I finally got a chance to go out fishing for a bit. According to the Spokesman Review, Amber was fishing the best in the area and since it is only 8 miles from my house, Amber was where I was headed.

I arrived at the lake at about 10:00 and paddled across to the bay opposite the boat launch. This area is usually a good early season area for me but today it was dead. I tried several patterns without a bump. In talking with other fishermen, we determined the only guy on the lake catching anything was the guy standing on the boat launch. A lot of people don't realize that the boat launch is one of the better areas on the lake and when the wind is blowing that direction like it was today, the fish sometimes concentrate in that area. Apparently this was the case. I paddled over to that side of the lake and finally hooked one 15 inch fish with a olive scud. In talking with the guy on the boat launch, he was fishing an olive scud on a dry line and with an indicator. As we chatted for about 15 minutes, he landed 2 fish including a 14 inch cutthroat. All the fish were dark and in their spawning colors.

Based on the success of the angler yesterday, I headed out to Amber again today to take my place at the boat ramp. As luck would have it, the wind was blowing a bit stronger today so the midge hatch was way down. I saw a few fish rise but could not get a strike using the identical setup to the one used yesterday by the other angler. Guess that is why they call it fishing instead of catching!

On a related note, the DFW is quite active at the lake sampling fish and researching what they can do about the parasite problem developed by the fish a couple of years ago. In talking with a biologist last fall he indicated that the food base in the lake crashed due to over stocking so the fish started feeding heavily on snails which are the carriers of the parasite. The fish I caught had a parasite in its side and the other angler indicated a couple of the fish he caught also were infected but most were quite healthy. The DFW has stocked some cutts back in the lake which is good news to us who remember the peak days 5 years ago where many a summer evening were spent catching the heck out of the cutts at sunset.

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