November 8, 2011 Report

Fished yesterday morning for three hours. Landed nice 19" rainbow, 18" brown, smaller 14" rainbow. Some additional fish on including a nice one that straightened out my #14 prince nymph to a 90 degree hook. (Can you say mis-played?)

Used black stone nymph, red wooly bugger, black egg sucking, prince nymph. No fly was the overwhelming favorite. Calm day. Started cold, but sun warmed things up. A few of the smaller ponds along I-90 and the Canyon Highway are mostly iced over, so winter is not far away.

Scouts at the Fighting Rainbow Club

The boys scouts of Troop 37 from East Wenatchee camped at the Fighting Rainbow Club and began the process of removal of aquatic weeds at the FRC Friday-Saturday, June 3-4. Using the rollers/rake from shore we were able to clear much of the milfoil from the dock around to the southwest corner entrance to the club. Also dragged the cutters behind a boat with oarpower (insufficient) and determined that the cutter works well, but a more powerful method of propulsion would make the task more efficient and effective (understatement). Good to get some experience with those tools so that plans can be made by the club to continue the work begun by the scouts.

Friday night found fishing good with Brian Merrill (Rob's son) catching a nice tiger trout and Rob missing lots of opportunities to catch other fish. Dr. Rob seemed to have more fun with the fish taking out lots of line, wrapping around weeds, and coming off. Good reason to reduce the weed population some.

Saturday morning water temp was 58 degrees and Rob had much better success from 5-8 a.m. bringing in a dozen nice rainbows. Largest was a 23" triploid that was 6" in depth--fish was in great shape and took a black woolly bugger on a floating line with about 9' of leader and out about 40-50 feet at a very slow troll. The other fly that worked well was a pheasant tail, size 14. Lots of surface activity, but much of it in weeds, so difficult to troll through without picking up weeds.

Once sun got up high and bright, fishing came to almost a complete halt--which made starting the service project much easier. Scouts spent two hours before lunch and an hour after "weeding" and it was hard work.

We thank the FRC for the chance to let us camp and also be of service. Thanks!

Rob Merrill, scoutmaster Troop 37 (and FRC member) from East Wenatchee.

Winter Wonderland - FRC Style

The following photos were forwarded to me by Jeff Brunson and were taken on New Years Day 2011. As the photos show the "freeze" this year created an 8" layer of ice to form on the pond.

I have never iced fished in my life.

The pictures clearly show that the FRC Pond could support the weight of Ice Fishing.

Perhaps we need a Tool Time "Tim Taylor" type to construct a full sized luxury ice fishing house, sans the typical Tim Taylor type result afterward.

If anyone else has intersting pictures that they want posted, but don't have the ability / time to do so - please just forward them to me and I will try to get them up on the Blog as time allows.

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

Fishing Report 1 - 3/2/11

The First Report of 2011 for the FRC Pond was called in last night. (And it wasn't Tom!)

Fished the afternoon w/ the light ice breaking up and then disappearing by late afternoon.

Hooked 4 Landed 3 all nice fat healthy bows. Closer to the boat launch.

Using 3 fly dropper rig with progressively larger chonomids as they worked deeper. Landed one on each of the 3 levels.

The FRC is Off & Running for 2011

As Always,
Tight Lines,
Randy

POND OPENS 2011

FRC Kick Off for 2011

The pond iced off two weeks ago, but then we got hit by two weekend storms. Reports from Ellensburg indicate that light icing has re-developed but that the fish are trying to feed once the late morning afternoon sun brings the temps up.

I look forward to the first on water fishing report of the year (TOM).

Have requested permits to stock Tigers, Triploid Browns and Tiploid Bows; so hang on to your rods & be afraid - very afraid.

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