October - Fall Report

Updated and added on 1.3.10

OK, so here are a picture & video from my Son's clinic on how to fish for trout with his $19.95 Spiderman rod & reel. Another big thanks to Dr. Lee who netted Blake's fish while I was taking these pictures.

Weather was horrible in Seattle, but met at the New Creekside Angler (it has moved about two blocks from where it used to be) early in the morning to head across the pass. Unfortunately Blake, who normally travels well didn't so we had to stop in Easton when he got sick.

It was a blessing in disguise. The before mentioned bad weather passed while we fed Blake pancakes & milk. When we finally hit the pond it was a measure of technology vs. simplicity.

Blake had a 3' Shakespeare Spider man rod w/ integrated Zebco type closed faced rod w/ a casting float and choronomid suspended under it. Dom & I had both intermediate and floating rigs. The final totals were Blake 11 to his fly w/ 7 landed (and one really big smile), Dom landed two (even after he changed to the same fly) and I was so busy helping Blake I was happy to get several hits. It was interesting to note how quickly a 3 1/2 year old can shake car sickness when he catches a lot of trout!

Also, a note was left by our former Biologist Dick Thompson; he has moved to Yakima and took his green boat when he left (so no, it has not been stolen).

Tight Lines,
Randy :-)

FRC POND OPENS 9.11.09

The pond is now at or below 65 degrees at the surface. So while the kids are back at school, the adults should be out at he pond...

Catch a lot, play them fast, revive them completely before releasing & try to minimize handling of the fish if at all possible (at least until it gets a little cooler). Good Luck to all, and remember to post those fishing reports!

Tight Lines,
Randy :-)
>----)*>

FRC Pond to Close After Sunday July 5th

Fellow FRC'ers,

Here is a "blog" modified update on the pond as of this weekend. Ellensburg and the pond have been effected by this unusual heat wave just like Seattle, so this should come as no surprise...

1) Water temp at the launch was 66 degrees (surface temp); in fact several of you have reported this to me over the past week and a half that we had reached the stated 65 degree limit to trigger the closing of the pond.

2) Water temp toward the middle of the pond, at a depth of approx 10 ft was 59 degrees, and indeed I had most of my action with a sinking line.

3) While weeds are less than last year, they are starting to grow into the shallows as the water temp has increased

4) Somebody launched the feeding rafts on their own, we are closely monitoring the fish this year to see if we can reduce/eliminate the supplemental feeding and hence reduce the amount of released nitrogen in the water. This should help keep the weeds down, by deigning them this supplemental form of "fertilization". So far we have not seen an adverse effect on the trout, but please keep me informed if you see any un-healthy fish.

5) One of the feeding rafts was either just launched without concern about what would happen or, more likely, broke free of its anchor(s) and is now high and dry on the far side of the pond, directly opposite the launch. Gary has offered to re-locate it either to it's traditional position or somewhere else.

6) The cabin door was tied shut with a rope, so I untied to gain access and retied it upon leaving. Will make an assumption that wind has been forcing the door open? Also, please pack out all garbage, especially food debris as this will directly lead to a re-infestation of the cabin. There is still a lot of D-con present so don't let little ones roam in the cabin w/o supervision. Found no rodent bodies, but packed out some garbage that was left behind.

7) The FISHING LOG is now kept in the cabin, please remember to fill it out

8) I have respectfully requested of the landowners an influx of water to help reduce the temperature and oxygenate the water. I do not profess to understand how the water allotment works for farmers, so this is a request only as his lively hood depends more on his crops. This is so that we can maintain healthy fish and will keep the pond open for trout fishing through the JULY 4th Weekend (Last Day July 5th) - unless the weather takes a severe turn either way.

9) Fishing was great, spent about an hour and a half with my son. I would hook them up and then let him play them - lost a lot of fish very quickly this way. One of few we landed was a beautiful hen bow which tipped my boga grips at 5 lbs, immediately cut away the leader as this fish had swallowed the olive green w/ gold cone head that was the "hot" fly - and LOL I didn't have another with me that day. Fish swam away quickly as we did not handle it's body, only lifted it out by lips to weight. Did OK on other patterns, but when the action waned so did my son's attention to fishing.

10) Summary...
A) Anticipated Pond Closure with LAST DAY: Sunday July 5th
B) Minimize handling of fish, and take extra time to revive them
C) Rip some Lips and then Fill out Fishing Reports
D) Try using this BLOG, you'll like it; and obviously if you are reading this you have!

Tight Lines,
Randy :-)

Thanks for writing in logbook

A big thank-you to members who filled out the logbook on the table in the cabin/clubhouse.  I was there last evening (June 16) with my son and a friend from 4-9PM.  I knew from the logbook that one of our members had fished the same day from 10AM-2PM and hooked 26, landing 22 of them.  There was a good reason fishing was a bit slow for us--sore mouths--but it was really nice to know why and not just wonder if I was using the wrong fly or had just rubbed "stink" on myself so nothing wanted to take my fly!

Thanks for filling out the log--it really helped me.  

I filled out the logbook as well--a dozen fish to the fly on a dozen different flies--four on--two landed, both rainbows.  I know Tom--my percentage last night stinks. :-( 

Rob

Fishing report for June 11th PM and 12th AM

Fished the pond Thursday June the 11th from 5:30 to 9:00pm, The action was very very slow and nothing seem to work until about 8:30. Using a black woolly bugger had about 6 fish to the fly and 2 to the net in 30 minutes using sinking line from a float tube.

On Friday fished the morning from 8am to noon. Very good fishing from the start (I should have started an hour earlier). Damsel fly nymphs fished from a sinking line near the bottom with a slow retrieve seemed to work the best. Also good action from Dragon fly nymphs. About 25 fish to the fly and 15+ to the net. All rainbows and browns (2) were in good condition Still no tigers.

Surface water temperature was 65 degrees with light winds.

Fishing Report - Saturday 5/30

Saturday was at the Pond while Dr. Merrill and the Boy Scout Troop totally disinfected the cabin/clubhouse. In addition, they sprayed the area for Wasps and set out a trap with the 10 week supply of attractant, so I hope that this will keep down the number of nests.

Also brought out a new Fishing Report Log Book that I gave to Dr. Merrill for placement in the CABIN after his troop got done cleaning.

Arrived late in the Morning on Saturday and the Sun was bright and directly overhead. Went to a Type I sink line and had my best success on a white leach with orange accents. 7 to fly only 2 to the float tube that I borrowed from another parent in Dr. Merrill's group. Let it sink DEEP before starting a fast 2 pull strip and pause. The takes were very gentle - no kill shots like earlier in the season. Note that the surface water temp was about 62 degrees, however when I sunk my thermometer it read closer to 56.

Any Tiger's caught yet??? Spent less than an hour on the pond as I was there for an unrelated event in Thorp that afternoon.

Tight Lines,
Randy :-)

Remove Dead Mice Please

As part of the cleaning disinfecting process we are trying to eliminate the mice that caused the problem in the first place.  There is rodenticide (rat poison) present inside the cabin.  If there are mouse bodies present (we hope there is high mortality) please remove and dispose of the bodies.

Also, I may have left the windows open in the cabin.  If somebody is there before I go again, please close the windows.

There is a hole in the ceiling of the cabin that looks like a stove pipe used to pass through it.  If somebody can take some mesh to nail up there, it may prevent birds and rodents from entering though that route.

Scout fishing report

All the boys and leaders (who spent more than 5 minutes fishing--there were a few--what's with that?) managed to catch one or more fish.  Best time was evening and early morning.  Black wooly buggers in evening, red leech and black wooly bugger in the morning were most successful.

Probably 100 fish on, about 40 to the net, lots more to the fly.  All rainbows except for one large brown that broke off in a landing attempt.  No mortality noted.  All fish in good shape.  A variety of sizes.  Fishing mostly floating line with weighted flies, but a couple had intermediate sink tip lines.  Slow troll most effective method.

Our friend the osprey is there every time I go, and he wouldn't be there if there weren't food available.  Probably one or two of our fish who get lazy near the surface become his dinner from time to time!

Thanks again to club members for giving the boy scouts this opportuntity.

A Big Thank-you from Troop 37

A big thank you to the members of the Fighting Rainbow Club for letting our Boy Scouts stay at their flyfishing club and provide some service to the club.

The boy scouts of Troop 37 and Troop 138 from East Wenatchee had a combined campout service project at the Fighting Rainbow Club near Ellensburg.  In addition to leveling campsite areas and removing rocks, they cleaned and disinfected the clubhouse and all items in the clubhouse.  Some highlights of the camping trip:

Three boys caught fish who had never caught a fish before

One boy caught the biggest fish of his life--a 22" rainbow trout (Dominyck)

One boy caught the biggest rainbow trout of his life--24" 'bow (Brian)

We cleaned and disinfected the cabin per guidelines from the CDC

Removed and disinfected all contents of the cabin

Placed the previously laundered clean linens on the beds

Cleaned and disinfected the porta-potty at the club

Leveled and removed rocks from camping area east of cabin

Cabin Clean Up to Commence

Fellow FRC'ers,

Update, Dr. Merrill and the Boy Scout Troop will be going in this weekend (5/29 to 5/30) not last weekend, Memorial day. I am sorry I did not update this earlier as I knew last week, but did not realize his email was to me only. Everything else is as posted. Dr. Rob Merrill and his Boy Scout Troop will be descending on the pond for their community service and fishing merit badges over the Memorial day weekend (Fri-Sat).

They are going to take measures to try and control the mice that appear to have taken up shop in our club house. To this end, please be aware that D-con will be placed both in and around the building. This will be an ongoing effort that will be coordinated with our pond keeper. If you bring pets or small children please watch them when they are around these areas.

I hope we start to see some more fishing reports posted on the blog....

Sincerely,
Randy :-)

Trout Lodge pond stocking

Had to be in eastern Washington yesterday so fished the pond for a couple of hours. On the way out Trout lodge was stocking the pond so snapped a few pictures. The driver estimated that 90 to 95 rainbow triploids were released into the pond. The fished looked to be between 1-2 pounds.

Al Eerkes

Boy Scout Service Project

I will come and camp overnight May 29-30 with the boy scouts of the troop of which I am the scoutmaster and we will plan to clean up the cabin as a service project.  That will be a way for them to express gratitude to the club members for permitting them to come and camp and learn flyfishing.

The cabin should look better after we finish and I'll plan to get some D-con or other rodenticide to leave behind to try to reduce or eliminate that problem.

Rob Merrill

Fishing report for Monday April 20th

Fished the pond for the first time this season on Monday. Arrived around 9:00 to very light winds and air temperature of 46 degrees. Pumped up the float tube and hit the water about 9:30 noticing a lot of surface activity and numerous cruising rainbows in the top three feet of the water column. Fished with a floating line with an emerger pattern and attached 4 or 5 fish to the fly.

After the temperature heated up and the sun moved more overhead the surface activity stopped and I assumed the fish moved deeper. Switched to a intermediate type II sinking line with various bead head chironomid patterns and anchored my float tube in the deepest part of the pond. For the next couple of hours the chironomid hatch and the fishing was outstanding. Several fish in the 20+ inch size were a challenge to get to the net and that was with a six weight rod and 3x tippet. All fish were bright and healthy.


Spend the last hour or so dragging around different leach patterns trying to attract a brown or tiger but the fishing went dead. I actually wished a breeze would come up as the temperature climbed into the 80's !

Al Eerkes

Nothing like Rainbows in the Morning

Great News
Went fishing on Saturday AM 4/18/09; got up early and checked the weather station it was 30 degrees in E-burg with 2.3 mph wind. Packed an extra layer of cloths and blasted down the highway with Pedro and Blake (3 yr old son). The road up to the pond has recently been re-graded, but the road around the pond remains the same. The dock was out (but both rafts are still beached - more on that later).

Were on the water by 9 AM. The action was "really slow", ha ha. At 9:05 we caught our first and largest bow of the day. 26" just under 5 lbs on an intermediate line and purple cone head comet-like fly.

Took the trolling tour of the pond, it was low with no water entering at all and the exit tube being above water as well. Noted that the amount of underwater weeds was lower than in the past, but there were isolated areas where long large stalks reach up to the surface.

Pedro then proceeded to put on a clinic using a floating line, and a dropper rig under a strike indicator. He popped the next 5 fish in a row on either a san juan worm (top) or modified choronomid (drop). These ranged from 24" down to 15" and all fought well and were very healthy. Blake was very "helpful" to Pedro as he assisted him in trying to land his fish (will post video shortly).

Saw a school of browns in the shallow end of the pond, but did not hook any up. Just before quiten' time Pedro hooked up a hot Bow on a big white fugly. Since we were in the shallows, this fish did a great bonefish imitation and ripped off his entire line while staying just sub-surface. We actually thought we might have tied into a carp - being a white fly and all.

Total time on water 2 hrs (4 rod hours); 7 for 9 and all bows. By the time we got off the water it was over 60 degress!

Bad News
Brought some cleaning supplies as this was my first trip over to the pond this season. Started to clean up the table & chairs as it appears that either birds have gotten into the cabin or the door was left open at some point and they went on the table, chairs, etc. This was easy to clean up.

However, the sleeping area was un-usable and actually a hazard to our health. There are either rats or mice (both?) that have taken up residence in the cabin and there were dropping everywhere. The sheets, surfaces and the entire area needs to be de-contaminated. I did not bring the appropiate cleaning supplies to handle this type of problem and had to keep my son out of the room as he wanted to lay down and have his diaper changed. We need to maintain this cabin as it is a condition of our lease - I am open for any and all suggestions. Anyone with past experience in these matters?

Also drove around the edge of the pond, noted two dead fish both larger trout floating up/near the edge of shore. Overall, it appears that we have had minimal winter kill.

Need Members Help
We will refrain from supplemental feeding to keep the nutrients our of the water that have been feeding the weeds & alge. This should also keep the fish more agressive towards the fly. If anyone starts to catch fish that don't appear to be healthy, I need to hear of it right away.

Also any ideas on how to adress the problems at the cabin would be appreciated. Do Boy Scouts get merit badges for projects like this?

Finally, I want to hear & see pictures of the first Tiger caught at the FRC!

Tight Lines,
Randy, Pedro & Blake

Randy:

Thanks so much for your update, and thanks so much for taking care of the pond for us! It sounds like all is well at the pond.

Great news about the tigers. What a bonus!

Do you think the club would be more interested in a "get together" at a restaurant, or at a members home? How would late summer work for something like that?

Thanks,

Cal

Tigers & Browns Oh My!

Many thanks to our supplier of Browns & Tiger Trout and Gary, our Pond Keeper. Today they were planted into the pond late in the afternoon. We were fortunate enough to luck into approximately 10 Tiger Trout this year. These are a cross between a Brown & Brook Trout. Look at the distinctive colors in this photo's taken from the web (looks more like a leopard to me, but very hard to miss). These are very aggressive trout and will strike flies with great ferocity. In addition, they will help to keep the sunfish population down by natural predation - very important as these will compete with the browns & rainbows for food. Because of their willingness to strike more frequently it is important to NOT USE BAIT in the pond anymore. These trout will fatally swallow bait more frequently and are extremely hard to obtain and are much more expensive when available. If you catch one and it has "swallowed" the fly (I know rare with flies) please cut the leader right away.

Please use this BLOG to post your catch records and experiences at the FRC Pond. In addition, on the top right corner of the BLOG is a link to a WSU website that if you select the BROADVIEW site will give you real time weather data for the pond.

I have heard that people are catching many fat & happy rainbows. To try to keep down on weeds & alge we may limit supplemental feeding in the pond until we notice an adverse effect on the trout being caught. We have set up for a plant of additional triploid rainbows in the near future, and once this is done I will inform everyone with a new post.

Tight Lines,
Randy :-)

FRC Update

Cal,

I posted a response to your questions, then noticed that unless you click to see them, they do not pop up. So here goes again.
1) Talking to a biologist currently
2) Have a care taker (note we were lucky to have one person do both in the past)
3) Needed to get transportation permits from WDF (in past Dick handled)
4) Stocking will occur after permits are received
5) A get together would be great
6) NEW FEATURE TO BLOG, real time weather from a WSU computer on the side of the Barn as you drive in. Click on the link in the right upper corner and select "BROADVIEW" from the drop down menu to access.

Sincerely,
Randy :-)

A Cold Day at the FRC

We were greeted today by 11 trumpeter swans as we arrived at the pond.  Weather was rain mixed with snow.  Not the best day to bring the wife for the first time.  (I did clean the bathroom first thing when I got there in case she needed to use it.  You can thank me later.)

Brian and Natalie wanted their own boat but soon got cold and went back to the van.  We fished for about an hour and hit two fish.  Mary had it on but the spool of the reel was pressed against her coat so no line went out--SNAP!  The fish made short work of my leader.  

One hour--two rods--two fish to the fly--one on--none to net.  Cold day, cold fishing. :-(

Tom: Thanks so much for setting up this bolg!! I'm with Randy - this is a great way to share fishing reports and stay in touch.

I have not been to the pond yet this year, although I do have a few questions - for anyone who might know the answer:

Do we have a new biologist now that Dick has retired?

Are we planning to stock the pond this year?

Would pond members be interested in having a summer (or late summer) "get together" to meet each other and share info about the pond? Perhaps dinner at a restaurant (or members home - with expenses shared) would be a fun way to get acquainted.

Thanks again Tom - the blog is a great idea!!

Cal

March 20th

Black bugger was the color of the day. We also took some on a pheasant tail dropper, brown leach and had a few on a purple egg sucking leech.

13 fish to the net. One fish lost on the fight. Several other soft takes. The fish were VERY GENTLE on the take while trolling.

Did get one smallish brownie. Dad's fish was the largest of the day. It was camera shy and flipped out of his hands, so the only photo is of it lying in the net.

Enjoy the pics.

Tom

Thanks Tom

To all members of the FRC, I want to thank TOM for putting this Blog together. I am not as tech savvy as I would like to think and this is a wonderful way to get out the fishing report on a real time basis to everyone.

ROB has mentioned that the land owners have a weather station on the barn. I will see if we can get the URL to this so that we can get real time weather updates prior to leaving the comforts of home.

This is our first time ever doing something like this. I hope you all like it and will give continual feedback so that we can improve the FRC experience for everyone.

Sincerely,
Randy Ogata :-)

St. Patrick's Day 3/17/09

4:40 P.M. -7:20 P.M.

11 fish to the fly

5 fish hooked

4 fish to the net (14, 16, 18, 24 inches)

Be aware the rubber net has some holes in it the fish can swim through!  The big one slipped through headfirst with the fly in his mouth.  Really hard to fight and net a fish when the line is going through a net you are holding in your hand while holding a camera to try to take a picture since you are alone on the lake.  Alas, no photo of that one!

This is skinny mini, but 24" was a solid fish.  

First 40 minutes had nothing and then I changed to the yellow bunny leech and got a strike immediately.  Trailed with brown bead head leech with green sparkly stuff in the body (St. Patrick's Day, of course Laddie!) that picked up the other three.  Photos of flies are here.  

Nice friend to the net.  Yellow bunny leech visible in the net above the fish.

Brian was excited to get his first brown trout and it was a beauty.

This is Daniela, our exchange student from Brazil whom we introduced to rainbow trout and flyfishing.  She'd never been fishing before and was happy to be able to go fishing "in the spring".  What a great place to get a start!

Welcome to the FRC Blog Page

We'll try out our blog page. All FRC members can be authors (that means they can post fishing reports, etc.) and readers.

We'll give it a try and see how it works!