Eastern Washington Fishing Report 07.05.18
Methow River (WA)
The flow for the Methow River is holding right around 1100cfs. With warmer weather in the next few days, it may bump up a little. I don’t see this slight bump hurting the fishing any. I'm getting some good reports of some good cutts and bows being caught up and down the river. At the flows it is right now, wade fishing shouldn’t be too big of a problem. You might not be able to cross the river in a lot of places yet, but the lower water is going to help you to be able to wade out to most runs to make the casts you need to find some fish. The up-river area around Big Valley might be a little limited on wading, but you should be able to still find some waters that are holding nice cutts. From Winthrop, all the way down to the boundary bridge at mile marker eight has plenty of fish holding runs that you can get into.
If you are wanting to float the river, you can launch a one-person pontoon boat at the Barn in Winthrop and float down to either the wide turn out halfway to Twisp, or continue down to the takeout at Halderman's Hole. If you are using a drift boat, or full-size raft, you can launch from the before mentioned spot and take out at Carlton.
From Carlton, the next takeout is at Mcfarland Creek. A good 5-weight or 6-weight will work just fine, or you can bring your 5-weight or 6-weight spey. For flies, I would have a selection of hoppers, Chernobyls, and caddis. For nymphs, any of the popular styles will work. One of my go-to nymphs is a size 10 or 12 Peacock stone. If you are like me and like the two-handed rod, I would suggest using; #8 Sculpzilla, #4 TFP Bald Eagle, or a #4 TFP Montana Mini Intruder. Barring any serious weather events, the river is only going to keep getting better and better.
Rat Lake (WA)
Name of the game here is early morning. The water temperature is still doable till about 11:00 a.m. in the morning. Start working in about 10 feet of water with a minnow or leech pattern. Once the sun starts to rise higher, move out to deeper water until you locate the fish. The middle left side of the lake is a weed bed that you might find fish holding close to. If you have an electronic fish finder, I would bring it. It will help speed up your search for where the fish might be holding.
Another promising location would be the far right side of the lake. Work this area slowly with an olive leech pattern. Keep an eye open for any damselfly activity. If you see that there is an increase in adult damselflies, switch to your dry line and break out the adult patterns. 5-weight or 6-weight rods are the norm there. Type three full sink and a full floating line will handle your line needs. It doesn’t really matter what leech or bugger patterns you use, as long as they are olive. Any of the epoxy minnows have proven very productive for me.
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