Spent a wonderful 3 days at Chopaka last week fishing this beautiful
lake with my wife and several friends in what has become an annual fly
fishing tradition.
We arrived late Wednesday afternoon, under partly sunny skies and
moderate winds, following several days of cold and rain. It was fairly
staggering to see over 30 boats on the water, in spite of generally poor
and unpromising reports over the preceeding couple of weeks!
Talking to our neighbors, it appeared that there had been good
Calibaetis hatches Monday and Tuesday, but that the sunny weather
Wednesday had generated only sporadic activity. Some anglers had
been picking up the occassional fish on damsel nymphs, with the most
consistent action, as usual, on chironomid pupae.
Thursday was a fairly decent day in spite of a late start, picking up 6 or
so nice fish on various patterns, including a couple taken on
chironomids near the south end of the lake. Skilled chironomid fishers
in this area were averaging better than 10 fish per hour, at least during
the latter part of the afternoon. The Calibaetis hatch was fairly weak,
beginning about 2:00 and dribbling on to nearly 3:00 or 4:00 PM, with
the strongest flushes coming off when the sun was occluded by the
drifting clouds.
Friday started out warmer and sunnier. Drifting south in the light
morning breeze along the west bank I managed to hook 6 or 7 nice fish
in less than 200' of shoreline casting an Olive Willy into the reeds along
the bank. This action ended fairly abruptly around noon. The wind
stiffened as I moved to the far shore and began casting various patterns
tight to the bank, hoping to raise some of the large fish that consistently
cruise that area. Frustrating fishing, with little success and even littler
insight into what was producing the slow, but consistent rise along that
shore. Best guess was that most of the fish were keyed in on the adult
damsels mating and hovering along the sheltered areas along the bank,
but the standard adult damsel patterns failed to produce all but the most
cursory inspections.
Squally clouds built in the north, moving down into the valley with a
vengeance.around 2:00 We managed to row across the south end just
as the winds lashed the lake into a white streaked froth and the
Nighthawks began working the emerging mayflies. Attempts to fish
under these conditions were futile, as our small pontoon boats and rafts
were pushed around out of control in the winds. We were finally forced
to beach in the reeds on the west shore still near the south end of the
lake and watch futily as trout rose all around us to the most amazingly
intense mayfly hatch I'd ever witnessed. Within 30 minutes, the reedy
edge of the shore was matted with half-emerged or drowned Calibaetis
duns but the fish continued to feed just beyond where we could wade.
Other anglers fortunate enough to find one of the open areas in the
reeds, or partially sheltered in the cove across the lake, had fish on
nearly constantly - with literally a fish a cast at the peak - using mayfly
emerger or dun patterns. We finally abandoned our boats and walked
back to camp during one of the lulls in the pelting rain. Managed to at
least partially salvage the day, picking up a few fish working the mixed
chironomid hatch later in the evening after the skies had cleared and the
winds settled down when we went back to pick up the boats.
Saturday started out calm and sunny and continued to warm throughout
the day. A rare, nearly windless Chopaka day, much better for sunning
than mayfly emergences. Good conditions for sight fishing though, so I
worked the far bank for an hour or two, picking up a couple of nice fish
on small gold-ribbed hares ears. A very sparse and brief mayfly hatch
about 2:00 produced a couple more nice fish along the east shore and
then into the PM doldrums as the temperature built into the 80's. A pair
of bears - a small black yearling and an adult cinamon - which had been
seen occassionally over the past few days - reappeared on the low
hillside of the east shore, walking toward the north end of the lake. The
occassional chironomid fisher still picking up fish here and there near
the center of the lake. Lots and lots of camps on the west shore and
lots and lots of float tubes, pontoon boats and prams on the lake; more
of either than I would have wanted to even begin to count.
Sunday looking to be another warm and slow day, we packed up and
headed back by 11:00, looking forward to the cool mountain air and an
early arrival home with time to unpack and clean up.
-Wes
Wes Neuenschwander
Seattle, WA
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
