switching up to an olive and gold combo, I also took the time and went to black and purple. Shortly after I switched colors I started receiving some action picking up three in short order. Josh followed suit using a black and purple set-up and got a real hard take but couldn’t get a hook-set. Our time ran out and after a few hours we called it a day. The water was a brackish color and as I said before very high with water temperature running between 54 and 56 degrees. This lake is going to be on my “to do” list mainly because I like the challenge and I have now done the foot work that should lead to more successful outings. The trout did not exceed 12-inches in length but looked as if they had been in the lake a while. What I mean by that is they were full finned and darker in color than the recent plants.

Black Lake was next on my hit list as I was going to act as a guide for my old friend Steve Buckner of Maple Falls and my brother Brett. Black has always treated me well in the past, in fact the very first hook-up I had here was a cut in excess of 20-inches. Steve and Brett are seasoned vets when it comes to this type of angling and both have trout to their credit measured in pounds and not inches. Now if the fish will just co-operate we can have a great reunion on the water. Everyone arrived Friday night so we could get a good jump on the day and hopefully put some fish in the boat. We arrived at the ramp and started watching the water, a little choppy but not bad, not even a sprinkle of rain. Seems the weatherman was wrong, what a surprise. The night before his forecast was calling for showers with blustery wind conditions. The question I had was “what does blustery mean?” We were soon to find out.
After less than an hour on the water we discovered that blustery winds meant gale force and showers meant a complete non-stop down pour with two-foot white caps on the lake. We managed to put one nice 14-inch cut in the boat which was quickly released. I couldn’t get a photo due to the intensity of the wind and rain but at least we got to admire it if only for a moment. Common sense took over and we got off the water after only an hour and headed home. Glad those guys drove so far so they could spend the day watching TV at my house. Oh well not everything goes as planned this time of year.

So until next time may your next trout be your trophy mount.

The Troutist-“Uncle Wes” Malmberg.




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