Shine on crazy Diamond!

[jbird]

If this place can avoid the plagues of its past, theres no limit to how good it will be in the years to come! How about flies only....C&R? One can dream cant he?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/jbird35/DSC08557.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/jbird35/DSC08560.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/jbird35/DSC08554.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/jbird35/DSC08550.jpg

[OceanSunfish]

Beautiful.

Diamond Lake was a favorite annual destination of my grandparents back when they were young'ns fishing their way through Oregon in the 60's and early 70's. They would time their trip each year just to see the ice vanish on the lake; sometimes they would actually be lucky enough to see it. They loved the Cascades and the high desert country. My grandparents are still alive today and I will try to show them your pictures to bring a smile to their faces. (Actually, my grandfather might like your avatar better..... <grin>)

Incredible how fast those fish grew in a few short years. Obviously, it's a very healthy ecosystem.

Just be sure to enjoy it as much as you can because there's no guarantee that it will last...... (I've become so pessimistic by virtue of living/fishing in CA... <grin>)

Thanks.

[Langenbeck]

Jay,

Nice post and pictures. My guess is that you were chironomid fishing at the south end.

[1flyfisher]

What happened to that lake?
I read that it was rotenone because of tui chubs?
What problem did the tui chubs create?

They are a prominent main food source in Eagle and Pyramid and plenty of outher places and are not problematic in those lakes.

[jbird]

What happened to that lake?
I read that it was rotenone because of tui chubs?
What problem did the tui chubs create?

They are a prominent main food source in Eagle and Pyramid and plenty of outher places and are not problematic in those lakes.

Different ecosystems react differently. The cohabitation of chubs and trout in Diamond reached an unbalanced situation. The action to poison the lake was met with a lot of disaproval. The sheer amount of aquatic forage in the lake helped the chub population to reach plaguelike proportions, out competing trout for the same food source.

This was the second complete poisonong of Diamond lake in the last century. The lake is surrounded with signs (huge bilboards) warning against using non native live baits.
Many of the fish being stocked into Diamond are Eagle lake fish. I believe some are coming from the Klamath hatchery too. Highly piscivorous strains of trout.
I talked to a guide from bend while I was at Diamond. He said the ODFW is poised to introduce tiger trout into east lake for the same reason.
Now thats an interesting decision since East already has trophy browns, brookies, rainbows, kokanee, atlantic salmon and tui's. Add tigers to the mix and its starting to sound like an aquatic Jurassic Park to me. But what do I know? I just stick hooks in their mouths and giggle.

Gordon

Yes. Tho Chironomids only accounted for 1/2 the hookups. We caught fish on a variety of nymphs and buggers as well. The fish Im holding was taken on a travelling sedge pupa. If you go there in the next couple days, bring some#12 cinnamon flying ants. I believe you can catch 5# fish on the surface with them right now. Also the bulk of the fish had moved very shallow. 3-6' But dont listen to me, just look for 100 boats in a one acre area. LOL

[Hairstacker]

Wow Jay, what a beauty! Nice and thick too, must have put a real nice bend in the rod. :)

[jbird]

Wow Jay, what a beauty! Nice and thick too, must have put a real nice bend in the rod. :)

Hi Mike!

You have no idea.... I was using my 3wt that day. lol

Shhhhhhhh. I dont want to attract any negative posters. ;-)

[Michael Baker]

Nice fish! Was up there two years ago and had 4 foot white caps, not good with a float tube. Will be up there in about a week, any suggestions? Best spot for using a float tube.

Mike

[jbird]

just put in at the south end and work your way west. Fish 4-8' of water. I went back up sunday and there were huge waves like you had. There was a callibaetis hatch and the fish were keying on the emergers. Even in in the roiling chop the fish were exploding all around us. We couldnt get em on dries, but when we tied on a 16 hairs ear, it was game on! fished with a floating line.

Be prepaired to solve puzzles there. That lake is a bug factory and those fish will key on one thing sometimes. I turned over a rock on the shore about the size of my hand. It was crawling with at least 100 size 18 scuds....fall is scud season.

Great place! Have fun.