Eastern Washington Fishing Report 05.17.18
Chopaka Lake
I have sad news about Chopaka Lake. Last week the road into the lake was closed by the Dept. Of Natural Resources. After the snow melted out and the road was passable, one location had some damage to half of the road. With traffic going in and out of the lake, the other half of that location was showing signs of in instability. So, for public safety reasons the DNR closed the road completely. Last report I was able to get on an ETA when it would be reopened is about three weeks out. Keep your fingers crossed.
McGinnis Lake
Luke McKee and I made a second trip in a week looking for some redemption. Our first trip was a day of oops. When you clean your boat bag out to reorganize, make sure you put all your fly boxes back in. So, on our second trip we were a ready with all our stillwater flies. After catching our first brook trout of the morning, Luke broke out the throat pump. The sample showed a lot of #28 scuds and several #14 chironomids. After a closer look at the chironomids we knew exactly what we needed to rig up with—a Rowly #14 Chromie was the match. We caught a number of nice 14"-17" brook trout on this pattern until the trout switched to Callibaetis nymphs. That was the ticket until we once again had to switch to another pattern. We finished the day using damsel nymphs. Overall it was a great day on the water. We both were using 6 weight rods in lengths of 9’ 6" and 10'. I spent most of the day using a slip indicator on my Rio InTouch Xtreme Indicator line. Luke had switched to a Rio InTouch Type 5 sinking line.
Blue Lake (Sinlahekin)
The north end of the lake is starting to clear, meaning way better visibility than last week. The south end of the lake has a lot more clarity and seems to be fishing a lot better. With the amount of runoff into the lake it is quite full. Your best bet for camping will also be at the south end of the lake. Rainbows in the 14"-16" range and browns 14"-18" are being reported. Size 16-12 red, brown or chrome chironomids, damsel nymphs, and #12-#10 dark olive blood or black leeches are the what's on the menu. I would also recommend #10-12 Pumpkinhead leech, too. I also should mention that the road north from Blue Lake to Loomis is washed out. You will need to turn off of Highway 97 onto the Pine Creek Road and then take the Fish Lake Road.
Davis Lake
Davis Lake over by Winthrop has been fishing good. This 39-acre lake receives moderate to low use most of the time. Rainbows in the 12"-16" range with a few holdover to the 18" size are present. I fished it the other day and there was only one other person on the lake that morning. Using a #10 Pumpkinhead Leech on a Type 3 full sinking line in about 6'-10' of water with slow, short strips yielded a number of nice rainbows. There is a Fish and Wildlife boat launch at the north end of the lake. This is a selective gear fishery, so no motors except electric.
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