East Lake report

[brandon4455]

Just returned last night from a day trip to east lake, it was planned for two, but we were all worn down, and decided it would be fine to call it a day because we had such a good time.

Launched the tubes at 6:00 at cinder hill ramp and headed out to deeper water to chironomid fish, caught an 18 inch blackwater on the way out.We observed a ton of rising fish when we launched and it continued for the next 2 hours with no wind. Chironomid fishing was slow but steady working our way along infront of cinder hill. Once the wind kicked up we moved over towards the cliffs and man it was on! for the next 2 hours easy it was bobber down nearly every cast!


We caught clipped rainbows, blackwater rainbows, and finally, after years of wanting to, i caught brown trout. and not just one, but 13 of them! the largest being the first one which was 18 inches.


the wind would die down for a while and kick back up for a short amount of time backing the bite go on and off, but it was enough to get me exactly 45 fish for the day,and a total of 59 between me and my cousin, before calling it quits later in the day.

there were less than 20 boats on the water all day, and everyone caught fish, but i did not observe anyone having as consistent action as we had.
it was my cousins first time on a real lake chironomid fishing from the tube and he did a great job.

it was an awesome first trip to the lake,and east is easily one of the coolest places i have ever fished, i will be back!

 

[brandon4455]

More pics

 

[rogerdodger]

beautiful fish, thanks for sharing the pics...

 

[OnTheFly]

One of the most awesome reports I've seen here for a while. Great job Bandon! My uncle, who lives in Bend, often fishes East Lake and the last time he was there he couldn't keep the fish off of chironomids. Him and his buddy slayed them. Excellent report and pictures.

 

[TimberTodd]

Congrats on the brown and a fantastic trip! Thanks for sharing it.

 

[Throbbit _Shane]

Nice report Brandon! Thanks for sharing!

 

[brandon4455]

One of the most awesome reports I've seen here for a while. Great job Bandon! My uncle, who lives in Bend, often fishes East Lake and the last time he was there he couldn't keep the fish off of chironomids. Him and his buddy slayed them. Excellent report and pictures.

Thank you jim. Sounds about right! yesterday seemed a bit off because the lack of chop for the first few hours but it kicked into gear eventually! we saw 3 other boats chironomid fishing,but i saw none of them land any more than 5-10 fish a boat,and this was spread out over a few hours. Too me it looked like they were all fishing in too shallow of water, or had their flies set too deep. The day before my trip i received a tip that callibaetis were outfishing the chironomids by a long shot,but i still chose to ignore that and went with my gut feeling, and the gut feeling as usual was right.

though i know east is famous for it's callibaetis, and the fish were all over them, you have to remember there are about 5 fish down deep eating for every one you see rise. with that in mind, chironomids are more effective most of the time. There are always exceptions of course.


everyone gets so caught up with the callibaetis dries and such, but for me i like the chironomids because you catch more fish, usually bigger fish, and it' is still a visual bite, but a mystery factor because you don't know the size or specie of the fish you have on.


ill be back within a month if the algae bloom isn't bad around that time.

 

[sapo]

Super good report, I always like ur pics!

 

[OnTheFly]

When my uncle and his friend began fishing that day, my uncle used a red chironomid and his buddy used black. They killed the black. To be more specific, a snowcone zebra midge.

 

[brandon4455]

nice! always good standby colors. in the winter and spring especially i love red for bloodworms. it seems in the summer i always have olive on. We caught every single fish that day on olive or green patterns in #14. My cousins top fly was a white bead one and it caught not a single fish. everything we got was on a more natural pattern.

 

[steelhead_slayer]

Nice report. The callibeatis hatch is fun and productive for top water there

 

[OnTheDrop]

Yeah buddy! That is a killer spot on the lake for consistent action. The browns use to be more populated in that area, but over the last few years it seems the bigger ones have moved to the Lodge/Warm springs area and on to the white slide.

 

[brandon4455]

Yeah buddy! That is a killer spot on the lake for consistent action. The browns use to be more populated in that area, but over the last few years it seems the bigger ones have moved to the Lodge/Warm springs area and on to the white slide.

thats what i have been told so far this year,and the same last year. definitely checking out the other half of the lake next time by,which should not be too far into the future. I love that place