Eastern Washington Fishing Report 06.14.18
Methow River
At 2450 cubic feet per second, the Methow River is coming into shape real fast. It continues to drop a little at a time and baring a heavy runoff from the high country or heavy rains it will be a lot more accessible then it is right now. I had a chance to get out on Monday for a couple of hours until the wind forced me off the water. Using my 6wt Echo glass rod I was able to work some tight area single hand spey casting with a OSPT head. Landed a couple of nice fish, one being a 19" cutthroat the other a 17" rainbow. Had a few other tugs and a couple of on and gone fish that I never could get a look at. My Mini BDL and a Sculpzilla were the flies of choice that day. Most of the fish seem to be hanging out at about 4 to 5 feet from shore, depending on the run make up. Nymphing would be another good choice to use. A good stone fly pattern with a simple mayfly pattern would be a good combo. I did not see a lot of hatches going on but then again with the wind blowing like it was, it would be easy to miss it. I would think in a couple of weeks the big stones should be showing up. For me the magic number for better wade fishing is 1400 cfs. So, keep checking the flows for those numbers. If you have a boat, you should not have much trouble finding good water right now. Just have to pay attention to the river and watch out for any obstacles.
Rat Lake
With the cooler weather the lakes are getting a little reprieve with water temperatures. If you can hit the lake when the wind is behaving, you will have a good chance at some good fishing. Had a couple of friends hit Rat Lake the other day early in the morning. They reported that up until the wind picked up they were having a great time. Right after sun up for the first couple of hours, the were working the waters a little less than ten feet from shore. Small olive buggers and leeches did the trick for a number of rainbows in the 14" to 16" range, along with a couple of 14" browns. After the sun got a little higher they moved out into deeper water and continued to catch a fair number of rainbow trout including 3 that were in the 20" range. I know what flies they were using cause the picked them up at the shop. A couple of them were #12 Twin Lakes Special, #12 olive Foisset's TWS bugger and a #8 burnt orange Swimming Leech. A 5wt or 6wt rod will fit the bill. I also would have 2 types of sinking line. An intermediate for the fallow water and a type 3 full sinking for the deeper water. This time of the year you want to make sure you have a thermometer to keep track of the water temperature. Once you get into that 68-degree range in the upper 10" of the water I would strongly consider calling it a day for the health of the fish.
Green Lake
I get a fair number of people that come into the shop and ask where is a good place, where they can go fly fishing and catch some trout without a lot of effort. 9 times out of 10 I'm going to say Green Lake. There is no shortage of catchable rainbow trout at Green. Plenty of fish in the 10" to 12" size class. There are a fair number of carry overs up to 18" but, you must get past the smaller ones before you can get down to the lager trout. A 5wt with type 3 full sinking line will get you in the game. For flies #10 black, olive balanced leech, Pumpkin head leech, olive Orange bead squirrel leech. A #14 or #12 red or black Snow Cone will handle your chironomid needs. If you want to fish it, its best done from a boat. Only electric motors are allowed no gas motors. If you just need to wet a line for a couple of hours to relax and catch some trout, give Green Lake a try.
Click here to see past reports from this region, or click here to view all northwest regional reports.