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.