Chopaka Lake Report 08.31.18
With summer in full retreat and fall bearing down on the Cascades, it was time to venture up to Chopaka Lake. This fly fishing only lake is immensely popular and crowded in the spring but on this beautiful day, I shared the lake with only two other anglers. While some smoke remains in the valleys leading up to the lake, the air around the lake was clear with only a fine haze clinging to the nearby peaks. Air temperatures were in the low 50’s when I hit the water and are not rising beyond the 70’s most days. The water temperature was an ideal 62°F.
Fishing Chopaka
My Chopaka fly selection this time of year includes a variety of leech patterns; including wooly buggers and balanced leeches with and without beadheads, grasshoppers, booby files, and small size 16 to 20 callibaetis nymphs and dries -in pale colors.
On arrival, I found that there was a fair amount of surface feeding on the south end of the lake away from the shoreline. I tried working an olive balanced leech on my 5-weight setup in the most active areas but had only a few grabs. After half an hour, I finally landed a spritely rainbow but noticed more fish action in the shallows along the reeds.
A quick trip over to the shoreline revealed numerous large rainbows cruising the shallows in only two to four feet of water. I traded out the balanced leech for a size eight black wooly bugger. I spotted a nice sized rainbow cruising along and shot the bugger about six feet in front of it. I didn’t see the 18-inch rainbow swimming in the reeds nearby but as soon as that fly hit the water it shot out and inhaled it! This fish turned out to be the largest of the day and was beautifully colored.
The next hour produced another ten fish on unweighted wooly buggers in both black and olive in shallow water along the reeds. I returned to the middle of the lake in eight to ten feet of water and tried drifting a size 16 pale callibaetis nymph over the submerged weed beds. This produced two decent sized rainbows, but it was not as productive as the shoreline streamer fishing had been.
Switching Gear
With the sun now climbing higher into the sky, wasps and other terrestrials were beginning to land on the lake and inspiring some vicious strikes from the trout feeding along the shoreline. Not wanting to miss out, I switched out to my 4-weight floating line setup and tied on a size 10 hopper. I spotted a trout swirl in a gap in the reeds along the shoreline and shot the hopper into the gap.
How do you know when to switch hoppers? Check out our blog on hoppers here.
Nothing happened for a few seconds, so I twitched the hopper a bit and boom! A sizeable two-pound trout blasted out of the water and completely missed the fly. Bummer! A few minutes later I spotted another large trout and placed the hopper about five feet in front of it. It casually cruised past and just as I was about to recast, it turned and crushed it! I managed another three more fish on hoppers before clouds rolled over and the winds picked up.
With the wind up, casting and control of my kayak became difficult. I switched back to the 5-weight and flipped over to a full sink line and put on a coral booby fly. I figured I’d slow troll the booby back to the launch while I ate an early lunch. I didn’t get a chance to eat my lunch because I couldn’t keep the fish off. While I caught smaller fish on the booby, I still found several 16-inch fish among the many others I caught. I also lost one bruiser that I never got to see. I feel that is a necessary requirement for any outing to get you to come back and try again.
Chopaka Tactics Rundown:
Fall is a great time to fish Chopaka Lake. The fish have had all summer to fatten up, and because of a temporary road closure this spring and summer, they have been far less pressured than normal. There is plenty of camping available at the lake right now and lots of big hungry rainbows waiting for you.
The Most Productive:
Throw and strip size eight unweighted black or olive woolly buggers along the reed lines on the south end of the lake.
The Most Fun:
After 10 a.m., use hoppers along the shoreline. You won’t catch a ton but its heart-stopping when you do.
The Easiest:
Slow troll booby flies on a full sink line in eight to ten feet of water.
Chopaka Road is Open with an Asterisk
The road up to Chopaka was temporarily closed in May due to a landslide that cut away a portion of the road. After the spring rains subsided, large concrete blocks were put in place to keep vehicles away from the edge and the road was reopened. With the blocks in place, there is only about nine feet of space for a vehicle to squeeze through so, leave the RV’s and the big trailers at home.
The Washington Department of Natural Resources (WA DNR) oversees the road. According to them, they are finishing up final bids for repairs which are anticipated to begin in late September. This will result in the closure of the access road. Please contact WA DNR or give us a call at the Omak N40 Fly Shop for the latest information on access.