Omak Lake report

[Kent Lufkin]

Listmembers Les Korcala, Sean Grier and I lit out for Omak Lake early Wednesday morning. After stopping at Cascade Outiftters in Omak to pick up a tribal fishing permit, we were on the water by 11am.

This was my first visit to Omak Lake and I was struck by two things: it's REALLY big (8 miles long and a mile wide in parts - think of Lake Sammamish and you won't be far off); and it's REALLY deep at 325 feet max. The bottom drops right off, so the littoral zone is literally only a few away from the shoreline. At one point, I thought I'd drop anchor an easy cast away from the west side shoreline. My anchor dropped right up to the end of it's 50 foot rope without finding bottom.

Weather was partly cloudy both days, sunnier Wednesday with less wind when we fished the north end. Air temp was in the mid-40s although it felt much warmer when the sun popped out. Water temp was an even 42 degrees but it was a bit murky, suggesting that the lake might be getting ready to turn over. The water is quite alkaline, leaving a soapy, slippery feeling to the touch and white evaporation rings from drops on rods, glasses and pontoons. There was no sign of underwater vegetation and the only insect activity was a sparse hatch of very small (size 28?) black gnats and a handful of small (size 22?), tan mayflies that produced a very few swirls midafternoon Wednesday. Les reported finding a couple of damsel nymphs.

By the time we got off the water at about 5pm, we had brought just two Lahontan cutts to hand, had another couple LDRs and a few bumps. Both fish were 18 inchers, one a silvery female and the other a beautiful bronze male. The female fell for a black bugger and the male for a size 16 mylar chironomid (yep, with a cheap craft store glass bead head :-) on a long leader with no indicator. The same chironomid produced one of the LDRs a half hour later.

Pretty skimpy results for 18 angler-hours on the water and God only knows how many fly changes trying to dial in it.

Thursday, we drove to the south end and launched our little flotilla in stiff south wind. The fish seemed even more dispersed that the previous day, although the drop-off was less steep than at the north end. A few tiny chironomids and husks were visible, but otherwise there was no insect activity. And no signs of fish. We LDR'd one fish on a black bugger/green leech tandem and landed a fat 22 inch bronze buck on a white bugger, along with a few bumps. We pulled out early after three hours on the water.

Bottom line: three fish to hand, three LDRs and several bumps from a total of 27 angler-hours. Looking at the catch records in the mailboxes the tribal biologists leave, that seems consistent with what others reported over the past week or so.

At four hours each way, Omak Lake was a long drive from the Eastside for just three fish, even if they were good-sized fish. The lake is certainly worth a return visit, but probably not until after it's turned over and a bit warmer.

BTW, the entire lake is on the Colville Indian Reservation and camping's a no-no. If you're think of visiting, you'll probably want to stay in a motel in Omak. The Rodeway in old Omak was $59 for three of us including breakfast. A cowboy bar down the street served up a great $10 prime rib dinner with Black Butte Porter and Alaskan Amber on tap to wash it down. I'll never forget our night together either Sean ;-)

Kent Lufkin