Camping Chopaka Lake - Best Place for Formidable Rainbow
Like bands of nomadic tribes, we congregate each year at Chopaka Lake to fly fish this venerable, fly-fishing-only sensation. At an elevation of almost 3,000 feet, Chopaka isn’t an easy jaunt from the valley floor. In fact, Chopaka isn’t an easy jaunt from just about anywhere -even Omak! Unless you are a resident of Loomis, WA, you’re going to be lining the oil companies’ nests in order to cast your line upon these tranquil waters. Nevertheless, Chopaka calls us back. It beckons year after year for some, once in a while for others, and once upon a bucket list for the rest. But, come, we fly fishermen and fisherwomen do. And Chopaka seldom disappoints.
Heading to Omak Lake instead? Read best springtime tactics on Omak Lake before you go.
What does Chopaka Mean?
This year I arrived opening weekend to fly fish the prodigious Chopaka Lake rainbow that made Chopaka famous. I also planned to gawk at the crowds of fly-fishing-only enthusiasts atop their myriad of floaties. The name, Chopaka, according to Wikipedia is Salish for fly-fishing-only. Just kidding! More accurately, it is the name for the legendary Okanogan hunter transformed to stone by Coyote. Chopaka is located six miles north of the town of Loomis in North Central Washington, and it is only a couple miles south of the Canadian border. From the shop in Omak, we’d allow about two hours to crest its precipice but it’s really about 50 miles.
Camping at Chopaka Lake
Camping at the lake is at a premium this year (and just about every year). This is not because of a lack of capacity. In fact, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) offer a pair of ample lakeside campgrounds. Instead, it’s because of the fleet of “Chopaka Chariots” angling for camping spots and picnic tables to clamp a vise on.
Scads of these nimble chariots arrive early for the opener—as much as a week ahead of the fishing. The numbers increase as the mayfly hatches get in swing. Thursday, just two days before the opener, nomads vying from all points the Northwest rolled through the shop to pick up last-minute supplies. The uninitiated questioned us about the camping: “we thought we’d roll up on Thursday to score a choice spot. We should be good, right?” All we could do was shake our heads and offer was, “good luck and tight lines!”
Arriving Sunday afternoon was not a bad idea. As I pulled in, I could see this year that a few of the nice, level sites back from the water were still available, just a few. The first site I passed on the way to the ramp housed a large trailer encircled by a WALL of rounds and a covered picnic table. Appearing to me as the camp host spot, I called to him (as he chopped wood) and asked, “Excuse me, where is the day use parking? “What?” he replied. “I’m sorry, I just noticed the cordwood and thought…. anyway, have a great day!” The guy looked like he planned to spend Armageddon there with axe in hand, not a bad choice really….
Typical chariots (four-wheel drive pickups humping a cab-over camper) have no problem ascending the grade. They are nimble over rockslide scree and can slip into campsites with room for another chariot or two (by the way, this is the polite thing to do folks if you’re in the same group). Others, trailering long campers have not been so lucky getting in there. Indeed, around the tightest hairpins, across shaded snow or breaking down that suicide grade heading home, “Big Rigs” can be a nightmare. If you go, consider downsizing a bit. You’ll be able to scale the grade directly into the lake and not have to drive around the long route (Toat’s Coulee).
No Vacancy at Chopaka Lake?
A little-known fall back is to stage at Forest Service campground, Fourteen Mile. On the west side of Chopaka Mountain, this trailhead/ campground has great access to hiking in the Pasayten Wilderness Area and is not far from the lake. You can enjoy the relative solitude and stream fishing in June, then use a runner vehicle to hit Chopaka daily. Alternately, I spoke with a couple of fly fishermen at the ramp on Sunday evening that were heading back to their warm shower and rooms at the resorts at Spectacle Lake. Certainly, after a cold opener like we had this weekend, that doesn’t sound so bad. Personally, though, I wouldn’t want to put my truck through that kind of beating every day -even for a warm shower.
Chopaka Lake Camping Limit
At issue, this year and in the recent past has been an attempted clampdown on overstaying your welcome at Chopaka’s campgrounds. Hmmm. How do you deal with jovial squatters armed with fly rods spinning good callibaetis imitations and pretty much minding their own retirements? The DNR and BLM say it with a 10-day camping limit. “Wait. What? Officer, we can’t leave, the callies aren’t coming off yet!” On the other hand, for nomads making the trek up on their weekend, finding no vacancy, and slogging back down to find a hotel -I feel ya. Time will tell as to how this new policy pans out and whether Chopaka’s fly fishermen will come to grips with it. In the meantime, be aware that you’ll be expected to move it on the tenth day.
Chopaka Lake Rainbow
The perfect fly fishing gamefish has been decades in the making at Chopaka. After brief flirtations with Cutthroat fisheries in 1950 and again in 1960, the lake has been devoted to rainbow since 1962. I must say that today, a more willing and formidable stillwater rainbow does not exist statewide. True, Rufus Woods has rainbow with more size but, do they have the same spunk? Can they be sight fished spanking grasshoppers or do they rise for hatches by the hundreds when conditions are right? Do they rise into the air only to clamp down on your dry damsel upon reentry? Will they occasionally take you into your backing as you suck on your burned stripping fingers? Rainbows reared in Chopaka’s fertile waters will. They are a worthy fish, period.
Want to learn the best practices for catch and release of rainbow? Read this.
Chopaka Lake Fly Fishing Techniques
On a Sunday afternoon Chopaka survey, I went two for four, not exactly the insane numbers for which the lake is known. And anglers I spoke to at the ramp, bemoaned the intermittent gales followed by mixed rain and snow, followed by relative calm, followed again by white squalls. Yes, like always, opening weekend was cold, windy, hard to anchor, and… (of course) VERY productive! (At least for other fishermen). As I rigged, I watched a number of rods doubled over with anglers doing their level best to tame these beasties. Most reported using small, dark chronomids (when their anchors held!) in the #14-#18 range. A Rowley’s gray boy or a dark snow cone in the appropriate size accounted for dozens of fish. Others trolled leeches off type-3 lines in 10 to 20 feet of water and had excellent results just drifting with the wind chop.
The night before, I took off a brand-new Airflo sixth sense camo intermediate line… I would regret that. Thinking that I needed to get deeper with the recent cold weather, I rolled on a Rio in-touch deep 5 instead. Assessing the chilly lake conditions, I went with an unweighted cali 420 leech steered by four feet of 3X leader and another 12 inches of 4X Rio flouroflex tippet. Unfortunately, my line choice probably cost me a few fish as I learned from other anglers that most fish were being hooked in ten feet of water. I love my Rio in-touch deep 5 but half the time I was pulling weeds off of my leech. Had I been able to get up to the North End, where this line could have really plied Chopaka’s depths, I might have hooked a behemoth. But, the windy conditions made that idea a non-starter.
Looking for the right line for the right depth? Check these out.
Sure enough, as I launched, another squall approached from the south. The first fish, although fat, was probably fourteen inches, a shaker by Chopaka’s standards. But, Man, did that fish fight! I was probably under gunned with the four-weight I had brought with me. Rods for this stillwater should be in the 4 to 6-weight range and longish: 9 to 10-feet. I recommend the 6100 Echo 3. As I approached the opposite shoreline, I started to feel bottom. In a heartbeat, the next fish spun off twenty yards from my reel. Clamoring to get the rod out of the holder, I missed that bubba. Sad face. With my Rio deep 5, I decided to begin concentrating on the middle of the lake, rowing up and then drifting with the wind. This technique worked. The next two bites on the cali 420 leech were light but with my rod in hand this time, I hooked the last one. Bulldogging me for about five minutes, I finally netted the 16-incher onto my stripping apron for hook removal and a photo.
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Hatches, Hatches, More Chopaka Lake Hatches
If you think camping is tight on opening weekend, try the heights of Chopaka’s callibaetis mayfly hatch (size#14-18). You’ll want to bring a selection of grayish, speckled “callie” nymphs and dries mid-May thru June. Dry lines like the Scientific Anglers amplitude series will help you load and launch to your next slurping target while mayfly madness goes on from mid-morning through the spinner fall that evening. Chan, Galloup, Rowley, and Rickard et. all tie imitations and WE carry them in the Omak shop. Take a look at our stillwater bins and I think you’ll be flabbergasted.
Plus, don’t forget about Chopaka’s damsel fly hatch beginning late spring and into summer. I’ve heard accounts of 20 fish days on dry damsels like Solitude’s adult blue dry damsel in a size 10 or 12 at the lake. Casting a dry line with a longish leader toward the tules can produce jaw-dropping strikes when this hatch is on at Chopaka.
Last (but not least), is the terrestrials hatch. This happens as the heat of summer becomes early fall. During this time, morning rainbow cruisers patrol the weeds in a few feet of water for hapless land organisms (hoppers, beetles, ants). This is another dry fly fest at the lake and can account for some of the best fishing of the year with uncrowded camping and fishing. Rig your floating line with a longish leader (9’-11’) greased with Aquel floatant and a Moorish hopper, then hang on. The greased leader helps you twitch your bug as fish approach for a look with a renewed autumn enthusiasm.
If you are planning a trip up to Chopaka, give the Omak Fly Shop a call at 509-422-9840. We will have our ears to the ground for the latest rumblings on size, color, and camping. Until then, you can find some of the finest stillwater tying materials around on our site or, come in to demo your next stillwater rod to chase our state’s finest rainbow.
Wish you knew what the fishing conditions are? Read our current fish reports here.
