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 :-)