A Great Blue Herron Awaiting its Next Meal.
Mark with A Pass Lake Brown.
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A Great Blue Herron Awaiting its Next Meal. |
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Mark with A Pass Lake Brown. |
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Underwater Shot of a Pass Lake Brown. |
Pass Lake is a beautiful fly fishing only lake that is located just North of the Deception Pass bridge in Anacortes. For years, this lake was stocked with rainbow, brown, and cutthroat trout, and atlantic salmon. Currently it is stocked anually with rainbow and brown trout. Pass Lake has experienced very little development on its shores and therefore still has excellent shoreline habitat. The water is clean, generally very clear, and full of aquatic lifeforms, including chironomids, leaches, caddis larvae, callibaetis nymphs, freshwater shrimp, and baitfish.
Fishing in the Winter is generally slow at Pass Lake as in all lakes in Western Washington. The temperature rarely drops low enough to freeze the lowland lakes, but the water does get very cold. As a result, the trout's matabolism slows way down, they move slower, and feed less often. However, winter is a great time to target the big browns that inhabit the lake. Productive flies for this time of year are #6 - #12 black or olive woolly buggers, or 4 inch black rabit strip leaches.
Spring is a great time to get out to Pass Lake as there is usually to ton of activity both at the surface of the lake and below. This is a time when the larger chironomids begin migrating from the lake floor and rising to the surface. Trout will feed on all three life stages from the larvae, to the pupae, to the emerging midge. If you want to catch a decent number of fish at Pass, you will want to focus on the larvae and pupae stage of the chironomid hatch. You will see a few fish coming to the surface to take the emerging midges, however, it is very challenging to fool these warry fish. In March and April it pays to have a good selection of bloodworms and chironomid patterns ranging in size from #12's to #20's. I prefer bead head patterns for a majority of my chironomid fishing to make sure my fly is getting down. (In Washington, you are not allowed to add weight to your leader in fly fishing only lakes.)
In May and June the fish start to focus less on chironomids and more on an assorted variety of numphs and scuds. For this type of fishing you will want to use a clear intermediate, or type 2 full sinking fly line. The technique that I found to be most effective is to cast out 30 to 50 feet of fly line and troll very slowly along the shoreline. You have to be very careful with your hookset when fishing nymphs as these trout pick up the fly with the very edge of their lip. If you set the hook very hard, it just pulls right out. Effective flies include #12 - #16 hare's ear and flashback hare's ear nymphs, plus #14 - #16 clear and light pink scuds.
The water temps rise by the time summer rolls around and timing becomes very important. When the water temperatures reach the high 60's to mid 70's, I tend to focus most of my fishing effort on the evenings. My favorite technique is to cast baitfish patterns as close to shore as possible and strip them back as fast as I can. This techniques requires a lot of work as you are constantly casting or stripping line. However, the pay-off of seeing a big brown or rainbow dart to the surface and crush your fly is more that worth the effort!
Fall is an awesome time to spend the day at Pass as the trout gorge themselves in preparation for a hard, long winter. Although the fish at this time are generally looking for a big meal, they will focus on a chiromomid hatch when they take place. The time to work chiromomid patterns is when the weather is clear and sunny and you see a little surface activity on the water, especially in the early morning. However, what the trout are really looking for in the fall is a little cloud cover, a little chop on the water, and a big meal of leaches or baitfish. This is the time of year when you can easily catch a dozen nice trout in a day, often many in the 18" to 21" range. Effective patterns include black, olive, red, or white woolly buggers in size #6 - #12 and black or red 4" string leaches plus your favorite baitfish patterns.
Book a Guided Trip
If you want to learn more about fly fishing in Washington Lakes, there are two must read books. The first book focuses primarily on effective fly patterns and includes tying insturctions and a little information on the technique used to fish them. The second book is primarliy about technique, but also contains some excellent patterns.
