sagefisher

Fog Dancer

Three of us drove up to the base of Mt. Adams in southern Washington. We were going to fish Takhlakh Lake. The lake is located fairly close to the Cascade Crest Trail and is about 4,400 feet in elevation.

A storm front had moved in during the night and when we arrived at the lake the fog (actually the bottom of a cloud) was still dancing on the lake. During the day we had brief periods of showers, clouds, some sun and a lot of fog (again, actually the bottom of some big clouds).

Fishing in the fog was fun, and I do believe the trout pick up their feeding activity when it is foggy. Maybe they realize the numerous Osprey that live around the lake can not swoop down and grab them.

Fishing was off a bit, most likely due to the storm front but there were fish to be caught. Howard did the best of us; he caught 25 Rainbow trout that day using a dark green bead head Hares Ear, in a size 14. Bill out did me by one fish, he caught 11, using a Caddis Emerger Pattern. I caught 10. That was alright with me, it was slow but relaxing and rewarding.

When I was at the FFF Conclave in Whitefish, Montana this year, I had purchased a new bamboo fly rod from its creator, Steve Pennington. I bought a Pine River rod, seven foot four weight. I intend to use it for pocket water fishing on small mountain streams, but I wanted to break it in and feel the fight of a trout on it, so I brought it along as my dry fly rod. I also brought along one of my Sage rods, an older 9 foot 6 weight VPS and I had a sink tip line on that to fish my Woolly Buggers down deep.

I caught eight of my fish on the Woolly Buggers, fished deep and worked really slow. During the day, I used a black with green flash, and an olive and a brown. All caught fish.

On my bamboo rod I had purchased a Rio Selective Trout II WF4F line. I had on a 7.5 foot 6X tapered Rio leader and I tied on a size 18 brown Elk Hair Caddis. The anticipated hatch never came off. However a few times I did see a fish working the surface and twice I was able to cast to the rise and hook up. Most of the trout were in the 10 inch to 12 inch size, but they are beefy across the shoulders and they fought really well. I think I will like that Steve Pennington rod for my pocket water fishing.

The fog really started getting thick around 3 PM and by 6 PM it was just plain socked in. Visibility was about 30 feet if you were lucky. I pulled in to shore right at 6 and started to pack up to leave. Bill came in about 15 minutes later, after using the sound of some kids playing in the campground area as his homing beacon. I went down to the shore and called out for Howard. He didn?t know where he was on the lake but he was still catching fish. After a while Howard was able to find where we were and we packed up and left the lake right at dark. It had been a good day.

I posted some photos.

The first photo is of Takhlakh Lake when we first arrived and the fog was just lifting for a while. The next two show Bill and Howard out fishing in the fog. The last photo is one I took in 2005 when I arrived at the lake and the water was totally still, just perfect for a reflection shot of Mt. Adams.

Larry ---sagefisher---