Interesting report Kent. You guys must have read the Northwest Fly Fishing magazine article on Omak.
-- Gary Meyers Kirkland > 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 > >
