Omak Lake Slaughter

[RiverChromeGS]

Hello, I posted a report on Omak, so go check that out if you havent already, bottom line is we landed 158 fish in 2.5 days with some huge fish mixed in, more info in the report, but here are some of the huge pigs we caught

[RiverChromeGS]

more

[RiverChromeGS]

PIGZ

[Bodofish]

Very pretty fish! Fun lake to hit. The Lahotans are really something.

[RiverChromeGS]

yep, numbers and size are unmatched by anything else

[Augwen]

Great looking fish....did you keep any? If so were they firm? What color was the meat? Nice to have "catchin'" days amongst the fishin' days!

[Kaptain King]

That top picture is AWESOME with that blue water behind and that hawg you are holding...You got to frame that one, man.

[MotoBoat]

Your lake pictures shows the location to be in a pretty setting. What type of wildlife did you see? I think it was the first picture that showed the water to be a aqua color. Very nice indeed! When looking at fish in your pictures, it occurred that they are a different sort of Cutthroat? Bodo say's Lohontan, and that is what I was thinking they were. I have heard some say Lahontan Trout are sluggish fighters, while Kamloops trout are stellar fighters. How would you rate there line pulling ability?

Curiosity has me wondering. There was mention of Kokanee rods used in your report and those are very soft, parabolic rods. Were those rods used specifically to impart a better fight? Those rods were designed for soft mouthed fish, averaging 8" to 16", and weighting .5lb to 2lb. The Lohontans were much larger than that and seems like a mismatch. A very fun mismatch. But how well did those light rods control the large fish you were catching? The 8lb line used, must have been at the higher end of the rods line rating?

I would like to have the lightest gear possible when fighting these fish. Thanks for the report and reply.

[Bodofish]

Great looking fish....did you keep any? If so were they firm? What color was the meat? Nice to have "catchin'" days amongst the fishin' days!

Shooting from the hip and the last time I fished it was several years ago, but the lake is/was under tribal control. I don't know if they have a reciprocal agreement with the state or if you still have to have a Tribal permit to fish. They had some extra rules that weren't published in the State rules. The last time I was there you could only keep one fish per day, which would be consistent with the awesome success rate the boys had. So before you think you're going to go and fill the freezer, check with the Tribe and make sure. When you're on the lake, you are out in front of God and everyone, an unparraleled view from the highway and not a tree to be found.

[MotoBoat]

Great looking fish....did you keep any? If so were they firm? What color was the meat? Nice to have "catchin'" days amongst the fishin' days!

Shooting from the hip and the last time I fished it was several years ago, but the lake is/was under tribal control. I don't know if they have a reciprocal agreement with the state or if you still have to have a Tribal permit to fish. They had some extra rules that weren't published in the State rules. The last time I was there you could only keep one fish per day, which would be consistent with the awesome success rate the boys had. So before you think you're going to go and fill the freezer, check with the Tribe and make sure. When you're on the lake, you are out in front of God and everyone, an unparraleled view from the highway and not a tree to be found.

No "shade" trees to be found........anywhere? Is this a deep lake? Looks very pristine.

[mwdehaan]

The lake gets to be 300 feet deep or more in areas. It is owned by the tribe here and they have special regulations. The year license will cost you around 40 bucks. I haven't picked up the tribal pamphlet but this lake does have special rules. Something like barbless only, no baits/scents or anything resembling bait such as a salted impregnated lure. I don't remember it being clear as to whether or not it was single barbless or just barbless so your rapalas and flatfish could have several trebles, just all crimped, that part was unclear to me so I was always on the safe side and used single barbless.

As for wild life you'll see birds hah. Family used to have a cabin there years ago when they were allowed and you'd see bears and deer from time to time. Now while I've been out there on a boat I've only seen birds. Not sure why the comment was made of no trees. The are trees there! They're just not boarding about 90% of the lake, haha.

Motoboat, you might have to take another look at the video for this lake that Mike had done when he was out with Anton Jones. I believe they touch on the color variation of these lahontan's. As far as I know(please educate me if I'm incorrect), only these cutthroats can survive the alkali waters of Omak Lake.

Fishenfreak, I'd love to hear more about your flyrod setup, how deep you had to fish your flies, rod/weights/line/flies, etc. My Grandpa trolled this lake with a fly for years. So I'd love to be able to go up there with him and have some success.

This is an amazing lake also for recreation. Lots of area to ski, some good cliff jumping areas and there's a few beaches you can reach by boat that are pretty nice. Just beware of the Ogopogo.

[RiverChromeGS]

To try and answer a few questions at once,

You could not keep the fish while I was there, you can keep them (not sure about limit but i think its 3 a day, only one over 18 inches) starting june 1st. SO we did not keep any and cant say much about the meat

The lake is under colville tribe rules, and you have to talk to them to get the full set of special rules, but its pretty much just no bait, along with the catch and release season from march31 to may31.

What you have heard about the more sluggish fish Motoboat is correct, but its not that bad. They dont fight like a line peeling rainbow trout. Theyre a doggy fighter, staying deep, no big runs (we had some nice runs tho) and they just stay down and wont come up. The big 4-8 pound fish would stay deep and came up slow and would make small runs back down to where they felt comfortable, and took about 5 minutes to actually get in the net, so not explosive fighters, but certainly not lazy fish.

We used kokanee rods for fun, yes, we knew they didnt take large runs, so we thought that the koke rods would be fun, and they were, i would DEFINETELY recommend fishing a light rod here, even if you hook a 10 plus pound fish, theyre just gonna take a while to get in, but your definetely at no disadvantage, and its REALLY awesome. Most of the fish trip the downrigger and bite really hard! We used 10 pound mainline 8 pound flourocarbon leader, and only broke one fish off out of 150, and it was because it got on downrigger cable.

During the catch and release season its barbless, but triple hooks are OK, im not sure, but i think anything except bait is game starting june 1, not sure tho, gotta call the tribe. bait is always illegal all year tho, although its never necessary, lol

You are correct in saying that the Lahontan Cutthroat can only survive in lakes with elevated Alkaline Levels, such as Omak in Washington, another famous one is Pyramid Lake. These fish are giant and the state record from OMAK is 18 pounds, we hooked at least one over 10.

WE also say lots of eagles, ospreys, lots of deer around the lake (we almost ran over one crossing the lake, LOL) its a awesome place because Alkaline stains rocks bright white, and the water is like the water in Hawaii, and suprisingly, the wind wasnt too bad, even when it picked up.

[RiverChromeGS]

woops, forgot to answer about flies. THIS lake is GREAT for flies. We did not troll them, we went to shore for breaks and stripped green, brown and white wooley buggers on sinking line on the flats, the launch bay is closed for spawning until june 1, there were hundredds of giant pigs along the shore at the launch bay, starting june 1 you could hammer them on flies in that bay. we saw and caught some pigs fishing the south end flats (the one huge dark buck you saw above). they swim along is schools, and you lead them and almost every time one comes and eats, we didnt troll flies, but caasting on flats is VERY productive, and very fun!

[MotoBoat]

Hey F-n-freak! What was the cost of a Colville tribe fishing license ? Thanks for all your generous information. Watching and leading the wolf pack with a fly, in the shallows........c'mon. How friggin cool is that!

I have a 3wt Sage fly rod. I am guessing to have a similar action as a Kokanee rod blank would. That would be an interesting battle, no doubt about it!! Zzzzzzzzzzzzing Me thinks, It would probably be much nicer to reel all that line back in, on a large arbor fly reel. Come to think of it, I have a really old "free stripping" automatic line retrieving reel. With the old school line that the reel would have come with, loaded on it. Might have to take it to the fish "old school". Really old school.

[Teal101]

My girlfriends dad holds the state record for the Lahontan Cutts out of that lake. He got one record fish at 15lbs and went back the next year and got the current record 18lber. HUGE fish.

Great pics, I need to get up there someday with "the master" and have him show me how its done. Scenery looks amazing.

[RiverChromeGS]

Thats awesome that you know the record holder, i read about him! We saw one cruising the flats that looked 15 pounds or so, the huge ones are still out there,

Heres the video we made, has more pics and some sweet vids of double headers ect...

[RiverChromeGS]

also, i found the rules online for 2012-2013, its catch and release from march 31 to may31, and no bait all year, scents are OK and barbs are OK, although we ran barbless in our treble hooks to keep the fish healthy anyway, which is always a good idea! limit is 3 a day, only one over 18 inches, north bay is closed during catch and release season, thats it!

[Augwen]

Awesome Video....THANX for sharing!!!

[mwdehaan]

also, i found the rules online for 2012-2013, its catch and release from march 31 to may31, and no bait all year, scents are OK and barbs are OK, although we ran barbless in our treble hooks to keep the fish healthy anyway, which is always a good idea! limit is 3 a day, only one over 18 inches, north bay is closed during catch and release season, thats it!

Interesting. I've got last years pamphlet in front of me and it says "Only lures or flies with a single barbless hook may be used (artificial lures and flies only, no bait fishing)." I'd be shocked if that's changed this year because it's been barbless as long as I've known (17 years?). I need to go pick up the new pamphlet next time I'm in walmart. As for the scent, that was another sketchy thing for reservation fishing. Talking with one of the tribal game wardens or whatever they call themselves, they mentioned things like plastics (berkley power eggs came to mind) that had scented or salt impregnation could possibly be considered bait and we were suggested not to use anything like that.

But hey good news! If you want to know the regulations 100% for sure, here's the number:
(509) 634-2110 - Office hours: 7:30am to 4:00pm

I fish this lake single barbless, no scents, just to be on the safe side. I've heard they can be quick to ticket.

[RiverChromeGS]

Check this out bro, I have NO idea what the REAL rules are because its probably pretty sketchy with changes and special rules with the tribe, BUT check this out and scroll down to the special bodies of water, and look under OMAK lake, and see what it says, and the pamphlet is for 2012-2013. Like i said, not sure but this is where i got my info

Go to this site, and click on NON-MEMBER SPORTS FISHING

http://www.colvilletribes.com/fish_and_wildlifeold.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Also ive seen Darrel and Dads running trebles and i know he knows the rules.