Elk on the left ~ Elk on the right ~ Elk in the road

Last week Prez Dave was discussing with Sec Dale about the possibility of making a fishing trip to Anthony Lake this week. We were ON for Tuesday.
Sec Dale put out a APB to all other club members of plans to go fishing Tuesday to Beat the Heat, and asked who wants to join us?
A couple of days later, Dave called back and said his wife reminded him of a previous obligation - can't go fishing.
By this time several members replied with Heidi and Harold saying YEA, "let's go fishing" but maybe not Tuesday. We decided on Thursday, which was to be a few degrees hotter than Tuesday.
A couple of days later, Harold emailed back saying, his wife reminded him of a previous obligation - can't go fishing.

Heidi, and Dale went fishing Thursday for R&R, and to Beat the Heat of the Columbia Basin.

The HIGH temperatures 

of the day

Leaving Walla Walla at 10:00 am it was getting hot; we made our way through Summerville and on to La Grande to pick up a bite of lunch for Dale and Buddy. The entire NE Oregon area was very smokey again this year, much like last year.

The Elkhorn Range shrouded in wildfire smoke -
view from 3,250′ elevation looking at 9,100' mountains

 We arrived at the lake at 1:00, and it was beginning to get quite warm as we put our boats on the lake and Buddy went for a short swim.

Today there was a lot of mid-week "traffic" on the lake, and with the oppressive heat wave of the past week we found the early afternoon catching to be slow. Dale took some temperature readings with his ole mercury angler's thermometer and found the water temperature at 2' deep to be 67* (too warm for trout to hold in) and the air temperature while sitting in the sun to be 88* (hot enough to order an onboard icy Gin & Tonic to be served if possible).

Trying to keep his feet DRY 

Today was Heidi's first day of fishing Anthony Lake and catching Brook Trout

After an afternoon at working the lake, Heidi came out catching 1 Brookie; Dale caught 2 Brookies and came back to shore with 2 triploid rainbows. We both had a good number of strikes at our flies, but the heat seems to be slowing the action down. While on the lake, Dale was talking with another anglers who told him that he had fished the lake regularly since the 4th of July; and for 2-3 weeks he was catching 3x maybe 4x more fish, than he has been catching since the weather turned HOT. Even though our catch rate today was slow, Dale's last hookup of the day perhaps gave him the best trout fight of his life... using his 2-wt. lake rod this one was much like fighting a summer steelhead, but the fish took flight when it's nose touched the landing net. 

The things that dreams are made of.

We were driving away from the boat launch at 8:00, for the 2.5 hour drive back to Walla².

To add a finishing touch to our day on the mountain, as we got to "the bottom of the hill" standing in the middle of the road are 3 elk - off to the left is 5 or 6 elk - off to our right is about 25 elk standing in a field of alfalfa, with at least one branch bull standing in that mix with antlers 3' long.
It was a good day - we'll be back.

Anthony Lake is a USFS fee area

Once Lifetime Fee for Seniors
-or-
A Daily Fee

Report of another day's fishing 8-9-18

Tight lines and good fishing -

Walla² Fly Fishers

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