Three other friends and I fished Coldwater Lake, with myself being the only
person of the group visiting it for the first time. What a treat! To view
the surrounding hillsides and the effects of the Mt. St. Helens eruption on
them and the overall area is absolutely awe-inspiring. The mountain is
still 'hot', and to that extent it is emitting vapors and melting snow on
it, causing a slightly hazy surreal effect around it. It's worth the trip
just to see the amazing views.
A word of caution: fishing the lake requires a parking pass/permit, which
can be obtained from the onsite visitor's observatory. However, the
facility doesn't open until 10 am. We arrived prior to 10 am, set up all of
our equipment and floatation craft (convenient for me, because it seems like
almost always the last one in the water), and then a couple of the guys
drove up to the observatory and obtained the required passes.
Blustery initially, sunny with high thin clouds, the weather eventually
cleared in mid-afternoon, becoming downright toasty. Earlier in the day,
we fished subsurface, using Type 3 sinking lines and Cortland camo lines,
with some success. Casting and stripping the flies in seemed to be the
ticket. The fish were very healthy and in great condition. We cutthroat
and rainbow trout, from 16-18".
In the afternoon, a few fish started to rise. The fish rose to a wide
variety of flies, including parachute adams and caddis, until we eventually
noticed there was a fairly strong 'hatch', if you will, of black flying
ants. A few craneflies and caddis were popping off, as well. The few fish
that rose to the various bugs would do so with very aggressive, splashy
takes, with a couple of snap-offs occurring.
The catching outcome for the day: between the 4 of us, approximately twenty
fish were actually brought to hand, with my 2 fish (an 18" rainbow and an
18" cutthroat) the low count for the day. The smallest fish were two 13"
fish; nearly all of the others were in the 17 to 18" range, all hard-bodied
and plump, and very strong fighters. A couple of the fish had stomachs like
bass! We caught coastal cutthroat, Twin Lakes cutthroat, and rainbow.
Flies of the day: parachute adams, caddis, olive woolly buggers.
