Hey gents, just got back today from my trip back home. I ended up fishing
Aeneas, Hess and Wannacut Lakes. Here is a summary:
Aeneas- Great fish and incredibly hard fighters. With the barbless hook
requirement, you loose at least half the ones you hook (in a boat anyway. I
think I would have had better luck in the tube. The fish like to run right
at you and if there is any breeze pushing you towards the fish, the hooks
comes right out.) The average fish is about 16 inches and a healthy 1.5
pounds. Don't be fooled by the size, these guys will run you into your
backing no problem. We encountered several in the 18-20 inch range and my
niece landed a 20 and 22 incher as her first fish she ever caught. Talk
about becoming spoiled right away. Her Dad later caught a standard 10 inch
planter at another lake and she says "Dad, that fish is so small." Thought I
was going to die laughing.
The crowd at Aeneas was moderate. The busiest I have seen it in recent years
but everyone was a good sport. On a side note, the rules have been changed
from 5 fish to only 1 this year. I saw a gentleman with two fish on a
stringer today, one being a nice 4 pounder. When I inquired about his
awareness of the rules, he stated the Game Warden told him the one fish limit
wasn't going into effect until Monday. I thought he was just blowing smoke
but didn't pursue it. On the way home, I noticed several people tossing bait
into North Silver. I stopped to talk to them for a bit and the lady told me
the same story. She knows the game warden in the Spokane Region and he told
her that the fly fishing only rule wasn't going into effect until Monday.
Anyone else experience this? Is the the DFW way of dealing with the opening
weekend crowds? Instead of enforcing the rules they are letting Joe weekend
warrior get his limit the one weekend he goes out to fish and then they will
do enforcement when they aren't so busy? I thought it was interesting and
somewhat aggravating that the fly clubs worked so hard to get these rule
changes and the DFW doesn't enforce them on the weekend of the most potential
violations. Okay, I am getting off my soap box now.
We were going to fish Blue Lake but the lake is the lowest I have ever seen
it. There were also about 200 fisherman there. Obviously all the state mags
and newspapers talking about the quality of this lake is having an effect.
Two years ago, you saw maybe 25 boats on opening morning. As a native of
the County, I am sad to see the overuse of Chopaka as people travel from all
over for a crack at a trophy trout and I no longer fish it. I am afraid Blue
is headed to a worse fate because it is so easy to get to. (Okay, I am on my
soap box again. I had a really fun trip......really!!!!!)
Wannacut is a mountain lake that I had never fished before. It was very
scenic and some nice fish reside in it. We had no trouble getting into a
bunch of fish in the hour we fished it. Nothing like the other lakes size
wise, but it would be a fun place to camp with the kids etc.
Hess- Hess Lake is right before the big canyon on the way to Conconully. It
used to hold large trout and my biggest fish as a kid came out of it. Well
it is back to the days of old again. Lots of 1.5-6 pound fish in there, or
at least that is what I hear. I got blown off the lake the night I tried to
fish it and they were keying on the adult midges. Couldn't even get a crack
at them with a dry line due to the wind and the fish weren't interested in a
bugger.
Hope you guys had a good opener too.
Mike
Spangle, WA
