Fly Fishing isn't always about Catching Fish

Jim with his 20 inch trout!

Our anticipation was high as we bounced awkwardly along the old dirt road that led to the lake. It was a typical high desert scene with rolling fields of grasses, sagebrush and Juniper trees that were stationed like sentinels. Numerous other spring fed lakes had similar habitat which displayed tall grasses, cattails and reed beds. This helped to provide food and cover for the Kamloops strain of Rainbows.

A typical high desert lake!

The weather was warm with the sweet smell of spring in the air, and it featured a high but slightly overcast sky with a swirling gusty wind to deal with. Jim and I started fishing with two of my favorite patterns that were usually effective--The Stewart Caddis size 12 and a Black Midge size 16. The first hour was mildly productive as we hooked and released 5 or 6 fish up to 18 inches using the Stewart Caddis. The method we used was to cast and make 6- to 9-inch slow strips back and repeatedly fan the casts out and across the water. During the next few hours we only hooked and landed a few more trout, and Jim caught a large one that measured 20 inches.

Finally, after several more hours, the black midges began to emerge and our hopes intensified, but for some reason the fish were not keying in on them, so only a few more were hooked. Finally, after 5 hours of persistence, we decided to call it a day.

Yellow Winged Blackbird

It was a disappointing trip because we didn't catch a lot of fish, but it was successful in another way. We took photos of some common visitors--a Yellow winged Blackbird, an Orange Headed Blackbird, some Barn Swallows, a cruising Osprey and the infringing Coot ducks. Looking at it in this light, it was a successful trip because we also caught some wildlife in motion with our cameras.