Coffee Pot Lake Hosts - Wytold Lebing & Eric Olson
Coffee Pot Lake is best known for its prodigious chironomid hatches that feed rainbow trout, reaching nearly 24 inches long. In addition to those big trout, swimming under the fly fishers' radar are plenty of largemouth bass that go up to 5 pounds. It has black crappie and some yellow perch as well. Coffeepot is located in a deep coulee a few miles northeast of Odessa, so a floating device is necessary.
You’ll want chironomids–some with weight and some without. If the water is still cool, the fish will work deep. Last June, the fish were cruising the surface. TDCs, Ice Cream Cones, and your favorite chironomid patterns in sizes 14-18 work. On a sinking line, Dragonfly nymphs such as Chickabou Dragon or Draper Dragon (Flies Of The Northwest pattern book) will take fish. Of course, the ubiquitous black or olive rabbit bugger will catch most anything.
All you need to have the most topwater fun with the largemouth is The Hamster (Flyfishing for Western Smallmouth), and expect a nasty strike from a big rainbow as well. Add a white baitfish pattern (ask Eric Olson for his pattern), and you’ll be set.
This lake is in a remote location, but a small BLM campground and boat launch are available there. The campground has approximately 10 campsites with picnic tables and campfire rings, a large covered pavilion, plenty of RV parking, and a vault toilet. There is no potable water on site, so we will need to bring drinking water, approximately 1 gallon per person per day.
A previous Coffee Pot Lake outing report may be found in the June 2023 Flypaper.
What to Bring for Fishing:
What to Bring for Camping:
Food & Beverages:
Getting There
Chopaka Lake Hosts - TBD
The date is tentative. Registration will be enabled when we have an outing host.
This trip is designed to hit the peak of trout activity in this remote lake in Okanogan country. Chopaka Lake is where fly fishermen belong, and chironomid soakers put down roots. It just may be the hottest Callibaetis mayfly lake in the state. Located on a distant walled-in funnel at just under 3,000 feet elevation above the Sinlahekin Valley, Chopaka Lake is 148.8 acres of trout water squeezed into a narrow 1½ mile-long ladle. Depths in the southern half, the handle end, average less than 10 feet and support fertile nests of bottom vegetation that grow incredible insect fodder, especially mayfly nymphs. The bowl of the ladle is on the north end where the lake bottom plunges to more than 70 feet. A floating device is necessary to fish for the really large rainbows that cruise the lake.
WA DNR has a no fee campground with 2 vault toilets, questionable potable water, and a number of campsites with picnic tables. A few of the picnic tables have wooden canopies. You should have your WA Discovery Pass or WA DNR Pass with you for this campground.
The federal BLM has a no fee campground with 8 campsites with campfire rings and a vault toilet just past the DNR campground. There has been camping outside of the defined campsites in the BLM campground area.
NFA usually establishes itself in the DNR campground.
Directions:
Cancellation Deadline: Deadline for cancellation is 8:00 p.m. the Sunday before the outing. If you need to cancel, please contact the Outing Host(s). There will be no refunds after the cancellation deadline.
Outing Coordinator: Wayne Balsiger
This outing has been arranged with the Rock Island Fish Camp. All food and lodging is included in the price. We told them that we would have a maximum of 16 people. The cost is ~$950 (US). The exact RIFC cost depends on the exchange rate and will be determined in late May. A $210 deposit is required at the time of registration. The balance is due when we send an email in early June when we know the amount. You may pay the $210 via credit card. The balance can be paid via check or credit card, plus covering the card fees.
June 1 is also the cancellation date. After that point, there is no refund unless you can find someone to take your place. Much of the information on their website is reproduced below. Members who have been there before include Wytold Lebing, Peter Maunsell, Errol Flagor, Bill Gibson, Wayne Balsiger, Walt Shields, and Peter Rubenstein.
Although this is technically a no-host outing, Wayne Balsiger will act as coordinator and contact point with the RIFC staff. Generally, people have carpooled with other members.
The drive can be done in one day.
The Lakes:
Rock Island Lake is located on B.C.'s famed Nehalliston Plateau. Elevation - 4,200 ft. Some of our walk-in lakes are 5,000 ft. - 5,500 ft. The lakes vary in depth from deep volcanic holes to shallow beaver dams. They differ in water, from clear to marl bottoms to dark tea-colored lily pad ponds.
Most of the lakes have boats on them, but some remote walk-in lakes are only float-tube fishable. Take your tube and enjoy the day. Four lakes are easily accessed from camp, within a fifteen-minute walk or short row. Most of our outer lakes are road accessible, some with a drive and walk. Rock Island has electric motors available for rent at $10 a day.
The Fish:
All the lakes have only one species, "The Famous Wild Kamloops Trout." You have to hook one to know why they are called Wild. They will dance for you! No coarse fish are in the lakes—the trout range from pan size to 5 lbs. Fish up to 7 lbs have been caught. There may be some flies available at the lodge.
Accommodations:
Rock Island Lake Fishing Camp has six cozy log cabins, each with 3 – 5 beds. All are fully equipped for housekeeping, with propane cooktops, wood stoves, towels, cooking and eating utensils, and cold running water. Firewood and kindling are at your door. There is an ample supply of ice for your portable coolers. Showers, flush toilets, and hot water are all centrally located.
Home Cooked Meals:
Jeannie serves hearty, home-cooked meals in the cozy lodge. If you have any special dietary needs or restrictions, please let Wayne know when you make your reservation. They will do their best to accommodate you.
You will need to bring:
To make your trip more enjoyable, you should bring:
Clark Fork Hosts - Carl & Maura Johnson
Is 430 miles, one way, a long way to go for a weekend of fishing? It depends on where you are going and whom you are going to be with when you arrive. Many people come from all over the world to fish in Montana. We only have to cross eastern Washington and the panhandle of Idaho to get there. Once you arrive in Superior, MT (approximately an 8 hour drive from Seattle), you will be fishing with fellow NFA members and will be the guests of Carl and Maura Johnson.
Carl has a drift boat plus a big outdoor gas grill and he knows how to use it. Maura is a great cook. Tenting is on the Johnson's large lawn which has the softest green grass in the neighborhood. There is a big porch with chairs and lots of shade trees. The list of amenities goes on and on. Most of us will float the river but there are places to bank fish.
The outing report for last years outing may be found in the October 2023 Flypaper.
Outing Hosts - Peter Maunsell and Scott Keenholts
The Lower Yakima Canyon, from Wilson Creek to Roza Dam, offers more than 20 miles of relatively easily floating. NFA will set up camp at the Big Pines Campground on the river. This is sagebrush country, a basalt and desert landscape home to Bighorn sheep, deer, and plentiful hatches of insects.
Your primary catch will be trout and whitefish. Almost all of the trout are rainbows. Many of our group will be floating from any of the several launch sites downstream to the Big Pines campground or from the Big Pines campground down to the Roza impoundment. If you don’t have a boat there is easy access via numerous pullouts on Canyon Road running alongside the river, state route WA-821. In the spring and at the end of the summer through the fall, wading is not difficult, When the river runs high during the summer due to upstream releases for irrigation, wading is more difficult.
Outing Host - Scott Keenholts
Registration Fee: $50/per person
Our campground will be in the small town of Lowell, 340 miles east of Seattle at Three Rivers Campground located right where the Lochsa and Selway Rivers converge. Just 20 miles west is the convergence of the South and Middle Forks of the Clearwater River in the town of Kooskia. They have cabins, RV hookup sites, tent sites, and a group site. Their Cafe opens at 7am and is open I think until 1pm. The evening dinner restaurant is only open Thursday trough Sunday. Attendees will need to call Three Rivers Resort direct and make their personal reservations for whatever days they want.
Native cutthroat and bull trout are the primary catch, taking Mayflies, Caddis or Grasshoppers. You need a well stocked fly box to cover all of these rivers. Wading will be easy on the Selway and Lochsa. Boats and pontoons can be used on the Clearwater. There are many tributaries worthy of fishing as well. Three Rivers Campground has full facilities for comfortable tent camping as well as RV dry sites. Gas up in Kooskia before driving 20 miles to Lowell as there are no facilities available in Lowell.
Cancellation Deadline: Because this outing requires more extensive logistical efforts, the deadline for cancellation is 8:00 p.m. September 22nd 3 weeks prior to the outing. If you need to cancel, please contact the Outing Host. There will be no refunds after the cancellation deadline.
