Stalking Stillwater Giants
Cow Pie Beach sits at the south end of a large, stretched-out alkaline lake carved into a basalt basin. Once upon a time, the Columbia River flowed through here.
With clouds looming on an early spring day, we stalk slowly along the gravel shoreline, rod and coiled fly line in one hand and leader and fly in the other. Peering into the shallow water with polarized sunglasses, we search for large silhouettes of cruising trout.
The trick is to spot the fish early, crouch into a low-profile stance, then carefully cast the fly ahead of the fish without spooking it. If you cast too close, it bolts. If the cast is too far, it’s a challenge to keep the fly suspended off the bottom where the fish can see it. Second chances are wishful thinking, and timing and accuracy are crucial to hooking a large—some pushing 10 pounds—Lahontan cutthroat. At Omak Lake, this sight-fishing game is addictive.
Fifteen minutes south of Omak Lake sits another big trout haven, a stretch of the Columbia River called Rufus Woods Lake. Unlike Omak Lake, sight-fishing in shallow water is a rarity at Rufus. Instead, you fish the depths with sinking lines and repeated casts, until the chops of a lurking rainbow abruptly stop your streamer.
Newcomers to Rufus often dismiss trout takes as bottom snags. A classic example was the time Ed Rice and I introduced hackle man Henry Hoffman to Rufus Woods (only after prying him off Omak). In Rice’s 19-foot Ranger, we stopped at a stretch of shoreline with large rocks forming ideal current seams and pockets—the kind of water big trout love. With Rice keeping us in the zone, Hoffman and I worked the water with fast and furious casts and retrieves. On about his third cast, Hoffman hollered from the back, “Hey! I think I got something here!” But with his rod doubled over in the heavy current, he wasn’t sure exactly what.
When the broad fish finally tore off from behind the boulder, Henry’s doubt ceased. A 3½-pound triploid rainbow finally came to the net. Soon after, Henry landed his third fish, which turned out to be his personal best rainbow at 6 pounds. He didn’t second-guess hook-ups after that.
Omak Lake and Rufus Woods Lake are located in northeastern Washington on the 1.4-million-acre Colville Indian Reservation, about two hours north of Wenatchee, and three hours northwest of Spokane. Established by executive order of President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872, the reservation boasts standing timber, streams, rivers, lakes, mineral deposits, varied terrain, native plants and wildlife—and excellent fly fishing for big trout.
Tribal fishery management maintains fish populations and habitat using an ecosystem-based approach. Some reservation waters hold naturally reproducing, wild fish. Other waters are stocked, but the objective is always to produce a holdover fishery rather than a put-and-take scenario. The primary goal is to provide a successful subsistence fishery for Colville tribal members, while also delivering a high-quality, productive recreational fishery for both tribal members and tourists.
Omak Lake
Omak Lake is Washington’s largest alkaline-saline lake. It spans 3,340 acres, is about 8 miles long, a mile wide, and reaches depths of more than 300 feet. It is a natural terminal lake surrounded by rugged basalt and granite terrain, with scattered ponderosa pine and sagebrush. Lahontan cutthroat were first introduced in the spring of 1968, which led to extensive stocking. The reservation had its own broodstock program in place by 1971. In the fall of 1975, the lake was opened to the public.
Omak is open to angling all year. Catch-and-release season begins March 1 and ends on May 31—peak time for fly fishers. January and February are also good months to fish, but it is cold, and you are forced to fish deeper water with heavy sinking lines.
Winter virtues include fewer anglers and fish that are more interested in eating than spawning. At this time of year, shotgun presentations are best—basically chucking the fly as far as you can and stripping it back using a medium-fast, irregular retrieve with an occasional pause.
Wading from shore works, but a float tube or kick boat allows you to reach more fish in deeper water. For searching the deeper water, I use shooting heads to get deep fast. I prefer attaching my shooting head to a narrow monofilament shooting line because it casts easily and I like the sensitivity. I carry all sink rates, from clear intermediates to heavier, full-sinking heads. Use 7- to 9-foot leaders tapered to 8-pound tippet. Nine- to 10-foot, 5- or 6-weight rods work great, and it never hurts to have a 9-foot 7-weight for windy conditions and bigger fish.
Forage fish are abundant in Omak, which makes streamer fishing effective. Redside shiners, peamouth minnows, sculpins, and bridgelip suckers all thrive here, and the cutthroat devour them. Fill your fly boxes with black, olive, and white/silver Woolly Buggers (great on overcast days) as well as bucktail streamers (#2-6), mixed with synthetics such as Krystal Flash and Mylar tinsel. The jigging motion of a Clouser Minnow drives these cutthroat mad. Tie your flies from 2½ to 4 inches long.
Fish beadhead, tungsten cone-head, and dumbbell-eye flies on floating or slow-sinking lines, and your unweighted flies on fast-sinking lines. This allows you to get deep without hanging up.
Copyright © 2012 Intermedia Outdoors
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