Fishing Spots Disappearing

So I got yet another kick in my face today, my fishing face as it were.

Earlier this year a friend of mine told me the Colville Confederated Tribes had decided to close the San Poil River to non-indians.

http://www.spokesman.com/outdoors/stories/2014/may/11/fishing-the-colville-indian-reservation-more-fish/

I had fished here for maybe 35 years and considered this one of my very favorite spots to stream fish, south of the town of Republic, Washington. We had spent hundreds of hours driving around and exploring, discovering access points and figuring out all the tips and tricks to fish this little gem. It was beautiful and full of wildlife, it was unimproved and perfect. Last year a friend had spied a full grown moose standing in the middle of the river feeding. I had already bought a full season tribal license thinking I would be over there in August this year fishing.

 I won’t do that again.

Ever apparently………

So then today I thought I would hit the Snoqualmie River down by Fall City. I was going to an area called Neal Road, one of my standard, basic, close to home fishing spots. As I drive down the road I see huge yellow and orange construction equipment all over the place. The one hole I used to call “Chum City”, the woods around the area were just destroyed, obviously they were putting roads in. It was so ugly I assumed they were putting in a tract housing development. This is the “Fall City Natural Area”, and it appears King County in their ultimate wisdom are spending millions of dollars to tear the hell out of the area and destroy it. They call this “improvements”.  They will put roads all over and asphalt paved parking lots, bathrooms of course and those raised wooden walkways, holy fuck do they ever love those raised wooden walkways with “interpretive signs”. What this means is tons of people parking in there, dog shit all over, litter all over, I have seen this many times, like up at Moss Lake.

 Moss Lake used to be a beautiful little place before King County “improved it”. The horrible part is now if they can’t ram through sky high taxes they will close the park because they can’t maintain it, when the park doesn't need maintenance at all it just need them to stay the hell away from it. Nature is not improved by "better access".

So I leave that dusty nightmare of screaming chainsaws and head back to 203. I was so disgusted I almost went home.

But I decided to give David Powell Road a shot and see what was up,…with trepidation. Sure enough, the issue here was float tubes and rafts coming down the river. I was astonished! They were everywhere I looked, and coming down in groups 50 yards apart. They were parked everywhere on both sides of the river and just sitting in the river like plastic-neon colored islands of noise and litter.

On the weekend sure, I can understand I guess. If it was really hot maybe. But this was Tuesday night after work, cloudy and maybe 79 degrees. I can’t imagine where all these people come from because they don’t live here in the valley. I also can’t imagine where all these people are parking. They are using and blocking up facilities built for fishing and launching fishing boats.

The Snoqualmie Valley is being loved to death. People like me who wanted to retire here now can’t even get from A to B without really thinking traffic strategy and timing.

Now I can’t even go fishing on a Tuesday night after work.

Omak Lake: A twenty year love affair

Check this folder of pics to get an idea of what you have been missing. A beautiful lake in a wilderness area full of fish on the Colville Indian reservation.

Google doesn't want this link to be clickable until I can fix it please cut and paste---thanks



http://500px.com/biter/sets/omak_lake_a_twenty_year_fishing_affair

Omak Lake

Well here we go, this is something I said I would never do…write about Omak Lake. It used to be one of my “secret spots”, I would literally swear people to secrecy before I took them there. It was crazy; here was a lake seven miles long, 300 feet deep, next to Omak, and no one fished it. It was full of Lahontan cutthroat up to 22 lbs.! It was not unusual at all to catch so many fish in a day our elbows and wrists ached from strain.The bestest part though was fishing this big beautiful lake all day long and not seeing another person. Well that is over now, the lake has been written about by the Hunting and Fishing News (the kiss of death), and now lots of people fish it.

For a lake its size there is still not a lot of pressure but the only access is Beer Can Beach on the North and Cow Pie Beach on the South, (yes sadly, real names). To get up the lake any distance at all a boat is needed. The catch and release season is April-June when the fish come in shallow to spawn and that is easier for fly fishing. During the summer people use plugs and downriggers.One thing that keeps a few people away is it is on the Colville Indian Reservation. A three day license is about $18 and a full season $35, this does entitle the user to fish 12 or 15 other locals with Omak the star. Some people just don’t like Indians or their rules, like no booze or guns on the Rez. Some boat launches and areas on Omak Lake are for Indians only, subject to monitoring by Indian policia, so be for warned, although they have always treated me well.I usually stay at the Nicolas Motel http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g58654-d676503-Reviews-Motel_Nicholas-Omak_Washington.html and while in Omak the best place to eat is the Mexican place downtown, and the Breadline Café. http://www.breadlinecafe.com/history.shtml.

The fish in Omak well take the same thing they do everywhere and you can bobber fish with chironomids if you so have the mind, however to me it is a streamer lake. The fish are large and toothy and want a big meal. There are four types of minnows in the lake for food and often you will see clouds of them along the rocks trying to hide to be interrupted by a vicious shark like swirl. Because the flies I use are big and the fish I want to catch are big, (did I mention toothy?), I use a heavy tippet/leader.There are times where it is possible to sight cast to cruising fish and that is fun! Many times though it is necessary to get down in the water column and the lake has many deep areas. Trolling along in a tube, pontoon or boat is very productive. It can also be nice to take a boat up lake and then just get out and fish from shore.