Eastern Washington Fishing Report 09.06.18

Omak Lake (WA)

Ever have one of those days when a number of things go wrong? Yet, you still look at the bright side of the day. A couple of days ago I finally had a chance to run out to Omak Lake and see if I could interest a couple of Lahontan cutthroats in a game of tag. I got to the lake just after sun up and even though there was a light wind, the lake looked good to me.

I pulled my waders on and rigged up my 6-weight glass rod, grabbed my pack, and headed down to the lake shore. In my rush to get a line wet, I tried to stuff my camera into the inside pouch of my waders and fumbled it. I watched it as it fell. It struck the only big rock around me! The latch that keeps the battery compartment door closed was now broke. So, when I went to pick it up, the batteries spilled out. I headed back to the truck to drop off my broken camera and grab my cell phone to use for taking pictures instead.

Once at the water, after about three casts, I hooked what felt like a nice fish, but instead, it was only what I call a here-and-gone. After a couple more casts, I had a repeat of the first. Fish 2, me 0. I moved down the shoreline casting a few more times when, once again, I was hooked into a really good fish. This time, after about 10 minutes, I guided a nice 24-inch Lahontan into my net. Once the hook was removed, it was time for a quick photo and then on his way. That’s when my luck with a camera failed me. As I was trying to get my phone turned on, I fumbled it and proceeded to have a juggling act with my phone. Letting go of the net as I made a grab for my airborne phone, I watched as my phone hit the water and sank. After getting slightly wet from retrieving my phone, from the 3-feet of water it sank in, I was left with no fish to take a picture of and a wet phone!

By now, the wind was a lot more than a slight breeze. Not ready to call it a day, I started casting again. I was hoping for one more nice Lahontan. However, at this point, I was wishing I hadn't left my 8-weight at home. Casting was becoming a little trickier as the wind began blowing at 20 plus mph. The deciding cast was the one that hooked my hat and landed it into the lake.

Given what could only be described as a circus of errors, I still enjoyed a few couple of hours on the lake. It is the start of the fall fishery for the lake and the Lahontan cutthroats are on the prowl and hungry. If you’re out there, the flies I would recommend using are; epoxy minnows, Rickard's chub minnows, Empie’s deadly shiners, and Franke shiners or a brown krystal bugger.

Trust me it only gets better from here on out.

See past reports from the Omak region, or click here to view all northwest regional reports.