Chopaka, Chapoka, It's Chopaka

Chapoka, Chopaka......  it's Chopaka!!!!  There is a story behind this but we will just go beyond it.

What a great trip last week...  A good part of the group headed up early Sunday morning and by the time we got there it was noon and a few folks had already left leaving some good open spots to set up camp.  Finding a flat spot on the slopes of the lakefront is a difficult thing to do especially when you are looking for a spot to put up a 15X20 wall tent.  We found the best spot available and it even allowed for our friend Jeff to have his camper and Bill to have his Suburban right with the group.  Sunday was all about getting camp set and getting all of our gear organized for the week.

Ok I need to back up, we all did well getting up to the lake and for those that have been there you know there is a bit of a hill you have to climb.  In the past two years, two of our group have lost transmissions trying to pull RV's up to the site.  I did have a bit of a near miss in that my drift boat trailer bounced off the ball as we traveled up the steep rocky hillside.

Not a big deal we just made a nice groove in the road....  Tightened things up and off we went.  Good thing, otherwise brother Dale might have had a new Hyde hood ornament.  The picture below is the hill that you have to go up to get to the lake.  It is long and steep and gets oiled with transmission fluid fairly often!!!  The tow truck drivers over here know exactly where it is at!!!

By the way this is the hill that eats transmissions up!!!  It continues to climb out of the picture!!!

Camp was set when a few other folks from the Plain Fly Tyers group started to show up.  Tom Bartlett, Rene, and Rollie Smitten were next.  Then we found out that Jim Passage had blown the front seal in his transmission so a few folks helped him get things organized and towed the trailer he was trying to bring up back to Tonasket where his truck was to be fixed.  No one fished that first night, it was pretty windy and we all were tired from getting things organized.  We had a French Dip and French Fry meal that evening and warmed up a Homefires Bakery Marion Berry Pie for dessert.  Life was good.  

The next morning we had a nice breakfast and the gang headed out for some fishing.  I headed down to Tonasket to help my friend Jim out with moving his trailer to Spectacle Lake so that he could come up and fish with us while his truck was being repaired.  We got him set up and then we headed up to Chopaka and got some good fishing in for the afternoon.  There had been a Mayfly hatch the day before while we were setting up camp so we expected the same the following day.  There was a short one which made for some great dry fly action.  Also the HippieD White Bead Headed leech like pattern was on fire.  Bill Moffat said he quit counting how many fish he caught (somehow I don't believe he was not counting!!!).  Buggers and leech patterns were working really well down deep.  Every day there was a damsel hatch and it was fun just to step back and watch the animal life take advantage of it.  Ducks, fish and even dragon flies were in for the meal.  Here are a couple of shots of damsel's going through the process of coming out of the water onto the reeds and flying away.

Damsel having come up out of the water in a larva form and drying it's wings

Wings dried ready to fly

These are the left over larva casings and they were all over the reeds around the lake,.

Most everyone had a good day of fishing Monday and we all mixed it up with some dry fly fishing along with nymph.  Here are a few of the guys fishing.

Tomme Towne

Cowboy T (Tim) and Bill

Is that Graham Nash or Rene?  It's Rene

Jeff Peace Man

Jeff with a nice fish on....  

Vern with a nice fish caught on a white HippieD

Still Fighting

A smile and a nice fish to the boat...Great job Vern

Bro Dale fishing the dry fly up against the woods...Maybe an egg pattern on intermediate line!!!  It worked

The pontoon boats came in all colors, shapes and sizes

Peace man is one of the most experienced guys on the lake.. been fishing there for years!!!

Cowboy T takin' a break....  must have caught 20 by now!!!

Doug and Rio out for an evening float....

Now this is a group...  Jeff, Tomme, me as the oarsman and Tim as the boat Director... he is good at that...  

We had many good meals, the second night Cowboy T introduced many of us to Red Beans and Rice and Tomme BBQ'd up some ribs to go with.  Jeff had smoked some great meats which we added to many of the meals.  A spicy Sausage, Brats and then his most famous Beef Brisket which is killer!!!  Red beans and rice clearly had that nice spicy flair to it.  Bro Dale did up some great spaghetti sauce that we did with penne noodles and some bread.  The last night Bill and the gang all helped to put a great meal together.  Prime Rib Steaks, Cowboy beans and grilled bread over the BBQ.  It was amazing.  Must I not forget, Jeff also supplied the ice cream most nights.  I think there was a peach mixture, cookie dough, cinnamon bun, and a couple more.  And there were cookies coming out the ears!!!  Here is a picture of dinner that last evening.  There is Jeff, Dale, Me at the head, Cowboy T, Dick Nicklas, Tomme and the guy standing up is from the camp next door.

Prime Steaks, cowboy beans, sauteed mushrooms and grilled bread oh and some wine

There we go, now we have Bill in the picture but again Rich Archer eluded the shot!!!!

Now there is a lot of time during the morning and day to tell tall stories or close to lies around the campfire.  It is the one thing that brings the guys together in the morning and in the evening.  Here are a couple of shots of people just hanging out....

Doug, Tomme, Me, Dale and Tom Bartlett just telling a few lies

Tomme, Tim, Me, Vern, Dale, and Doug eating some ice cream

One of the things I really like about the lake is the wildlife.  There are some great ducks and sometimes a few loons.  One morning we saw a cow moose and a smaller calf across the lake from us.  When I went fishing that morning I went over to where we had seen them and the reeds were pulled up and eaten.  Here are a few pictures of some of the ducks we saw....

A Male Golden Eye

A female golden eye

This noisy Cout was eating damsels as they came up the reeds

This guy wanted me to quit bugging him

Another Male Golden Eye

Mama Golden Eye with the ducklings below hanging on the stump

Two Blue Bills hanging in the reeds

The Blue Bills do a great little dance when they are around the females

Check my bill out!!!

Thinking this is what most people call a Rock Chuck....  mountain marmot

With a whistle this little guy stood up to check me out....

Well another trip to Chopaka Lake ends with a lot of memories and stories to tell.  I remember one day we were out and several of us had taken our rain gear just in case.  Well the clouds rolled in and the sky's darkened and it rained the kind of rain that makes a splash on the water.  Then it hailed for several minutes.  It all passed and the sun came out.  The amazing thing is that the best hatch of the time there occured and we caught some great fish.  Here is what it looked like outside

A storm moves in

Sunset the last evening...  finale

The people who did not make it into pictures but were up at the lake are Rollie Schmitten, Jim McKenna, Kris Pendleton, Mike Payne and Jim Passage.

What a great trip....  thanks to all that helped with setting up camp and making food.  Until next time, tight lines......

April Fishing Fool's Quincy Lake Outing....

April 1st sounded like a good date for fishing...  fishing fools that is!!!
The group was made up of the Plain Fly Tyers, Vern, Andrew, Tom, Doug, Tomme, Rene, Bro Dale and myself.  Quincy Lake sits in the basalt rock formation of the Ancient Lakes area and is one of the larger lakes located near the town of Quincy Washington.  Quincy Lake is a 62 acre lake with several inlets and shore configurations so you can nymph fish and take a brake, anchor and chronimid or dry fly fish as well.  We even had a interesting flying black ant hatch which allowed for a bit of dry fly fishing.  Dark colored leech patterns seemed to work well although Tom ended up catching a holdover, around 18-19 inches on a amber bead head leech that I have been tying up for a while now.  It was kind of hit and miss and what I finally figured out was that the fish were down pretty deep.  I had not rigged up my deep sink so I ended up putting out almost all of my intermediate line to the backing and then I caught fish.  They were fisty fish with a lot of jumping all the way in to the boat.  I ended up with one fish taking a Knoebel Jim Beam red and white snow cone that we have done well at Issac's Ranch with in the past.  Bro Dale called the flying black ant hatch so I tied one on and tossed it in the direction where a fish was slurping and baammm!!!    The problem was I had not planned for dry fly fishing so I didn't have my floatant to keep the fly on the surface and that was what the fish were clearly looking for, a flying ant giving a little wiggle action on the surface.  I won't do that again, leave my floatant behind!!!
Andrew brought his hand made beautiful wood drift boat out which looked amazing in the water.  Vern had his newly set up electric motor on his pontoon boat and was cruising all over the lake.  It worked really well when he just wanted to move for one location on the lake to another.
It was the first warm weather fishing day with the temp reaching 77 degrees and the gentle breeze helped to make things feel just right. Another great day with the Plain Washing Fly Tyers....

Andrews drift boat

Vern's Electric Pontoon

Tom and Vern 

Bro Dale tying something new on...

Tomme Town just drift'n and wish'n something would bite!!!

A New Spey Fisherman is born!!!

March 2, 50+ degrees and it was a great day of learning for me and a new fly fishing technique called Spey Casting. I am so used to single hand overhead fly fishing that this was a very new thing for me to learn.  As you can see Spey casting is a technique that uses two hands with a much larger, 13 foot fly rod then I am used to throwing 7,8 and 9 footers.  It also for me a new artistic but technical way of fly casting.  The unique twist is the use of roll casting which is creating large loops in the line "on purpose" to project the line out in front of you.  One of my fishing partners from the Plain Fly Tyers group and a local guide here and for Reds Fly Shop, Doug Pendleton was my instructor and he was very patient with me.  I liken the whole experience to dancing your line in a very special 3 step process that allows you to really get some distance on the river.   Like everything this is going to take some serious practice so now I have a plan to build a new spey rod.  I have three blanks already from a previous buy so now the design work begins.  The river we practiced in is the Big Wenatchee and we threw pieces of yarn since the river is closed for fishing!!!  No bites!!!

My First Spey Cast Session

This is Doug Pendleton my friend and instructor for the morning, this Steel head was caught on the Methow River opening day of Steel head fishing.  Nice fish Doug!!!

My next report will be on fishing the Wenatchee where it is open for Steel Head....  Next week....

Ice Fishing on Fish Lake

A week ago I went Ice fishing at Fish Lake near Lake Wenatchee with the group of folks in the picture below.  The group is part of the Family Lines "Family" and my friend Jon pulled this gaggle of folks together for some fun on the ice.  We all gathered to get ready at another buddy's home on the lake, thanks Dave Nier,  We got the fire going and burning well for those who needed warmth, hot dogs and smores.  Another neighbor brought in his Honda powered auger to cut the holes which was great because we moved once and hole cutting was a done in a flash.  The kids and dads, grand dads and significant others showed up boiling over with energy.  We got the set up and the first fish caught was a nice 14 inch rainbow and that started things off.  There were a couple more trout and lots of perch caught before the weather shifted and it got windy, rained, sleeted and then at the end snowed on us.  I was shocked, most of the kids were die hard fisher folks with water dripping from their hair and eyes, runny noses and lots of shaking going on but they stuck with it.  After a couple of hours we went in and I have never seen so many hot dogs contending for fire to get cooked.  After hot dogs a Perch Curling contest was held on the ice.  Jon said after the contest got going, "I am not sure that these kids may get a bit traumatized", because the fish were still alive as they were being used for the contest.  The last thing to do was to cook up the smores and then everyone was on their way home to get warm.
A great day with the Family Lines group.  If you want to learn more about them they have a website at familylines.org and if you are so inclined help them out with a donation or if you have a child that you would like to get interested in fly fishing connect with them.  They have a great program of building your own rod, tying your own fly and then going on outings.
If you are interested in ice fishing do it fast because the weather is changing and the stability of the ice is starting to come into question.

Doin the Yak!!!!

February 21st 2013, Tim Opitz and I headed into Ellensburg to meet up with our Evening Hatch guide Kevin for a trip down the Yakima River on what they call the Skwala Special.  Starting off it was a brisk, cold Feb morning and the plan was to fish the Canyon which was new water for me.  The river was a bit smaller than last time I fished it but all in all in good shape, nice and clear.  We got a later start but that was OK, the water needed to warm up some to get the fish working.  Kevin was a great and patient guide and I let him know right off the he could yell at me given this was really only my second boat trip.  We fished some of his hand tied skwala's and hung a copper John dropper or plastic egg bead off the skwala.  First fish went to Cowboy Tim, he had a very big Whitey right up to the boat before it released.  We caught quite a few white fish during the day which was something new to me.  I have not caught white fish while fly fishing before.  Kevin taught me a new roll mend technique which will come in play when I fish the Wenatchee for Steel head this coming week.  We did a 8 mile float and it wasn't to the last part of the float that I started to catch some fish.  One nice rainbow and another good looking Cutty.  The weather caught up with us right at the end of the float so we timed it great.  Since this was my first canyon float I have to say the scenery is excellent, the waters great with good opportunities to get out of the boat and fish from shore and we saw some great bald eagles on the trip. We were also looking at this trip as a means to get to know this section of the river since we are planning on spending a week there in May and floating it with our own boats.

Bill's Black Onyx Two Weight

Bill's Black Onyx

Last week my friend Bill Moffat and I built this great little two weight using a forecast RX7 blue blank and combined it with a great cork and zebra wood reel seat and of course a fighting butt to keep the reel off the ground.  I really liked the thread combination of black and silver which really made the ties look like pieces of black onyx and silver jewelry. We touched the rod off with some black and white grizzly hackle feather inlay.   Bill did a great job with this rod, much better than my first rod.  Bill also had the fortune of buying the materials from my supplier Utmost Enterprises, specifically Carol who has been a great help to me and many of the rod builders I am associated with.  I am finding for those who want to get into rod building this is one of the ways to start.  Something small, economical, and a great panfish/trout, small creek/river, short casting rod. It is a Fast to Medium action rod and as a four piece a great one for packing in to the high lakes.  Now Bill has to come back and finish building his wife Nancy's custom two Weight.