Club President Dan Henke and Adair Dammann will host an “unscheduled” outing to Lone Lake (on Whidbey Island) on Sunday, March 24^th.   Lone Lake is a great little lake with good-sized rainbows (many north of 16”),  managed as a quality fishery with selective gear regulations.  Here’s a link to the WDFW site describing the lake:  https://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/locations/lowland-lakes/lone-lake#prospects.  It’s a short ferry ride from on the Mukilteo to Clinton ferry, followed by a 15 minute drive to the lake.  (See directions from the ferry terminal below.

This is a good lake for expert and beginner alike.  If you haven’t fished a lake much, come along and learn how to fish chironomids anchored and unanchored, how to fish leech patterns, how to locate fish, and retrieve rates.

The lake fishes well on leech and subsurface attractor patterns, chironomids, and, sometimes, adult midges (don’t ask me how I know about the adult midges, it’s a sad tale). You’ll need a float tube or pontoon boat as shore fishing is extremely limited.  If you don’t have a float tube, email Dan at danferd.henke@gmail.com, he may have some float tubes and flippers available to lend (limited quantity).  You will need your own waders.

Gear:

For basic chironomid fishing, bring a boat with anchor(s), a floating line, very long leaders (or add a lot of tippet at the end), and quick release indicators.  Anchored chironomid fishing can become a good social fishing experience.  If you don’t have a boat with anchors, not to worry, there are plenty of ways to fish for chironomids without being anchored, not to mention plenty of ways to fish Lone Lake without fishing chironomids.

For fishing leeches and other subsurface attractors, bring along an intermediate line.  If you want, you can fish balanced leeches under an indictor (quick release again).  You can also fish subsurface with cast and retrieve or by trolling slowly.  It all works.  Bring a floating line in case the fish are up on emerging and adult midges.

Flies:

For chironomids, bring blood worms and for pupae bring black, red, black and red, black and silver, olive, brown, sizes 12 – 18.  A selection of zebra midges in various colors would do just fine, no need to get complicated. K For emerger/adults, try Brian Chan’s Lady McConnel or Griffith’s gnat.

For leeches and subsurface, try any of McBride/Rowley’s balanced leeches (fished under an indicator or naked), wooly buggers in various shades (I’d emphasize olive and olive and another color), Hale-Bop leeches, pumpkin heads, stillwater nymphs.  All will work.  My favorite prospecting patterns are Denny Rickards’ stillwater nymph in olive and burnt orange and John Kent’s pumpkin head, in olive and orange.  (They love orange.)

Dan and Adair will arrive at Lone Lake by 8:00 (7:00 AM ferry from Mukilteo to Clinton).  If you want to carpool, email Dan.  We’ll provide some instruction and information about the lake between 8:00 and 9:30 as we’re getting ready to launch (and, for that matter, throughout the day), so if you haven’t fished lakes much or Lone Lake at all, come along.

Bring a bag lunch, we’ll try to get together midday for a bite.  There’s a pub nearby just right for beer and lies at the end of the day.

Hope to see you there!

Directions from Clinton Ferry Terminal:

Take SR 525 off the boat to Bayview Road, 6.3 miles

Turn right on Bayview Road, proceed for 0.6 miles to E. Andreasen Road

Turn left on E. Andreasen Road, proceed for 0.3 miles to Lone Lake Road

Turn left on Lone Lake Road, proceed to the parking area on the north end of Lone Lake, 0.3 miles.

WASHINGTON FLY FISHING CLUB Waiver, Release, And Hold Harmless Agreement

Click on the following link to read the terms and conditions of this agreement that you will you agree to be bound with by attending this event whether you are a member of the WFFC or as a guest.

https://wffc.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Event-Waiver-revised-August-22-2016.pdf