Eastern Washington Fishing Report 04.04.19
Omak Lake (WA)
As great as it feels to be outside on a bright sunny spring day, it is not the best weather for fishing. I had a chance to hit the lake the other day after a meeting but, I must admit I was skeptical about how the fishing would be.
I got to the lake around noon and the sky was clear with the sun bright overhead. I still figured if I could hook up on just one fish it would be worth it. After three hours of fishing and changing flies more times than I can remember, I only had two takes but no hook ups. That’s okay, it was still good to get on the water.
The good news is, if you can call it that, is that there is weather coming in this weekend with cloudy days and some rain in the forecast. Temperatures should not be too much lower than what they have been. Most of the reports that I have been getting have indicated that the best time to hit the water is first thing in the morning for a couple of hours and after 4 p.m. The fish have not yet started cruising the shallows, like everyone is hoping for. Like I have said in the last few reports, they are still working out along the drop-offs.
When I was out the other day, I rigged up two rods. One rod was set up with an indicator for hanging balanced leeches and chironomids under it. I had one take on an olive balanced leech set up this way. If you do this, I would start your depth at five feet then keep moving deeper until you get down to about 12 feet. Don’t be afraid to change flies. Olive or black simi seal leeches and black or purple squirrel balanced leeches are another good choice. For chironomids, red or brown would be my choice.
The other rod I take with me is set up to throw streamers. I’ll either have a type-3 sink tip line or a full intermediate line rigged up. Sculpin, minnow, and buggers will be what I would recommend on this rod. Sculpzilla, El sculpito, or Carlton’s gulpin sculpin all in olive or tan work well. For other types of streamers, I would recommend the stinging smolt, complex twist bugger, and a new one that is showing some real promise that we brought into the shop this year, Keller’s she demon bugger in white or black. Hopefully, by next week, we will be seeing the pods of fish cruising the shallows, so we can get into some sight casting to them.
FYI
A lot of our area lakes are quickly icing out and by next week I should be able to give you some good news on which lakes are ice free. I can tell you that Dry Falls Lake and Lenor Lake are ice-free. I don’t have any current reports yet on these lakes but, I should have some by next week.
See past reports from the Omak region, or click here to view all northwest regional reports.