Available Fishing Guide:
Website: Darrell & Dads Family Guide Service
I put my 8' one-man pontoon on the water at 6:00 AM. While I was launching, I could hear wild turkeys gobbling on the opposite shore. I saw fish rising all over the place. Most were about 50 yard or more from shore. The Canada Geese outnumbered the cabins, and I was the only person on the lake for 2 hours. The lake sits deep in a mountain canyon, and is surrounded by high cliffs. There was still a little snow on the mountain ridges to the north, and you could hear the big waterfall on the NE corner of the lake from anywhere on the water. The water was like a mirror, and if you were looking at the shoreline across the water, you couldn't tell if the mountains pointed up or down. What a perfect setting. I was using spinning gear with a small 10", 4 blade flasher, followed 24" back by a #5 Helin's Flatfish in perch scale pattern. I wasn't using any weight, and had 10# mono for mainline, so I was only about 1-2 feet deep, maybe 50' behind my rowing efforts. After I launched from the public access, I rowed up the west side of the west lake without any results. Tired of no reward for my efforts, I removed the flatfish and put on a secret minnow imitation. Once I passed the northern creek inlet, I hooked and landed my first fish of the year. Not very big, but a dandy 10" rainbow. Once I passed through the keyhole between the west lake and the east lake, I rowed clockwise around the shore toward the waterfall. I was rewarded with 2 more rainbows, and failed to hook up with about 3 more. I went past the waterfall, back through the keyhole and down the east side of the west lake. That's when I hooked into and landed a real nice 10" Kokanee. I continued down the east side of the west lake until opposite the launch area, then turned toward home. While traversing the lake toward the take-out, I hooked and lost 2 more aggressive rod benders. I pulled out of the water after two hours of sheer pleasure, with 3 rainbows, one kokanee, and about 6 lost rewards. !
All fish were returned healthy to fight again. When I left the water
Another endearing factor.
Sorry I forgot to tell you. The lake is a 5 mph maximum speed limit. If your motor pushes you more than walking speed, don't even bring it.
Available Fishing Guide:
Website: Darrell & Dads Family Guide Service