Pass Lake
(near Anacortes Washington)
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| Above March 2005 The March Brown May Fly was hatching and setting around in some numbers... the fly above fooled this 19 1/2 inch Brown Trout. |
A beautiful rainy day where the Mayflies were hatching that had some big browns cruising and slurping them selectively, but not too... |
One good thing about this lake, or any Western Washington lake is, it is never "blown out" because of high water due to heavy rains. The Yakima can be rolling and un-fishable, even the Sky and other western rivers can be rolling because of heavy rain... and Pass Lake, like most lakes, is not effected at all.
As a matter of fact I have not even seen an inlet to Pass lake. Where does all that water come from? I'm not the one to answer. Maybe it is spring fed...
It is located at the pass between Whidbey Island and Anacortes. It is an interesting place to look around. There is Puget sound saltwater, Pass Lake and other fresh waters very close to each other. It is a beautiful setting.
| A beadhead Brassy Chronimid caught the most fish on a spring day in May of 98. Other days it has been black Woolly Buggars trolled along at 15 feet or so. Wind drifting right above the bottom weeds seemed to be the most successful (from my pontoon boat). Or a finger retrieve when anchored. Once in a while I have seen dry fly action near the shore where you can cast to individual surfacing fish. I keep an eye out for the near shore surface activity, and row over when it starts. The Caddis and Mayfly seem to be about equal in surface activity. I assume later in the summer there is Dragonfly and other insect activity, but I have not been there during mid summer. |
Note: Shore access at this lake seems somewhat limited especially for a fly fishermen. There are a few places by the road where a back cast can happen easily, but the entire far side of the lake looks like float tubes and boats only. It is also a "selective fishery regulations" lake, and no motors on the boats. |
Pass Lake Browns
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A trip to Pass lake in spring of 2000 was productive in that I finally caught one of the Browns that I had heard of. He was a nice one too. |
Rattlesnake Lake near North Bend Washington
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Baby Mallards |
Pass Lake, or Rattlesnake Lake near North Bend, are pleasant places to relax on the water in the pontoon boat. It is not a place to go for large or extraordinary fish. I enjoy it when other places are not fishable, or when a day floating around sounds like about the amount of energy I want to expend. |
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(Above) June 05 Rattlesnake Lake Rainbow |
Left: They have stocked this lake heavily this year with "catchable" size Rainbows... this one to the left was a bigger one, about 13 inches, that had been caught many times before. But that is still better than staying home. |
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