Just finished 7 days of fishing primarily at Aeneas Lake. The weather
ranged from cool and windy to warm and calm. The bottom line for all of
these lakes is that significant insect hatches have not started at Ell,
Aeneas and Blue Lake (Sinlahekin Valley.)
There were sporadic weak hatches of micro chironomids but only for a few
hours during the week were the fish keyed on midges. Most fishermen
averaged about a fish an hour on bloodworms, red butts, black or brown
chironomids, leeches, wooly buggers, scuds and damsel flies. Generally the
fish in the shallows were not keyed on any particular fly but cruised slowly
looking for a morsel. There were large numbers of fish in deeper water
noted on my fishfinder. We fished for a while in 19 to 25 feet of water
with chironomids and bloodworms and this was at least as successful as
fishing shallow although virtually no one was trying this method. I noticed
several fish feeding on plankton and my guess is that is what the majority
were feeding on.
Water levels were high at Aeneas and quite low at Blue and Ell lakes. At
Ell lake fish survival may become an issue if the lake becomes too low in
August since it always has substantial algae blooms. At Blue Lake the
channel between Blue and Round lake to the south was high and dry. The best
fishing at Blue has been during years of high water. The irrigation vs.
fishing saga continues.
My visitors had timed their visit based on work schedules and last year's
conditions and they were probably about a week early this year. I'll be
checking back to find out when things really get started because I'm hoping
the fish are eager for a decent meal.
Keith
Republic, WA
