Ron Olsen
A great day on the Sound Sept 3 with Bill Courshon and intrepid President and Chief Guide Rodney in hot pursuit of the hordes of migrating pink salmon. This was a trip from the auction bought by Bill, with Ron in tow as guest. And no disappointment as many silver bullets responded to our casting to the leaping schools. Brought back a limit, and now smoked and ready for the table.
Super thanks to Bill and Rodney!!!!
Ron Olsen
Beautiful day at the ‘snake today. I was second one on the lake this morning at 8:45 and motored my way out to 50′ of water watching the fish finder. There is no shortage of fish…. maybe too many as they are not growing much. Best fly continues to be the micro red leech, Brian Chan style tie fished vertically. Fish were hooked between 45 and 15 feet, majority at 25 to 30’. One at 14″ the rest 10″ to 13″. One sucker, of course the largest fish of the day!!! No other fly anglers, only the one troller . Osprey had a good day, and by the time it got warm and I left, parking lot was full and the inflatable crowd was large. Great well used park.
Tight lines, Ron
Ron Olsen
Had a fun day at Leech with Joe Coakley and Kyler Ries on Friday July 9th. Leech was its usual self. The chosen few regulars were doing well, and it was very site specific. Along the north shore tight to the logs, the far end chironomid hole, and south east shore. The ‘bows were schooled up, or hiding under logs. Very little surface activity but damsels everywhere. No nymphs however. I got a few under the indicator on a #16 brown mid, and red micro leech. But most came on the Rickards callibaetis #14 gray. Classic 15″ strip and pause. Cast next to logs, to the edge of the reeds, and over the darker, deeper part of the lake when the breeze created a covering ripple. Time of day didn’t matter. Clear, calm, warm. That kept the ‘betis in check. A dozen fish, five bows, all right around 19″, brookies 6 to 13″.
Tight lines, Ron
Joe Coakley
I visited Blackman’s Lake on Monday and was searching for bass. I am totally new to bass fishing and am inspired by the huge fish I see fellow club member Francis Huynh and his brothers catch at random. The water temperature was in the high 70’s and felt like bathwater. All of the fish on my Garmin 4 Fish Finder were stacked at the opposite side of the lake to the left side (facing the water from the launch). I got one tug and that was it. I even switched to trout gear on my second rod and the Olive Willy got the tug. BTW: the 2020 article written in Windknots is my new guide for searching new bass waters. (Great job to our great editor Dick Lange! ) I worked the docks to the left side of the launch then the lily pads, only busting off one fly. Question for any bass gurus’ out there: when do you decide to use a popper vs. a surface fly and how do you select the fly you decide to fish? I have scoured the wonderful book written by past OFFC Guest Speaker David Paul Williams and the patterns appear to be endless in choices. Any help would be much appreciated as I have no idea how many of you Bass Masters may be hiding in the lilies.
Ron Olsen
On Tuesday June 8 six of us met at Rattlesnake to explore the concept of vertical/dabbling for trout. We had a fine day with light winds, just a brief rain shower, and lots of fish in the lake. This is something I have been trying out for several years, and while I do see some of the ‘snake regulars really knock them out, I do get my share and attempted to share that knowledge with David, Bob, Bruce, Kevin and Terry.
We met about 8:30 and were on the water and searching for fish. Found them with Garmin Striker 4 CV in 46′ and anchored up. Used a Type 7, measured depth using forceps, and then cast and let line go vertical, so flies just off the bottom. I used my usual initial Rattlesnake searching patterns, a blood worm below a grey boy snow cone, both #14. Let them sit on the bottom, then inched them up very slowly. After about a half hour of nada, someone turned the switch on it was basically nonstop action for two plus hours. Game on! I never really had to switch patterns which is unusual. Keep working those flies up, as some takes were at 10’. Others watched, and followed technique and got into fish with balanced leeches (red, white and black), blobs, and a few other flies. The anchoring and keeping the fly stationary with very slow upward movement was key to takes, which were often VERY subtle, and sometimes rather violent; the tug is the drug…. I would guess I had at least 40 to 50+ takes and managed to set on enough to keep it interesting. Trout ran up to 16″ most 10 to 11″, and one sucker at 17″. Answered questions as they came in and encouraged all to keep at it as it is a learning curve. Sometimes that paint just doesn’t seem to dry….
Some eventually switched to trolling which also produced fish. And one other small highlight, a pair of eagles stole a trout from an osprey, fun to watch the aerial battle.
Tight lines, Ron
Joe Coakley
I have a fishing pal (non-member) who has invited me to fish Grimes Lake sometime in July. Does anyone have any intel on this lake. He said it is only open for a very short season.
Paul St Pierre
Huh? Strange picture for our fly fishing club. This is a WARNING to all members especially if you fish Chain Lake in Monroe. My truck had it’s catalytic converter cut out and stolen while I was fishing in Chain Lake Saturday morning!
I arrived around 9:30 AM on Saturday and there were 4 cars already parked (for those of you who have never fished it, the parking area is adjacent to a residence that is on the lake. It only holds about 6-7 cars). I unloaded my Kayak parked my F250 and started fishing. There were a couple of guys in float tubes already on the lake but they left soon after I arrived. A little later Bill Courshon joined me. I left around noon. I walked up the ramp to the parking area and everything looked normal. Only two vehicles mine and Bill’s. Once I turned the key in the ignition I was greeted by the sound of a roaring engine. From the pictures you can see they were very neat and didn’t create any collateral damage. I was able to drive it home but not with attracting a lot of attention. I reported it to the Snohomish Sheriff’s office. They were very nice but didn’t have anything promising to say. My insurance has a $500 deductible for comprehensive and they set up an appointment for me Monday. Now, I need to see what can be done to better secure the converter to discourage theft. I don’t want to have to deal with this again.
Paul. St. Pierre
I fished Lone lake on Thursday. It started out slow. Around mid-morning the bite started to pickup using chironomids under an indicator. A lot of take downs and missed fish. I did landed a half dozen fish or so with a mixture of recent plants and holdovers. The best fly for me was a blood worm tied with red beads. The best fish (pictured) was a fat 17 inches. Unfortunately I lost that fly to a break off around noon. I had a similar fly but much bigger. It worked but not as well.
There was one guy there I didn’t know who was just slaying them. He was fishing two rods. (I haven’t figured out how to mange two rod with indicators. I’m always holding the wrong rod ). He had at least four doubles. He also pulled in a lot of foul hooked hooked fish which he announced to his buddies. Judging by the comments to his buddies, he was using a size 14 black chironomid with a dark bead and a red thread head.
Steve Foisie
I’m looking for a camera for fishing adventures. Needs to be compact, waterproof/resistant, takes quality photos, and is either buoyant or can be attached to a floatation device. My Android phone is wholly inadequate for all the above requirements.
What do you bring along to record the events of the day and the scenery?
Thanks in advance for your considerations
Ron Olsen
Looking for something a bit different and also curious about another “quality” lake, so headed to Martha Lake, Warm Beach. Was joined by George Hu. Good public launch on north end, lake is a bit of a tea cup with 70′ at deepest. Good edge areas at 8′ to 15′ on northwest corner, along north side, and a nice “wild” pocket on the south east edge. Nice day, a bit of wind. Lake is two fish over 14″ and open all year. We found fair number of willing stockers from this year, but few of the holdovers. Got a few up to 16″. Lake is heavily fished by the catch and keep folks mostly trolling up and down the deeper middle. We found some chironomid and blob action in the shallower areas and a black bead head bunny leech produced hits all over the lake.
Ron
