Got on the water at 1:15 pm and started towards the north end of the lake where it is much deeper. I didn't see any fish on the fish finder until I reached the depth of 50+ feet on the chart. At that point a thermocline appeared between 20' and 30'. I began to read numerous fish just at the top of the thermocline. The water temperature was 63º at the surface and the water was clear of any algae. The outside temperature was 72º, clear skies and a light variable breeze. There was a fair amount of haze in the sky from the wildfires in Central Washington. Insect activity over the lake was minimal with only a few Dragon & Damsel Flies darting around.

I started off trolling my Yellow Jacket pattern (green and yellow) and caught a couple of 10-12" Cutthroats. Since Cutthroats have a craving for international orange I put on a #12 orange leech and landed 2 fish. I finally settled into a using a #12 orange bodied Royal Bucktail that was the most successful. Overall I landed about 10 fish, losing the same amount during the retrieve. The largest one of the day was actually caught in the side of the body. It got hooked as it turned to strike at the fly. Being only 15", it felt like a 5 lb. trout on the retrieve. Since he had minimal damage to his side, I released it. Once back in the water, he quickly swam off at a rapid pace for deeper water.

At 5:00 pm I headed back to the launch. As I was leaving around 6pm, I could see fish starting to rise to the surface however most of them were very small fry. Overall, it was a very nice afternoon and I had the entire lake to myself.

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