Diamond Lake 7-12

[fish-on-bend]

I went to Diamond with a men's group campout over the weekend and of course I towed my boat down there. I have camped there 3 times with my wife but have never fished it. Thanks to a couple Ifishers advice and the resort website I figured I had a decent shot at getting some fish. Now to say the black gnats were thick on the lake would be like saying it gets hot in Death Valley in the summer, just a bit of an understatement. At one point I literally scooped them out of the bow by the handful. As I was eating my sandwich I remarked that I didn't remember ordering a poppy seed bun. :D I took a couple friends and 1 of their sons out for the 1st couple hours and got father and son into 3 fat boys. About noon father and son had feasted on enough gnats and were ready to get back to the dock with their fish. The other guy and I figured we and the boat were already covered so why not fish?:shrug:
We tossed out an orange apex on 1 side and a worm, 4' leader behind a small silver dodger on the other side and ran the downriggers at 15-20 feet. We stayed in 28-40 feet of water and had 12 on and 10 to the boat in 2 hours. Best 2 hours of rainbow fishing I've had in quite a while. Fish were all fat and full of fight and 14-18 inches. Lots of fun on my kokanee rods. There were probably 50 or more boats out in the morning. One guy was wearing a full face head-net, apparently he had fished there before. :wink: Only saw a few caught and all but 3 or 4 of us were bait fishing. By the time we got off the water at 3 there were only about 4 boats left. The south ramp sure has a nice fish cleaning station with a 4 pit disposal set up. I decided against fishing Sun morning as I had ingested my limit of gnats and did'nt want to risk a citation for poaching.

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/IMG_06021.JPG (http://www.ifish.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/81579/size/big/cat//ppuser/8168)

[Dullhook]

Appreciate the report and info. Them's a wicked pair of legs you dared to display on this family website, brother. :jester: In all seriousness great job on the bows! Planning a trip there in October "sans bugs" and hoping a couple of out of state family members will be free to share in the fun. Will keep your catchin' tips in mind because they'll probably be needed. Meanwhile there's a few kokes next week at Paulina to be humiliated by. :wink:

[Eagleclaw]

Gald you got to go out and fish. Looks like you did very well for your fisrt trip.

[SilverBullets]

Way to get into them! Not quite the size of that salmon you got up in Alaska, but they should smoke up real good. Great job, and glad you survived the black gnat attack! My dad took us to Diamond lake over 40 years ago, and I still have very fond memories of the time we fished there.

[BalouSC]

Thanks for the great report and pics Joe! Keeping me going here buddy!! Balou :applause:

[FallRiverGuy]

Good job Joe. I guess when you fish Diamond you can't smile when you catch a fish.

[Fishtail]

Just got back today from Diamond and fished both Sunday and Monday morning only. We fished both days from 1030-1230 and was off the water cleaning fish both days. The fish ranged from 14"-17" and were very fat to say the least. We caught them using orange and green powerbait with 4-5', 4lbs flourocarbon leaders, and fished on the weed beds in the south end of the lake. We kept 7 fish on Sunday and 6 on Monday. We turned back one each day and broke several off in the weeds of very good size. The skeeters were vicious in the campgrounds and the midges add protien to your diet while out on the water. The lake has rebounded and is teaming with insct life:meme::meme:


If you are planning a trip there in the next week or so, bring numerous cans of bug spray along for the skeeters:twocents:

[Buck]

Those midges are really something. I can't imagine what it would be like if they bit! Glad to hear the fish are still biting. Good post.

[Fishtail]

Just caught heck from my lovely wife who remided me that she kept me on the lake when the midges were so bad. She was a real trooper smearing sun screen on her legs with the ever green tinge of midge mixed in:flowered: To say the least that was hot!

She never complained and encouraged us to stay out, even when I knew it wasn't safe with the extra weight from the bugs:whistle:

She also wanted to remind me that she got the biggest fish, and that goes without saying as God loves women and children:flowered: