Eagle Lake near Susanville, CA is favorite for many.

Oct/Nov/Dec is the timing with Nov the prime month.

Some go in the spring just as it opens for the first week or so.



The late Jay Fair helped popularize this unique stillwater fishery.

Jay liked to travel the lake in a boat, then beach it at special places.

Then he waded fairly shallow casting and retrieving extremely slow.

For non-fly casters Jay trolled his own special setup with his flies.


I listen to him talk about fishing there and he had some good advice.


He and his son Glen liked a Sage 9' #6 line fly rod in a 2 piece model.

Jay liked 3 different fly lines:

1) A weight forward floating line when there was no wind.

2) A true Intermediate line (not transparent at all) that sinks at 0.5 ips for when there is some wind.

3) A clear or clear/green slow sinking line that sinks at around 2 ips.


Jay did not like blue bird weather.....he liked clouds and some wind.

He liked to go out extremely early.

His flies had a very little lead in them to help them sink a little.

He pushed the rod forward as he drew in the line then pulled back with the rod to move the fly.

He liked these rocky lava areas with scuds.

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Terry Thomas and friends have an annual trip there too.

I believe Terry goes in November.

He told me that the lake has filled up some lately and the tules are growing again.

Terry told me to mention Jay's Wiggle Nymphs in olive and in cinnamon..........................................


When the lake is fuller many would float tube on both sides of the tules and cast up to the edge like fishing for bass.

Check out Val Aubrey’s Eagle Lake guardians web site, a little algae problem because of climate and cattle grazing.

http://www.eaglelakeguardians.org/

Thanks Bkane

Don’t know if you know Bill,but Glen passed away within 6 months of his Dad. Two really nice people.

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Originally Posted by Charlie S

Don’t know if you know Bill,but Glen passed away within 6 months of his Dad. Two really nice people.

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Yes, I heard that......my comment is that they both had wonderful, full lives in the great outdoors.

Jay was a very special man and his son Glen was one of the "good guys" too.

They inspired and taught many the ways of stillwater fly fishing.

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Originally Posted by Bill Kiene semi-retired

Yes, I heard that......my comment is that they both had wonderful, full lives in the great outdoors.

Jay was a very special man and his son Glen was one of the "good guys" too.

They inspired and taught many the ways of stillwater fly fishing.

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His materials, schuck, marabou and hackle in his custom dyed colors were the best.

Still have a bunch of Jay Fair materials from over 25 years ago that we got from one of their relatives shop that was in Orange County.

Sierra Stream and Mountain, fly shop and distributor of fly fishing and fly tying materials.

SS&M bought Jay Fairs material and fly business about 10 years ago along with his formulas to dye the materials.

Kiene's carries some of the Jay Fair materials and flies.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bill Kiene semi-retired

Sierra Stream and Mountain, fly shop and distributor of fly fishing an fly tying materials.

SS&M bought Jay Fairs material and fly business about 10 years ago along with his formulas to dye the materials.

Kiene's carries some of the Jay Fair materials and flies.

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The newer Jay Fair schuck is not quite the same as the old stuff. Colors are pretty similar. Also the marabou is not same quality. I have enough hackle to last few lifetimes.

Jon Baiocchi is the man on the Stillwaters of that entire area!

Yes, Jon is the man........

Well thanks Tayler and Bill, I was very fortunate to have Jay show me Eagle, Lake Davis, and Frenchman decades ago, and his insight on guiding. I still have my Lassen USFS special use permit for Eagle Lake, but with the current water quality issues, and low water, I rarely guide there anymore. It's still my favorite stillwater, with LD being a close 2nd.

BTW - Lake Davis is on the rebound, CDFW is actually planting lots of catchable rainbows and browns, 4 plants so far for this season. Trout grow 4 to 5 inches a year there due to the huge bio mass, so hopefully 2 to 3 years down the road it may be back to near normal. - J.

Thanks Jon.....

We are very fortunate to have some of the best guides in Nor Cal members of our forum.

I used to be a regular there making several trips per year. Usually a week or two after the opening weekend in the spring then typically two trips in the fall and early winter.

I also learned a lot about the lake from Jay Fair. So fortunate to have fished with him over the years.

I have not been up there since just before the drought years and a lot of the usual reports on fishing boards have been absent in the past few years. That's probably for the best as Eagle really didn't need the extra fishing pressure during those times. Nature tends to deal Eagle a tough hand in general but the added abuse that it takes at the hands of the ranchers and various agencies is really discouraging. It's a fragile ecosystem up there that really needs sensible protection.

Maybe it's time to check it out again this year.

Thanks for that info LS,

I have heard the lake level has come up some so people are able to fish around the tules again?


Listening to the regulars for years I heard that the open week or two can be good for fly fishing.

Then Oct/Nov/Dec is the big timing........I think Nov is the most popular time.


I will check with Eagle Lake veteran Terry Thomas to see if his group is doing their annual trip this year.

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Maybe 40 years ago a customer came into the shop I was working at and gave me a little plastic box with an "Eagle Lake Leech".

It was tied on about a size 8 hook, Limerick bend, maybe 3x long.

The body was only rusty brown chenille with a gold rib (sparkle chenille) and then a matching marabou tail....no hackle.

I probably have it somewhere in my collection of sample flies?

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Years ago an angler described float tubing out from the tules, casting to where he saw the foliage moving from fish eating scuds and

insects.