Rick J
05-15-2006, 07:46 AM
Brett Jensen, Bruce Slightom and I drove up to Maupin - left Thursday and stopped in at the Deschutes Angler Flyshop - I had booked 2 days at some of the private lakes (Shaniko Lake chain) they have out of Shaniko. These were small man made high desert lakes that they stocked with kamloops that have been sterilized. They are not the triploid fish with blown out tails but are beautiful rainbows ranging in size from 14" to over 25" with the average close to 20. That afternoon we fsihed the Deschutes though it was running high - had a few come up to look at stone fly dries but no takers
The first day at the lakes we started at Elk Lake (in a group of three lakes) and immediately hooked several fish - the biggest was close to 25” and they all came on midge pupae – mostly black.
It died around mid to late morning and nothing was happening by 1:30 after we finished up lunch. We briefly fished the other two lakes in the group and caught a few fish in each. We headed over to Haystack (a stand alone lake) but there was a group in there so we drove over to the chain lakes (a group of 5 small lakes) and finished out the day – fished 4 of the lakes and caught fish in each lake – mostly throwing Callibaetis nymphs. No dry fly activity and no Callibaetis showing. It was pretty windy most of the day and knocked down any bugs that tried to emerge
Day 2 we got up a bit earlier and were still late at around 6:30 at Elk – fish were already cruising – my first cast with an emerging midge was a 24” fish. Lost another on the subsequent cast then the surface activity kinda quit. We went back to pupae and proceeded to hook close to 20 fish. It slowed down by late AM and we headed over to the chain lakes but saw a group in there so off to Haystack - this lake is surrounded by brush so shore fishing was tough except at the put in for tubes – wow! Brett and I just stayed in the walk in and Bruce took out his pontoon boat – we had over 30 fish up to 23” – most on black and red midge pupae though Bruce was throwing Callibaetis nymphs. Brett and I never moved and had consistent hooks ups all afternoon. Finally quit around 5:30 and drove into Shaniko and had dinner at the hotel – very cool place
Except for the lack of dry fly action it exceeded our expectations so expect we will be back next year.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a395/RickJ/SHANIKOLAKES-2006039.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a395/RickJ/SHANIKOLAKES-2006026.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a395/RickJ/SHANIKOLAKES-2006040.jpg
The first day at the lakes we started at Elk Lake (in a group of three lakes) and immediately hooked several fish - the biggest was close to 25” and they all came on midge pupae – mostly black.
It died around mid to late morning and nothing was happening by 1:30 after we finished up lunch. We briefly fished the other two lakes in the group and caught a few fish in each. We headed over to Haystack (a stand alone lake) but there was a group in there so we drove over to the chain lakes (a group of 5 small lakes) and finished out the day – fished 4 of the lakes and caught fish in each lake – mostly throwing Callibaetis nymphs. No dry fly activity and no Callibaetis showing. It was pretty windy most of the day and knocked down any bugs that tried to emerge
Day 2 we got up a bit earlier and were still late at around 6:30 at Elk – fish were already cruising – my first cast with an emerging midge was a 24” fish. Lost another on the subsequent cast then the surface activity kinda quit. We went back to pupae and proceeded to hook close to 20 fish. It slowed down by late AM and we headed over to the chain lakes but saw a group in there so off to Haystack - this lake is surrounded by brush so shore fishing was tough except at the put in for tubes – wow! Brett and I just stayed in the walk in and Bruce took out his pontoon boat – we had over 30 fish up to 23” – most on black and red midge pupae though Bruce was throwing Callibaetis nymphs. Brett and I never moved and had consistent hooks ups all afternoon. Finally quit around 5:30 and drove into Shaniko and had dinner at the hotel – very cool place
Except for the lack of dry fly action it exceeded our expectations so expect we will be back next year.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a395/RickJ/SHANIKOLAKES-2006039.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a395/RickJ/SHANIKOLAKES-2006026.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a395/RickJ/SHANIKOLAKES-2006040.jpg