Spring is coming!

Fished today from 10-1 with my dad and we found a few nice rainbows.  Most were on a shimmery green bugger, one on a black bugger.  Fish in good condition.  Weeds present, but reduced due to winter.  Surface water temp was 48 degrees.  Sunny and mostly calm. You know it will be a good day when none of the windmills surrounding Ellensburg are turning!

First rainbow of the season!

Three Fish Doctors

Last Thursday I fished FRC in morning with bright sun and caught a few fish.  The next day met my daughter and oldest grandchild there for a bright afternoon of fishing.  (See previous post.)

Today DrRobFish, DrDadFish, and DrDon visited the FRC in the morning.  Though clouds were dark and rain was threatening we decided to brave the elements.  It was a short wait for action.  Before we hit the corner for the first time Don & Dad hooked fish almost simultaneously--a double!!  Great way to start.  Both got them in.  (Floating lines--black bugger and green wooly worm with red tail).

Not long after and I had my chance and boated a 16" rainbow.  (Intermediate line with green damselfly nymph)  Another one a short time later.  (trailing prince nymph).

Down the back shore and Don found another (pictured).

Smiling Dr. Don with a smiling rainbow

Then we kept trolling and he caught a nice 18" rainbow that we measured in the net.  Action was pretty consistent all morning.  We fished from 9:00-noon.  Wind was blowing a bit so it was a little adventure there.

Then came the rain.  If it was a shower it was more like the kind of shower you take when you have to get up for an early flight and you are standing under the showerhead for  10 . . . 15 . . . 20 minutes? Don & Dad had their thinking caps on this morning and actually brought coats, me--not so thinking this morning and more anxious to get fishing so only had flannel shirt with sweatshirt over it. When you're catching fish, who's counting time anyway?  (Finally dried out and warmed up about the time we hit Wenatchee.)

As we were trolling up the far end there was lots of action.  At one point I had hooked a small bluegill on my prince dropper and was hauling it in when a Tiger Trout came up and swatted it.  I quickly let it back down and he swatted again and missed.  And again.  And again.  Finally he got it and made one quick run and was off.  I think he got the bluegill, but the hook tore from the bluegill's soft mouth so the tiger had a tasty treat.  I guess that lets us know that at least one tiger survives to feast yet another year on the bluegill.  (I was the only one who caught bluegill--I know Tom & Rick, each bluegill I catch counts as a deduction on trout so I was probably negative today in fish count, but it was worth it to have the brief tiger encounter!)

Liking the FRC this year!

First Grandchild @ FRC

Ready to go

Today was Leroy's inauguration into the art of flyfishing.  As Wilford Woodruff said, "“the artificial fly is far the best thing now known to fish trout with.”  Michelle met me at the FRC and within about the first 2 minutes we landed our first rainbow.  Due to technical difficulties we didn't get a photo, but Leroy got interested.

Michelle with a feisty rainbow

We were able to get a photo of the next one, but couldn't get Leroy to look at the camera with that big fish there.

Bluegill are scary!

Imagine our surprise when he reacted strongly to the bluegill I brought in later.  Not sure if he was upset that we'd caught the wrong species or it somehow looked ferocious to an almost two-year old.

Throwing rocks is fun!

Best success was on a prince nymph fished on an intermediate line.  We fished from 3:30 to 5:00 on a bright sunny day.  We were pleasantly surprised to have action fairly consistently during that time.

Fished the pond yesterday on a cool moderately windy day. Excellent fishing from 9am to about noon and then very slow. Netted 5 large holdover fish, 1 Tiger, 1 huge brown and 3 rainbows. Sorry no pictures afraid of losing new iPhone off my float tube. Olive crystal bead head wooly buggers with intermediate sinking line and floating line with damsel fly nymphs worked best. Some success with various dry flies attracting smaller fish. No surface activity probably due to the wind.

Good news I did not see the river otter or the osprey. I did see the hawk.

Sore mouths?

Yesterday (Tuesday) the day after Memorial Day weekend my dad & I spent the morning at the FRC.  I think there may have been some sore mouths from the weekend because although weather was perfect, overcast and a light breeze, we only had action from the small guys.  We did catch one that was 15" but the rest were the recent plants.

Almost all were on a size 20 spent midge.  A couple on black bugger and olive bugger.

There is a nesting hawk in the pine tree midway along the north shore.  Maybe hawks will make it less hospitable to osprey?  Although there were two osprey present much of the morning.  Even saw one tuck and dive into the water in an attempt to get a fish--hopefully a bluegill--that was unsuccessful.  Easy to distinguish hawk from osprey--osprey has mostly white feathers in front and on its face with dark circles around the eyes.

Sibling Adventure

I came to the FRC 5/23 with one of my brothers and one of my sisters.  We fished from 5-9pm.  Winds were light. Mostly cloudy.  Somewhat chilly--the mountain passes had traction tire advisories this morning.

Kristi with  a small one

Sister Kristi discovered the little family secret--her brothers lose a lot of fish and miss strikes for even more.  Lots of little guys striking.  All of us caught fish (eventually).  Lots of surface activity--feeding on about size 28 midges.

My biggest rainbow ever at the FRC

We fished floating, intermediate, and sink-tip lines and had action on all of them.  Black bugger, green bugger were what my siblings were most effective with.  I used prince nymph, chironomid, and size 20 spent midge.  I landed this 26" rainbow on the spent midge.

Tiger trout measures 18"--photographer doesn't know how to use "zoom" but I'm happy to have the photo.

We also found a tiger.  Saw one osprey.  Saw otter briefly across the pond on the surface once.  Seeing lots of little fish eating on the surface let me know he hasn't decimated the population (yet).

If you haven't made it over yet, come on over.

Saturday, Monday

Fished Saturday 5/18 with friends and Monday 5/20 with my dad.  I was successful with chronomid Sadurday, prince nymph Monday.  Others had success with green wooly bugger and black wooly bugger.  Intermediate line and sink tip were what was used.  Wind howling Saturday, but did okay anyway.  A couple to 19" and 10 small ones.  Fished noon-2:00.  Monday fished 10-1:00 and had three 14-15" and a dozen small ones.  Very bright calm day, saw the shadow of the boat and lines spook numerous fish.  Water clarity is crystal clear and water temp was 62 degrees.
Rob

Rainbows, Tigers, & Browns

Fished 10:30-1:00 today with my dad.  I used intermediate line; he used sink tip.  Overcast conditions.  Wind picked up after 12:00.  Caught fish consistently.  Dad said it was his best trip ever to the FRC.  Fish were from several age classes--most were the brand new plants which kept action going, half a dozen of the intermediate plants (see rainbow photo) ranging 14-17".

I caught two tigers--one 17" between boat launch and feeding raft, the other at the opposite corner that went 18".  They should be getting large enough to start slurping bluegill and size up considerably more.

Dad got the fish of the day in the corner diagonal to the boat launch--a 21" brown.  Tried to get a photo, but keeping the net over the water, the lively fellow went leaping as soon as Dad touched him and out of the net and into the drink and away he went.  My rubber mesh net has measurement scaling on the bottom so I gauged size when I was removing the hook.

Dad caught most of his on a green woolly bugger with a cone head; most of mine were on a small chronomid, but I caught 4 on the black woolly bugger with an orange egg head.  Saw a pair of osprey but no predatory mammals. A great day at the FRC!

No mammals other than us

The only mammals visible today at the FRC were me and my buddy Tim.  We found five nice rainbows and one brown.  Tim had the day's best at 23".  No sign of our furry friends--thanks Mr. Chase-them-away-guy that Randy hired!  All fish were on a shiny green bugger type fly on a floating line.  They hit hard and fought hard.  I had one VERY big rainbow grab the fly make a quick run away and then turn back and run right at the boat, spit the fly, and be gone.  I know that brother Tom will now be shouting "farmer" as he reads this, but the FRC is, after all , located on a farm so that may be an apt description.  We were there 2.5 hours, five nice fish, lots of hits, wind from three different directions.

May 11, 2012 Report

Rob -

 

Fished FRC today (Fri) from 11:00 - 2:00. It was slow - only 3 fish. I did get an 18" brown on that tiny chironimid you gave me. Also a 26" rainbow (measured) probably weighed at least 5-6 lb - VERY fat on the cdc emerger I showed you. Saw no otter - just an osprey and very few risers.

 

Roger

Roger Berens report

On Apr 25, 2012, at 8:53 PM, rjberens@aol.com wrote:

Hi Rob -

Glad to have met you and your Dad today. Wind came up about 30 - 45 minutes after you left - how did you know that was going to happen? I ended up with 3 fish for the day (quit about 12:30) - 2 on the cdc emerger I showed you. Switched to an ugly duckling with the chironomid dropper you gave me (thanx - I'll definitely try it again) and got 1 on the "duck" but wind was already picking up.

I e-mailed Randy about the otter - we'll see what happens.

Maybe I'll see you next week - at least sometime in the near future.

Tap 'er light -

Roger Berens (RJB)

You Otter Come Fishing

I was fishing at the club this morning with my dad again--3 hours, two rainbows, one brown, broke off two on choronomids with light tippet (too light) and caught the ones we landed on green, olive, and black buggers.  Almost no fish rising to the surface and not much action.

The biggest surprise was seeing an otter in the pond.  I've seen a muskrat before, but this was an otter. Not good news for the fishies.  Otters are real effective at catching fish, so we've got competition.  Perhaps that is part of why fishing was so quiet this morning--the fish are hiding in the weeds quaking with fear!  With the nesting osprey above and the otter beneath and us chasing them with flies, it's got to be a tough time to be a trout at the FRC.

Rainbows, and Tigers, and Browns--Oh My!

My Dad & I went to the Fighting Rainbow Club this morning and had an overcast, but calm, day. We caught rainbows and a brown and Dad caught a nice Tiger Trout. Largest 19", though Dad had one smack his wooly bugger, jump high in the air, and snap off his tapered leader halfway up. I told him that must be the special leader Tom tied on for steelheading. =-0

All fish on varied flies--no consistency or pattern or rhyme or reason. Nine rod-hours and seven nice fish. My first fishing outing of the year so hopefully it is just a warm up.

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
>----)*>

Fall Seaon for FRC - Pond OPEN

Dear FRC Members,

The Pond temp is now 63 degrees as of last night, so the FRC Pond is officially open for the Fall season. I expect some great reports in the next several weeks as the fish have seen no pressure for 2 months.

Tight Lines,
Randy :-)

Nice brown, then quiet.

Fished two hours today with daughter and fiancé. She found a 20" brown within the first 3 minutes of launching and then nothing for next two hours. The hatch was just ending as we arrived at 10 A.M. and it was too quiet.

Quite a few bluegill and lots visible in the shallows. They've had a very successful spawn. Hopefully some of the tigers have survived and will develop a taste for bluegill flesh.

Winds were non-existent, sun bright, weather warm. Water temp was 65 degrees.