I learned this weekend that we are now on winter hours. I showed up to the lake early and fished it from 4-6 AM hoping to pick up a big carnivore. Nothing. The bite started a little bit earlier for the chironomid fisher, (9:15 AM) and the general bite (at least this time of year) goes from 10:00-3:30. So stay out late, sleep in, or do whatever you want. Just don’t get to the lake before dark or leave it at dusk like me. Let my frivolous pursuit of non-feeding rainbow trout be a lesson to all… Its winter hours!

I had a hot stretch between 10-3:30 in which I counted fish. I don’t usually, but I thought it could be worthwhile. I was right: 12 rainbows (two long distance releases) and one tiny largemouth. Of the rainbows, some poor schmuck “gutted” a damsel-ish fly. I had the forceps down his throat trying to get the thing out, but it was no use. This fish was predestined to prefer plastic and feathers to aquatic insects. So after I sealed his fate, later that day I cleaned him and found no damsels, but I did find size 24-26 clear scuds and a hell (a dozen at least) of lot of ½” snails. Interesting.

So this place is great right? Well, I shouldn’t be complaining, but with the residential homes that surrounded half the lake, and the clear cutting on the hill this place reminded me of ANY western Washington neighborhood lake. I just found it hard to believe that such healthy looking fish were living in such a regular-looking lake. I guess that if you’ve occurred the Green Lake (Seattle), Beaver Lake (Issq) and other put-and-take fishery skunkings that I have occurred in recent years, you’d be surprised to be catching fish, too!

*In fact, the lake has a lot of aquatic vegetation. That’s what makes it special. Some kind of delicate leafy cabbage-like stuff that probably has no common name.

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