I joined 5 old class mates and traveled to the Twins for a weekend of fishing. Keep mind, when I say old class mates I mean we went to grade school starting around 75 years ago, so this is an annual event. They are not actual fly fishermen, but have bought fly rods and sinking lines (with my help) over the past 30 years so they now can troll and actually do have a great time---trolling from the same 18 ft. boat I rent a barge so as I can stand, cast and explore On this trip the lake was just coming out of the winter doldrums with the temperature getting down in the 20's at night, thus there were now hatches of any kind and with a strong wind continually blowing out of the SW that made trolling was a challenge for even the boys in the boat. I only fished one day, but did manage to pick up a 23 incher casting. The boys in the boat trolled for 5-6 hours each day and did catch a half dozen in the 22 to 25 inch class along with a half dozed smaller fish. I spoke with the Tribal Biologist and was told 300 fish in the 2-3 pound range were planted this month, but next month will be the larger plantings. These lakes should get much better as soon as the weather warms. On another note, two of our cabins did not have heat and there are no boats to rent, but I did obtain one by begging. I would make sure when you make your reservations the TVs', heat and hot water systems all work. Weather

Fished the Omak area 6/8 through 6/12, with friends I've been fishing with the past 40 years. On this trip there were 5 of us, two whom are new to fly fishing. I think it's somewhat of a disadvantage for them in that we will not allow any fly pattern that sinks below the surface. However, after 2 years they have grown accustom to only fishing dry's and seem to have no desire to fish the dark side. loFirst, we took them to a lake called Green, just a few minutes from Omak. The fish are only 12-16 inches, but it's a good lesson for beginners. One must pay attention to the lakes entomology---- changing hatches throughout the day as well as where the fish will be during this period. We all caught fish and on several patterns, but what was important was finding where the fish were feeding. What we try and teach is again, pay attention to the birds and what appears to be hatching. Next, find out where the fish are feeding. We tell them to ask themselves, "if I were a fish where would I be looking for food?" It doesn't talke long. On Tuesday we headed up to a quality lake called Buzzard based on a positive review from the fly shop in Omak. Blue gill are abundant in Buzzard, but were told the fly clubs were doing well for trout. The weather did not cooperate so we left after a couple of hours with no fish and headed back down to fish Green, which fished well. On Wednesday we headed up to Chopaka and fished the afternoon. All of us caught fish, but should have done better. After a strategy meeting that evening we headed back up the next day and finally got it sorted out. We armed ourselves with size 16 green and blue damsels. Size 16 callibaetis mayflies. The mayflies in Chopaka are very dark and we determined the blue dun patterns outfished the traditional Adams. Also size 18 sparkle duns worked as well at times. The mayflies started coming off starting around 11:00am and seemed to continue throughout the day as well as the damsels------But--it all depended on how you fished them. The hatches were on the bank in the weeds so it took some skill to cast your fly over the weeds against the bank with a light wind. Needless to say we all ended up occasionally snagging a weed. Once the wind came up we were in heaven and our personal fly the Gray Ugly really kicked butt. The fish averaged 18" and up. I caught approximately 15 fish up to 21" The high point was getting broke off by fish I estimate to be 22-24 inches. I was using 4X was broken off 4 times due. Keep in mind we are fishing in the weeds where the water depth is 12 inches. These fish fight like no other that I've caught in this state and for that reason will use straight 6 lb test. These fish are not leader shy. Bottom line is, if you want to catch fish you got to be accurate and shoot your line between weeds and onto the bank. It's all about accuracy!!!! Our trip Friday was cancelled due to thunderstorms. The road is brutal, but passable and I can't wait to get back up there.

Tried to fish this past week at Ebey's Landing and Fort Casey and got shut down due to too much seaweed etc. in the water. Fished Ala Spit this am and hooked 8 while landing 5. Saw only two other fly fishermen and only one gear guy so had the place pretty much to myself. Headed there tomorrow at tide change.

Leech Lake is fising well for dry's using an adult damsel. Spoke to a gentleman that fished it this past weekend and had 13 on and landed 4. Fish are good size. I've been invited to go Sun. and Monday so will provide a report upon my return.

Just returned after fishing Green Lake and Chopaka. Green is located about 15 minutes out side of Omack. Our party of four fished Green (dry's only) and experimented with various dry patterns just for the fun of it and had a great time. As with dry's, in many cases it's how you fish the fly, but it was a relaxing time with the fish averaging 12-14 inches. Now, on to Chopaka. As in the past 10 years, we stayed at Spectacle lake and commuted to Chopaka. (It's about 11 miles.) The road is rough as always, but we've seen worse. We started fishing around 10am and basically no one started catching fish until about noon, which is when the callebetis hatch began. (Lots of damsels, but fishing damsles was slow.) I used my patented size 16 fly called the "grey ugly" and had a wonderful two days. Caught numerous fish 18" and a few 19-21. Secret? Find out where the callibaetis are hatching and cast to the rises or nervous water; in my cases they were in a foot of water. On Wednesday I was catching them a foot from shore or in the cattails. Being able to double haul and cast accurately makes a significant difference and eliminates blind casting with hope there may be a fish present. There were challenges. Rises would shut down at times for 10-15 minutes, but once a rise was recognized I'd target that fish or close to it and pick one up. The actual hatch reached it's peak between 1:30 and 2:00 pm. The fish are strong and in most cases took at least 5-10 minutes to land. That prevented me from having a 20 fish day. Several thew the hook (good news) and several dove into the cattails and broke off......(bad news.) Missed several, but from noon to 3:00pm it was lights out busy casting, landing and doctoring the fly. My friends also fish only dry's and were using a size 16 sparkle dun and having some success. We found it interesting 99% of the fishermen were trolling or fishing chronomids and kept coming over and asking what we were using. All in all it's a mecca for us dry guys. Contact me for any question on where to fish etc.

Eight of us fished Walker Lake arriving 5/23 and leaving 5/26. Fishing was not good. Tom Langley fished chronomids and had limited success. The remaining 7 guys trolled, fished dry's and the total fish caught for the time we were there was 2. That's right---2 fish. It was our opinion this resort operates on a limited or low budget that does not allow for monies for restocking. Secondly, this is not a healthy lake. There is aeration and without it the lake would be void of fish. I would not recommend this lake.

Thanks to all who fished with us at the Twins. Fishing was not lights out, but weather held up and all caught fish. Mark Wilbert states he landed and released a 24 incher. He seems like an honorable guy so I had to believe him. lol I too caught a 24 incher------there or bouts. Weighed in at 4.75 lbs. Again, trying to catch those buggers on dry's was futile. Tried emergers down to size 22 and the fish kicked my butt. Dang!! Dale and Judy landed a couple over 20" and I saw there net out on more than one occasion so know they did pretty well. Thanks to the the Rohrer's, Dale and Judy and of course Mark for the wine and treats for happy hour. Perhaps more of the membership will realize what a great fishery this is and joine us next year. Thanks again, Clayton

Forgot to mention in the last post that the Tribe will no longer sell licenses across counter. I even asked if I could purchase one at Tribal Headquarters on the way up and the answer was no. All licenses must be purchased on line. If you go to Rainbow Resort Facebook there is a link that takes you to the sign up page. Have't tried it yet so look forward to hearing from any of you that have done is successfully.

Hey gang, the outing for Twin Lakes scheduled next week has been canceled. Weather is a key concern and that coupled with partial ice still on the lake prevents the resort from staging the docks and stocking fish. Therefore, we have slid the date to the week of May 7th. (I've booked the nights of May 7th, 8th and 9th. ) Hopefully by then the docks should be in place, fish planted and boats available. I was advised by the resort this am they are instore for another storm the next few days. I will stay in touch with the resort and post any new updates