Let's Go Fishing - Anthony Lake - to beat this heat wave

As the air temperature was heading for 100.8 °F at 820' elevation under the hot August sun in south Walla Walla today, Barbara, Dick and Dale had to get out of town and get high... on the fly.

We packed up our gear and were moving down the road at 10 am. Heading for The Blue, the Elkhorns Mtns; we took the scenic -wild flower- tour along Hwy 203 to Elgin, OR and then made a stop in La Grande for lunch. 

The El Erradero Restruant sit off the Island City Hwy, just north of I-84. 
A good place to fill-up before heading to the high lakes of the Elkhorn Mtns. 

Arriving at Anthony Lake at 7140 feet elevation, the air temperature was probably in the low 80's this afternoon, the sunshine was bright and the forest fresh air felt good and smelled great.

Barbara and Dale getting pumped up

Barbara and Dick got their stillwater floats pumped up, their gear put together, and hit the water short in short order. 

Dick

Barbara

Dale had a bit of a valve leak on his backpack boat, and had to worked on that for awhile... got it fixed and joined Barbara and Dick without delay. The air temp was most pleasant today, and we expected the catching to be hot.

Dale

The lake felt great, a cool August dip, just right for this above average hot afternoon, that was most everywhere but here.
Anthony Lake is 22 acres in size and the water always is gin clear.

To begin with the catching was quite slow, much slower than Dale remembered it being during past years fishing trips to Anthony Lake. 

 As the direct sun was coming off the lake, our hook-up rate began to pick up with rainbows and brookies paying closer attention to our fly presentations. 

   After awhile most of the human surface activity subsided and not long thereafter the fish begin to show themselves... rings of their rises everywhere and fish in hand, at our feet.

At the end of the day discussing the slow start we experienced with our hookup rate, we concluded that with amount of lake sport-fun surface splashing activities, that may have put the fish down until the lake became fishing calm again. At one point Dale experienced 8 hookups in 10 cast, that is what he remembers as being the Anthony Lake catching experience.

As the sun had long set into the west, everyone came off the lake... with cold hands and a chill from head to tail; but what a wonderful way to beat the heat for a day.

Distance to Anthony Lake from south Walla Walla is 122 miles, driving time is about 2½ hours.

Stillwater Hatches an article by Brian Chan with tips on stillwater fly fishing.
 

Respectfully submitted,
Dale McKain

Tight lines and good fishing.

Walla² Fly Fishers

Contact Us