Fly Fisherman Throwback: America's Best Fly-Fishing Lakes

Editor's note: Flyfisherman.com will periodically be posting articles written and published before the Internet, from the Fly Fisherman magazine print archives. The wit and wisdom from legendary fly-fishing writers like Ernest Schwiebert, Gary LaFontaine, Lefty Kreh, John Voelker, Al Caucci & Bob Nastasi, Vince Marinaro, Doug Swisher & Carl Richards, Nick Lyons, and many more deserve a second life. These articles are reprinted here exactly as published in their day and may contain information, philosophies, or language that reveals a different time and age. This should be used for historical purposes only.

This article originally appeared in the July 1989 issue of Fly Fisherman magazine. Click here for a PDF of the print version of "America's Best Lakes."

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As the evening light fades on a lake in Oregon, a trout snout appears beside my tube. Then another and another. Black heads and trout backs and dorsals and tails surface all around the three of us and up the lake as far as we can see. Occasionally we hear a thup as a fish sucks in a natural, or a gluush in the weeds as another charges something.

"They're taking Chironomids, but I've never seen such large naturals." The voice, from a nearby tube, booms unnaturally in the thin night air. A small herd of mule deer stands silhouetted on a ridgetop, watching us as we hook and haul fish–Weight-Watcher trout with jowels. We are suspended in the midst of fish gluttony. We lash the water, first this way and then: "Oop! Over there." Then: "Behind you; right behind you!" We have dreamed of this, imagined it when thumbing through the destination ads in sporting magazines. But to experience it–to live it?

The largest trout live in stillwaters: There's more food there. Fish a tiny New England stream one year and you'll catch emaciated four-inch brookies; try it three years later, after the beavers have dammed it, and suddenly fat, 12-inch trout smack the fly floating amongst the pond's dead trees.

The stillwater-food riches of the West inspire fat in trout. Vermejo Park Ranch in the San Juan Mountains of New Mexico has for years impressed Gary Borger with its clear mountain lakes and superb trophy trout. Borger recalls in one two-week period–during an incredible damselfly hatch–taking 200 pot-bellied trout over 18 inches long. Examine Brian O'Keefe's underwater shot of a Grindstone Ranch rainbow.

The best small-lake fishing for wild trout is in North America, in manmade waters now managed for fly fishing. How good are they? Indulging themselves in gluttony in one 30-acre lake on the Grindstone Ranch near Paulina, Oregon (remember the Bhagwan Rajneesh and his Antelope, Oregon enclave? Near there.), are 6,000 brookies and rainbows averaging about 2½ pounds. The largest trout taken from a nearby lake on the same ranch weighed 17 pounds.

Surprisingly, few fly fishers have discovered the lake riches of North America. Our sport has encouraged stream fishing for trout here, and only since World War II has stillwater fishing blossomed in the Motherland-England. Today 80 percent of British fly fishing is done on reservoirs, where a six-pound fish won't raise an eyebrow among the anglers. If you want a taste of "fishing for hogs," consider these playpens.

The Grindstone Lakes

By John Randolph

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The 110,000-acre Grindstone Ranch is a special place. As you drive the 100 miles east from Prineville, Oregon, the high desert country becomes more and more stark. And as you take the turnoff onto the Grindstone Ranch road and drive the last 20 miles of dirt, things become a little weird. Longhorn cattle gather around the wet spots in the arroyos; a cowboy wanders through on horseback and waves; antelope stand and watch; dust seems to hang suspended in the clear, 4,000-foot-high air. Every three miles or so you must stop and open and close a wire gate. The Old West lives at the Grindstone.

Kaufmann's Streamborn Fly Shop, which books the ranch, in their write-up describes the lakes this way: "There are two fishable lakes. The larger is 60 acres and offers many weedbeds, shallow areas, and springs with some small brooks entering most all season. There is limited spawning. Water visibility is usually about 12 feet deep. This lake offers world-class angling for 5- to 12-pound rainbows and 16- to 20-inch browns.

Catches average from two to six fish daily, more if everything is working for you.

"The smaller lake is 30 acres and 20 feet deep and offers weedbeds and shallows like the large lake. Shore fishing is good, but float-tubing is best. There is a large population of three- to six-pound rainbows and fair numbers of one- to four-pound brookies. Good anglers have no trouble releasing 20 fish per day, and many anglers release over 50. Beginners will hook fish also."

Randall Kaufmann, who wrote this description of the lakes, is the bhagwan of understatement. (Look at the photos in this story. My largest fish taken on the Grindstone lakes was about eight pounds.) He describes the incredible hatches in these fertile waters.

"Hatches include Chironomids (some of them #8 and #10), Callibaetis, dragonflies, damselflies, and some caddis. There are strong populations of leech, snails, and scuds. There are usually periods during the day when fish are on the surface (taking emergers and adults) and periods when stripping a leech is best. Because of these diverse conditions, you'll need float­ing, intermediate, and type-4 full-sinking lines. A type-2 and 5-foot Teeny Nymph-Tip line is also of value. You'll want 4-foot leaders tapered to 0X, 1X, 2X, 3X, 4X and 9-foot leaders in the same sizes."

The required leader and tippet sizes, and the size of the Chironomids (sizes 8 and 10!) tell the story.

You simply must have the 0X and 1X tippets to handle some of these large, hot fish. I found the new Scientific Anglers level-sinking lines superb for the fishing. The lines made my fishing of wet flies far more responsive than standard full-sinking lines–I could feel the takes.

One must experience a rise of fish to the huge Chironomids each evening to appreciate the Grindstone hog pens. So abundant are the groceries that trout must grow rapidly. And this is the story of the truly rich lakes described in this directory–they have the most food-rich trout habitat in North America. There are public waters around the West with fine fishing, but none that truly matches the trout-filled food troughs described here.

Kaufmann's books the lakes at $200 per person per day, including food, lodging, and guide. Lodging is at the ranch house, which has three bedrooms and hot- and cold-running water, and fishermen bring their own sleeping bags. Kaufmann's Streamborn can be reached at P.O. Box 23032, Portland, OR 97223, (503) 639-6400, or through its Bellevue, Washington, store at 15015 Main Street, K-Mart Center, Bellevue, WA 98007, (206) 643-2246.

The fly patterns recommended by Randall Kaufmann comprise a stillwater angler's arsenal–suitable for all the food-rich lakes discussed here: Rabbit Leech (black or purple), Woolly Bugger (#2-#8, black, olive, brown, red, and white), Zonker (#4-#8, black), Filoplume Leech (#4-#10, black, olive, and brown), Filoplume Damselfly (#10-#12, olive, green, and brown), Floating Dragon (#4-#8, olive and brown), Lake Cragan (#4-#8, olive and brown), scud (#12-#16, olive), Chironomid Pupa (#8-#12, black, olive, and peacock), Pheasant-tail Nymph  (#12-#14, olive and brown), Callibaetis thorax, spinner, and floating-nymph patterns (#14-#16), and the California Mosquito.

The best fishing times on the Grindstone lakes are from May through September, with the damselfly hatch-from mid-June to late July-offering the best opportunities to catch the largest and the most fish. Chironomid hatches occur throughout the period, and Callibaetis emergences remain excellent from mid-June through July. Streamer fishing is superb anytime.

Stony and Minnie Lakes

By Jim Teeny

Have you ever dreamed of catching trout that would average an honest four to five pounds? Well I have. And those dreams can come true on two well-managed lakes in British Columbia.

Rumor has it that there are rainbows up to 20 pounds in Minnie and Stony lakes on the Douglas Ranch near Merritt, B.C. I have seen cruising trout there that I estimated at over 15 pounds. And some of the takes my fishing partners and I have had while fishing the lakes have been so savage that we use no less than 8-pound-test tippets. If you think this sounds like a dangerous place to cast a fly, imagine the thoughts that race through your mind while you are fishing!

The Douglas Ranch lakes sit about a mile apart in high-desert mountain country. Float-tube fishing is excellent, but since the shorelines are solid enough to allow wading, much of the fishing is done by walking and casting to targets of opportunity. Boats are left at both lakes so the limited number of fishermen can cover a lot of different water during the course of a day's fishing.

Although both lakes are full of fish, one must be patient when fishing, because the bite goes on and off throughout the day. The largest fish our group landed weighed just over nine pounds.

April, May, and early June are excellent fishing, and the lakes turn on again from late September through October. Ice-out comes in April, and fishing is superb then for very large trout, which with the use of polarized glasses you can spot cruising the lake surfaces. At other times trout roll and feed greedily in the shallows, offering fishing-hunting targets for the wade fisherman.

Wind can be a factor on these lakes, but during relatively calm days there are excellent rises to a #10 or #12 green-bodied caddis (June) and during July the damselfly hatches provide superb fishing, both dry and wet. During summer evenings the huge trout hunt the shallows for Chironomids, and during August an excellent dragonfly hatch provides steady action. Scuds abound in the lake, but with so much food available, getting a fish to notice your fly can be difficult. The lakes also have Callibaetis hatches that bring the fish up for the dry-fly fisherman.

Although any sinking, sinking­tip, or intermediate lines will work on these lakes, we have had our best luck with my Mini-Tip line, which I designed for lake and stream fishing. It's a floating line with five feet of Hi-Speed Hi-D at the tip end. This allows you to get your fly down a bit and work under the surface effectively.

In addition to the flies suggested by Randall Kaufmann above, I've had great success using my Teeny Nymphs and Teeny Leeches. Best sizes range from 2 to 10 in black, antique gold, natural, flame orange, ginger, and hot green. The Teeny Leeches perform best when cast blind into the lake and worked back. You should vary your retrieve until you hit the right one for the day. Powerful six- to seven­pound rainbows and Kamloops trout are common on these lakes, so you should have at least 150 feet of 20-pound backing on your reels.

Both lakes are private, protected behind a locked gate, and well patrolled. Arrangements must be made in advance, because the lakes are popular. The charge is $50 a day per person, and you are allowed to keep one fish. Most fishermen release their fish, perhaps finding it exciting to watch a five- to nine-pound rainbow that has just given such pleasure swim away. During spring red cheek patches and pink stripes mark the chrome-bright rainbows, and the lakes are so food-rich that small heads and deep bodies are typical.

Through the years I have had a chance to enjoy some great trout fishing on many different lakes, but I'd put Minnie and Stony at the top of the list. Weather can be a big factor in your fishing, but if you hit things when the lakes are on, you should have your dream trip.

To book fishing on the lakes, contact Peter McVey at Corbett Lake Lodge, (604) 378-4334, or Hub Sports, 33719 Essendene, Abbotsford, B.C., Canada V2S 2G7, (604) 859-8316, Roger Dornan.

Merrill Lake

By John Randolph

As you emerge from Yankee Jim Canyon, heading north from Gardner, Montana toward Livingston, you get your first view of Paradise Valley. Turn left up Tom Miner Basin Road and drive about two miles and turn left at a sign that says Hubbard's Yellowstone Lodge; drive to the top of the hill and look back. Paradise Valley and the Yellowstone River snaking through it lies at your feet. Turn around and you'll see two log lodges and an 80-acre lake with trout rises dimpling its surface. The average fish under those rises is two pounds–perhaps three this year.

Technology has turned this lake from promising trout water into a fly fisher's delight. I almost hate to spill the beans on it, and would not have done so except that it needs fishermen to ensure its future. When Jim Hubbard bought the 13,000-acre ranch in 1976, Merrill Lake had fine trout fishing–with one exception: It froze completely every few years, and the trout smothered from lack of oxygen. Hubbard solved that problem by aerating the lake during winter to prevent oxygen depletion. Today trout grow large there and live to tell about it.

Like the Grindstone Ranch lakes, this one is food-rich-what the biologists call eutrophic. Weedbeds grow to just beneath the surface on its southern, shallow end. And in these shallows the trout (rainbows and cutthroats) cruise in daylong searches for damselflies, chironomids, leeches, and scuds.

The Chironomid hatch (#12 and #14) sets the table along the weedbeds, and trout sip naturals on the smooth evening water. When the hatch gets rolling, you are in it with the fish. Anglers who have fished the damselfly hatch in July, here and on Henry's Lake in Idaho, say it must be experienced to appreciate. Hatching flies crawl over you and your float tube, while trout gorge themselves to the left and right in the seasonal bacchanal. Olive-bodied Woolly Buggers should be outlawed during this hatch; fishing the fly is like throwing a wine bottle in a drunk tank.

Merrill has a superb Callibaetis hatch in late July and August. The spinner fall occurs just before dark on the far shore away from the lodge, and in a pinch it can be imitated with a #12 or #14 Adams with the hackle clipped short so the fly floats flush. When the trout­ mostly rainbows-are on the fin after these naturals, you can take a two- to five-pound fish on virtually every cast. (Use no lighter than 4X tippets here or the trout will break you off in the weeds.)

Hubbard's Lodge provides aluminum boats with electric motors, and you can also float-tube on the lake with tubes and flippers provided by the lodge. I prefer float-tubing.

Sitting and waiting near pods of feed­ ing trout is the best technique on Mer­ rill Lake-an unforgettable experience. If the fish are not feeding actively on the surface, simply strip-retrieve black, olive, or red marabou leeches or Woolly Buggers along the shorelines or weedbeds. Fishing is easy, and if you have any fly-fishing experience you should pick off a four- to five-pounder or two every day. The fishing is catch­ and-release, single, barbless hooks only, and you can keep one fish over 24 inches for mounting.

Hubbard's base lodge is a huge log­ frame building with bedrooms and in­ dividual bathrooms at each end of a fly bridge stretching over an immense central lounge. A second, smaller log structure is located nearby on the lake, and it has a superb view of Paradise Valley. Rates, including fishing, boat and motor, lodging and meals, are $120 a day, and Hubbard's offers special rates for groups of from 10 to 14 people. For an additional fee, it offers shuttle service to and from the Bozeman airport. The address is Yellowstone Outfitters, Box 662, Emigrant, MT 59027, (406) 848-7755 or (406) 848-8729.

Isaak Ranch, Washington

By Dave Engerbretson

The Isaak Ranch in the state of Washington is an excellent example of stillwater managed to provide high-quality trout fishing for a limited number of rods on a fee basis.

The ranch looks like anything but trout country to the uninitiated, situated in the· arid lands of central Washington where sagebrush and rock outcroppings dominate the rolling landscape. However, tucked away in shallow depressions are many spring-filled desert "seep lakes" and manmade irrigation reservoirs that can provide superb trout habitat if properly managed.

The 40-acre Isaak Lake was first stocked with 1,000 seven-inch Kamloops rainbow trout as a "home project" by the rancher in 1984. In the spring of 1986, these fish ranged between 17 and 27 inches long, a tribute to the richness of the habitat.

In 1987, the first year that the lake was open to the public on a fee basis, the trout averaged 23 inches long (approximately 51/2 pounds), and seven fish over 27 inches long were taken. The largest weighed about 12 pounds. In mid-June of 1988, most of the year's fish ranged from 19 to 26 inches long. Fourteen trout over 27 inches long were taken, and three were more than 30 inches long.

The fishery managers determined that the ideal carrying capacity of Isaak Lake is about 100 fish per acre, and the stocking program allows it to maintain that concentration. The present plan is to have two- to five-year-old fish in the population plus carry-overs, depending upon the life span of the fish. The managers hope that the lake will always hold a good base of trout in the 20- to 30-inch range.

Through the fall of 1988 the lake contained only the Kamloops strain of rainbow trout. Then a plant of five- to seven-inch browns was made, and these fish should be in the 12- to 16-inch range by the spring of 1989. By 1990, the browns should be extremely large, providing excellent sport.

Since it opened for fee fishing, the Isaak Ranch guiding and fishery management have been directed by George Cook, whose primary goal is to provide visiting anglers with a fly-fishing experience of the highest quality. All of the water's regulations have been formulated to this end.

The split season runs from March through the first week of May and from Memorial Day through July 25. The lake is open on a catch-and­release basis three or four days per week and is fished by only three to five rods per day. With these restrictions the fishing pressure on the ranch is less during an entire season than many of the country's more popular waters receive on a single weekend.

When the season opens in March, there is little insect activity, and the fishing is primarily with wet flies. (The fish are mainly feeding on scuds, but there are so many naturals available that your artificial in that pattern is seldom spotted by the fish.) Thanks to this huge scud population, trout feed heavily all year long, and their annual growth rates are from 7 to 11 inches. The most successful fly patterns are large Woolly Buggers and Flash-A-Buggers in black, olive, and red.

Though this is stillwater angling and float tubes or boats are available at the ranch, most of the fishing is done by wading. You walk along the shoreline, fishing the drop-offs and shelves, where the big fish cruise, with ten-foot, Type III sinking-tip or floating lines. For this fishing I prefer stiff 5- to 7-weight rods to handle the big flies and windy conditions.

The Chironomid activity begins in April; the latter half of the month is prime. During these hatches the fishing is a stalking game, with fishermen casting size 10 or 12 black- or rust-colored Chironomid pupae or skittering adults on floating lines to rising trout. It's often an evening game, when the fish come into the shallows to gorge themselves on the emerging naturals, but the action can be daylong when the weather is overcast. It's exciting fishing-nearly 30-inch-long trout rising majestically to drifting midge pupae.

There are also Callibaetis hatches. In May the Chironomid activity tapers off, and the big Woolly Buggers again become effective for the remainder of the season. For some reason Isaak Lake does not have the large July hatches of damselflies normally found on many Western lakes. However, during June and July there is a large evening caddis emergence, and it can provide excellent fishing to both drys and emergers.

Why, among all the places that offer fly fishing for a fee, is the Isaak Ranch special? Because the odds of catching a number of trout over 24 inches long in a given day may be the best in North America. Fishing the ranch is like fishing anywhere; there are easy days and tough days. You can expect 6 to 12 hookups a day, and sometimes 8 to 18. Twenty-fish days are the exception, but they keep us coming back. There are no accommodations at the ranch, but excellent motels are available in nearby Soap Lake, Coulee City, or Ephrata, Washington. For an outstanding lodging and dining experience, try the Notaras Lodge in Soap Lake.

The fee for fishing the Isaak Ranch is $150 a rod per day. Reservations or additional information can be obtained from George Cook, 9262 Olson Road, NW, Bremerton, WA 98310, (206) 692-3001 after 7 P.M. Pacific Standard Time.

Elktrout

By John Randolph

Like the rest of the lodges and fishing operations in this story, Elktrout caters to fly fishermen, knows fly fishing, has professional guides, and offers some of the best Stillwater fishing in North America. Its private lakes are extremely food rich, hogpens where three- and four-pound trout raise no eyebrows.

Elktrout is a modern log lodge accommodating 20 people and located on a bluff overlooking the Colorado River two hours from Denver at Kremmling, Colorado. Its four small lakes–the Curry Ponds and Scholl's Pond–contain very large rainbows, brook trout, and cuttbows (a rainbow-cutthroat cross). Elktrout also books guided fishing on four private ponds that hold superb two- to eight-pound rainbows and browns on the Blue Valley Ranch.

Hatches on these small lakes parallel those the authors describe in the other lake stories. Randall Kaufmann's recommended Stillwater fly box should serve any angler well here. As on all the lakes, the easiest fishing method is stripping leech patterns (# 1/0 to #6 Marabou Leeches in black, green, or red) and green-bodied damselfly streamer patterns (Woolly Buggers). Dry-fly activity centers around damselfly, Chironomid, and Callibaetis hatches. Fishing at Elktrout is catch­and-release, with the exception of Elktrout's many high-mountain ponds, where small trout abound. You'll find the largest trout in the small lakes and ponds.

Elktrout also has superb dry-fly (the evening rise of fish is superb) and wet-fly water in its six-mile stretch of the upper Colorado, and it has two miles on Troublesome Spring Creek and has freestone fishing on its small Cataract Creek.

Elktrout rates are $1,650 double occupancy, six days and six nights, including guides, meals, and a round trip from Denver's Stapleton airport, or two days and one night for $500. Day rates are also available. Write Elktrout, Box 614, Kremmling, CO 80459, (303) 724-3343.

Stillwaters of Vermejo

By Gary Borger

Imagine 400,000 acres of pristine, ponderosa-pine forest draped over the high peaks of the rugged Sangre de Cristo Mountains at the Colorado/New Mexico border. Then imagine a series of high-country lakes as fertile as a limestone creek, where big trout are the norm instead of the exception. Where in a period of three short days three of us landed over 200 trout over 18 inches long. Where in one day I took over 150 trout. If your imagination hasn't burned out from overload, you've managed to catch a glimpse of what the stillwaters of Vermejo Park Ranch are like.

The ranch has browns, rainbows, cuttbow hybrids, brookies, and Rio Grande cutthroat. The fish live in 15 easily accessible lakes from 7,500 to nearly 12,000 feet elevation, and in other lakes that can only be reached by hiking or horseback. The biggest trout (close to ten pounds) on the ranch are in the lower elevation lakes: Mary's, Munn, Bartlett, Adams, and Bernal. The trout feast on a cornucopia of items. Food fishes, scuds, and snails abound in the weedy margins of the lakes, where the angler can cast to cruising trout hunting the near-shore shallows. Damselflies give a stellar performance from mid-June through mid­August (depending upon elevation). This hatch must be seen to be believed. There are also fine hatches of the Giant Capering Sedge and the smaller Tan Lake Sedge. Callibaetis mayflies and the diminutive Caenis mayflies are also prolific. Midges often fill the morning air with their buzzing while simultaneously other midges fill the bellies of cruising trout.

Vermejo is a working cattle ranch and a stronghold of the vanishing American cowboy. There's an enormous herd of elk ranging the high country as well as buffalo, antelope, mule deer, coyotes, cougars, bears, and a host of Western songbirds. It's still wild country. Wild, but with a warm Western hospitality that is hard to match. Lodging is in an incredible assemblage of lovely, historic stone buildings, and the food is sumptuous.

Whether stalking cruisers from the shore, wade fishing, pursuing trout from a belly boat or row boat, or hiking in to spend the day at a high cirque lake in pursuit of scarlet-flanked brookies, you'll find all the fishing you'll want in the stillwaters of Vermejo.

The 1989 fishing season runs from June 2 through September 4. The 1989 rates are $125 per person per day (food and lodging); $60 per day fishing rights. For more information, contact Reservations, Vermejo Park Ranch, Drawer E, Raton, NM 87740, (505) 445-FISH.

Yamsi Ranch

Book author and conservationist Dayton Hyde owns a ranch about 30 miles north of Klamath Falls, Oregon, and on that ranch is 300-acre Hyde Lake, and in that lake are huge trout. One of them–a six­pounder–appears on the cover of this issue in the hands of Randall Kaufmann. The lake is food-rich, and it contains both rainbows and brook trout from three to nine pounds. There are fewer trout than you'll find on some of the other lakes described in this issue, but an experienced fisherman this year should be able to take two large trout in a day of fishing. Good management in progress there should increase the head of fish in Hyde Lake in coming years.

Hyde Lake is booked through the Kaufmann Streamborn shops mentioned above in the Grindstone Lakes section. The fly and tackle. requirements are virtually the same, and the hatches are similar in species and emergence times. Fishermen stay at a comfortable log-and-stone ranch building, where meals are served. The fishing, lodging, meals, and guiding are $200 per day. For a complete information sheet, contact Kaufmann's Streamborn at P.O. Box 23032, Portland, OR 97223 (503) 639-6400.