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Wow, two trips in 3 weeks! Somehow I had an extra couple hours today so naturally I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and hooked up the boat. The timing was perfect; in my spare time I had been developing some new flies and was itching to get them out for some on the water testing. I figured that they would be effective but was curious if I had the balance right. I only had a couple hours so living in Burlington I headed for Campbell Lake out by Anacortes.

Arriving at the lake I found that I was the only rig in the parking lot so it was a quick launch. After launching I did a quick spin around the lake then settled into my trolling zen. Business first, I tested the new flies for balance while trolling, for the most part all went as expected so I got to fish’n. Having my two rod endorsement, on one side of the boat I ran a bullhead fly that I had been messing with. Apparently the rainbow liked it because before I got the other rod in the water it was fish-on. It was man against beast and after a short fight I released a 7” rainbow… Actually it was awesome; the fish hit a home tied fly on its maiden dunking. From that point I settled into a slow pick on fish to about 18”. As I cycled through the various patterns and new designs that I had brought along it became apparent that the new flies were effective. All of them, maybe 8-10 different patterns/colors saw at least some action. I can’t wait to try the concept out on a series of kokanee colors.

I was trolling between 1.0 and 1.8 mph. There was not a specific hot spot but I randomly caught fish in 8’ to 13’ of water along the south and eastern shoreline. I didn’t write it down but as I recall the water was around 46 degrees. The big fish of the day hit a orange and chartreuse pattern. It was a fun outing and I even got to watch a few hang gliders make their way from the top of Mount Erie to the boat launch. I had a number of short bites and brought 4 fish to the boat. All fish were released feisty and unharmed.

Toni

2/7/2016 9:54:00 AM

Great report!

cobrar543

2/7/2016 11:31:00 AM

you hit the right lake. I will be going next weekend. Were you pulling flys alone or a flasher/dodger in front?

rseas

2/7/2016 2:37:00 PM

Cobrar, I was pulling the flies solo about 60' back on 6# fluorocarbon. That said in the past have had really good luck with pop gear in Campbell.

Salmonking

2/7/2016 10:22:00 PM

Were you using a sinking tip?

rseas

2/8/2016 5:37:00 AM

Although I was using conventional gear a sinking tip would have worked great. The flies that I am developing will be to target trout and kokanee with or without a dodger or some other form of attractor. The flies that I was testing were both weighted and unweighted.

The gear I was running Saturday: Conventional reel with 20# braid to 60' of 6# fluorocarbon. Basically I would run the fly out to the top shot knott. I will probably bring a fly rod on the next trip.

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