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King Lake Rainbow |
King Lake was fishing well. The temperature is warming and the fishing is tough around mid day. However, there are hatches throughout the day, including nymphs and a few mayflies. Effective dries were #12 orange stimulator, chironomid emerger, and #14 parachute light cahil. We landed a number of small fish in the late morning casting olive and orange #12 woolly buggers into the shallows near the south inlet stream and stripping them back to the boat. In the late afternoon, large articulated bunny leaches and #6 black woolly buggers were effective for the big rainbows in the 24" range.
Chris
The weather was a bit ugly, but the fishing was great.
It rained for a good part of the day, but there was a great mayfly hatch. The trout were coming up for stimulator patterns, mayfly adults (adams, parachute adams), and mayfly nymphs (Skip nymph). We also found fish down deep with full sinking lines and damsel nympn patterns (olive willie and #12 olive woolly buggers). The trick was to let the fly sink to the bottom and then give it a single strip. The big boys hit it every time.
Chris
They are big, there are a lot of them, and they take dries on the regular basis!
An opportunity to guide at King Lake, a private lake in the Monroe/Duval area recently came my way, and I jumped at the chance. King Lake is a beautiful, remote lake at the top of a mountain that is within a hours drive from Seattle. It is full of 20"-24" rainbows and they consistently eat dry flies, sometimes even when there is no hatch going on!
A guided trip on King Lake costs $200/person with a 2 person minimum. If you think this is pricey, consider your alternatives. How many lakes in western Washington provide dry fly action on a regular basis with 20+" fish the norm....none that I know of other than King Lake. You can drive to the "Quality Lakes" in Eastern Washington and hope you run across a hatch, and hope you hook into some of the bigger fish, and hope the lake is not infested with bluegill. However, you are going to spend at least three hours on the road and over $100 in gas.
If you are interested in King Lake, send me an email, you will not be disappointed!
Chris
