Five club members headed for Anthony Lake last Saturday
for what maybe our last stillwater outing of 2017. It was a beautiful day, with
temperatures in the low lands in the 60’s. Skies were clear and blue, plenty of warm sunshine. On the
Elkhorns the snowfall of the last week or two above the 5280’ level was fresh
white up to the 8000' level.
Driving up the Elkhorns was a beautiful peaceful sight to behold. NFR #73 was laced in gold by the Tamaracks and broadleaf trees up to the conifer -only- tree line.
Driving up the Elkhorns was a beautiful peaceful sight to behold. NFR #73 was laced in gold by the Tamaracks and broadleaf trees up to the conifer -only- tree line.
Dick, Brian, Dale and his Buddy got out of Walla² at
10:30 am sharp. Driving over Tollgate, the highway was still damp in many places
from the overnight patchy freezing dew and fog. Going pass NFR #64 -the turn
off to Jubilee Lake- it was noticed there was a large CLOSED sticker plastered over
the sign pointing to that campground, another of our favorite fishing lake. We
continued on through Summerville, La Grande, No. Powder, and into the Elkhorns to
Anthony Lake.
Arriving at the lake boat ramp, we found Robin and
Harold had just arrived.
Everyone compared a few notes for catching triploid
rainbows for the day, got our gear put together and jumped into the lake.
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| While Buddy watches... |
In fairly short time Robin hooked up to a nice 16” triploid. A short while thereafter Dick hooked into a 16” triploid, which he released since he was searching for the larger fish. Harold was on the oars while Robin worked her rod and was watching his. Brian and Dale worked steady on cruising the lake in search of their next catch. After a while Harold got a fish takedown – an 18” triploid rainbow. Robin and Harold both caught their rainbows using intermediate sinking lines, with a BS Special that Dale had given them a few weeks before while on a club fishing outing at Jubilee Lake.
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| #10 BS Special |
Brian and Dale continue to work their FAB fly and BS
Special, but only getting a few strikes along the way.
Checking his mercury
thermometer, Dale found it reading 61ºF while sitting in the bright
mid-afternoon sunshine in the middle of the lake. A pleasant afternoon for
fishing, and a most pleasant afternoon for those that were catching.
Again Robin got a nice bite from a brook trout that was much smaller than the rainbows, so it was quickly released. Shortly thereafter Dick got bit by a brook trout, smaller than the rainbow he had previously caught, so he put the little brookie back to swim away and fight again another day.
Robin reported that these colder water triploid strikes did not hit her fly like a sinking boulder, but were rather lethargic with their take.
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| FAB fly |
Again Robin got a nice bite from a brook trout that was much smaller than the rainbows, so it was quickly released. Shortly thereafter Dick got bit by a brook trout, smaller than the rainbow he had previously caught, so he put the little brookie back to swim away and fight again another day.
Robin reported that these colder water triploid strikes did not hit her fly like a sinking boulder, but were rather lethargic with their take.
Everyone continued to fish away the late afternoon
as the sun was setting in the southwest quadrant of the sky and the moon was
rising in the southeast quadrant of the evening sky. After the setting of the
sun below the forest skyline, the air began to chill fast and a couple of bald
eagles showed up and started fishing the lake. This was some encouragement for Brian and Dale; who had yet to feel a good solid "like a rock" take-down of a lake's triploid
rainbow. Usually when the eagles and ospreys show up for dinner, it is time to just keep “fishing” until low light. But "catching" for Brian and Dale was not to be this day.
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| Robin and Harold's fresh caught dinner |
As the remaining direct sunlight of the day was
striking the top of Gunsight Mountain, the air on the lake had gone from chilly
to turning cold, so everyone made their last few cast on their way back to the
boat ramp to take out, load up our gear, and call it done for another Anthony Lake fishing season.
Driving off the Elkhorns was a beautiful sight. NFR #73 was laced in gold all the way back to I-84. Looking over our shoulders the Elkhorns had a most pleasant glow from a golden autumn sunset.
Getting back to camp, looking
at the near future weather forecast, it appears that Anthony Lake may begin the process of
freezing over, being covered with snow, beginning this weekend. Time for it to return to a prime winter SNOW ski resort.
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| Forecast for November 3 - 4 - 5 - 6, 2017 |
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