TillamookChinook
09-08-2008, 05:43 PM
I had a brief weekend trip to Hosmer Lake and it was like a dream fishing trip.
In my actual dreams about fishing there is nearly always something amiss; a tangle, or the motor won’t work, or something important is left behind, or something. So it was at Hosmer Lake on Saturday evening. As the sun went down the lake surface came alive with rising fish, as so often happens there. It is seldom evident what the fish are rising to, but they will often strike a fly that is stripped quickly back to the boat. I tied on an elk hair caddis with a nymph trailing behind. Nothing happened to the flies at rest, but I picked up a swirl on the stripping retrieve, cast back out, stripped in, and got a 13” Atlantic salmon on the nymph. Next cast got a 10” salmon on the caddis. Next cast lost both flies when a fish broke off. Now it’s dark enough to make it tough to tie on another fly, but I got it done and sent another long cast out so I could make a long retrieve. No strike, and the next cast didn’t feel right in the dim light, so I pulled it in to inspect and found the leader had snagged on the nail knot and I was casting a wad of leader. It took a while under the headlamp to get it cleared and cast again. Another snarl, which won’t clear without breaking off the fly, which means tying it on again under the headlamp. When that is finally accomplished the bite is done. A couple more casts yield no response, so we paddle back to camp in the dark.
So it goes at Hosmer Lake.
I think my first trip there was 31 years ago, Memorial Day, when my first-born son was about two months old. I recall rowing the 12’ cartop boat with the baby in the car-bed under a rain poncho in a light drizzle. There was a bald eagle in a tree on one of the islands in the upper lake and it looked totally miserable perched there in the drizzle. We floated by about 15’ below it and it didn’t move, just looked grumpy. On the trip this weekend, the weather was beautiful and we were joined by my son and his 1-year old daughter, so it was kind of a “full cycle” trip. I failed to pass on the fishing gene to my son, but it was still a delightful trip and I am hoping to have a chance to introduce the granddaughter to the joys of fishing someday.
I understand the Atlantic salmon in Hosmer now are a different strain of fish than was in the lake back in the ‘70’s. I believe it because they behave differently. In that first trip in 1977, there was a large school of fish that moved back and forth in the main channel where the inlet entered the lake. I could cast from the south shore and catch a fish on a dry mayfly each time the school passed in range. There were also smaller clusters of fish that hung out around the trees that had fallen into the upper lake from the north shore. These fish would take a bright fly, like a Parmachene Belle that was twitched back to the boat. Most of these schooling fish were 11” – 12” long.
There were some fish in the channels and at the boat-ramp end of the lake that were much larger, maybe 24” – 28”. I never hooked one of these, but it was always a thrill to be casting to such big fish that I could see. One time I was in the boat by the ramp, waiting for my wife to bring the car around and I looked down and saw one of these giants cruising toward me. I had on a tied-down caddis, so I just dropped it straight down in front of the fish. It didn’t even have to turn and it opened its mouth and the fly was in it, but it didn’t chomp down and I waited for a tug, and then the fly was out. So close to something really exciting!
The salmon now seldom get more than about 16” and I have never seen a cruising school of them. Now they hang out on the dark streaks in the bottom of the upper lake, or at the corners of the channel between the upper and lower lake. There are also lots of brook trout in the channels, about as long as the salmon, but heavier.
Besides the strain of fish, the other big change is the amount of traffic on the lake. Back in the day, the campground was seldom full, and it was as likely to be bird watchers as a fishermen. There might have been a total of 15-20 boats scattered on the whole lake. Now Hosmer has been discovered by the recreational paddlers and the campground is frequently full and the parking area at the ramp is usually over-full. The channels have a rush hour stream of kayaks all day long. It is more difficult to flyfish in this crowd, and the fish are constantly stirred up by the passage of boats overhead.
Hosmer was always a great place for bird watching, most especially the osprey and bald eagles. Lots of dramatic splashes into the water by the osprey, and occasional dogfights in the sky as the eagles tried to take fish away from the osprey. There have also been many kinds of ducks, phalaropes, sora, cranes and a bittern.
I think this is the only time we have been there and not seen an osprey. We did see one eagle and we heard sandhill cranes. I wonder if the kayak traffic has driven away the fishing osprey? Or maybe I just wasn’t looking in the right moments.
It’s always nice to visit with Max and Nila, the campground hosts for the last 21 years. Max has been devoted to Hosmer forever. He hand-routed the first sign installed by the ramp that described the fly-fishing regulations.
I think I have made at least one trip to Hosmer Lake every year since 1977, and it was great to be back again. Maybe next time I will fish with a knotless leader, maybe a little heavier for the low light of the evening rush. And maybe someday I will have a granddaughter thrill to a flycaught salmon in Hosmer.
TC
In my actual dreams about fishing there is nearly always something amiss; a tangle, or the motor won’t work, or something important is left behind, or something. So it was at Hosmer Lake on Saturday evening. As the sun went down the lake surface came alive with rising fish, as so often happens there. It is seldom evident what the fish are rising to, but they will often strike a fly that is stripped quickly back to the boat. I tied on an elk hair caddis with a nymph trailing behind. Nothing happened to the flies at rest, but I picked up a swirl on the stripping retrieve, cast back out, stripped in, and got a 13” Atlantic salmon on the nymph. Next cast got a 10” salmon on the caddis. Next cast lost both flies when a fish broke off. Now it’s dark enough to make it tough to tie on another fly, but I got it done and sent another long cast out so I could make a long retrieve. No strike, and the next cast didn’t feel right in the dim light, so I pulled it in to inspect and found the leader had snagged on the nail knot and I was casting a wad of leader. It took a while under the headlamp to get it cleared and cast again. Another snarl, which won’t clear without breaking off the fly, which means tying it on again under the headlamp. When that is finally accomplished the bite is done. A couple more casts yield no response, so we paddle back to camp in the dark.
So it goes at Hosmer Lake.
I think my first trip there was 31 years ago, Memorial Day, when my first-born son was about two months old. I recall rowing the 12’ cartop boat with the baby in the car-bed under a rain poncho in a light drizzle. There was a bald eagle in a tree on one of the islands in the upper lake and it looked totally miserable perched there in the drizzle. We floated by about 15’ below it and it didn’t move, just looked grumpy. On the trip this weekend, the weather was beautiful and we were joined by my son and his 1-year old daughter, so it was kind of a “full cycle” trip. I failed to pass on the fishing gene to my son, but it was still a delightful trip and I am hoping to have a chance to introduce the granddaughter to the joys of fishing someday.
I understand the Atlantic salmon in Hosmer now are a different strain of fish than was in the lake back in the ‘70’s. I believe it because they behave differently. In that first trip in 1977, there was a large school of fish that moved back and forth in the main channel where the inlet entered the lake. I could cast from the south shore and catch a fish on a dry mayfly each time the school passed in range. There were also smaller clusters of fish that hung out around the trees that had fallen into the upper lake from the north shore. These fish would take a bright fly, like a Parmachene Belle that was twitched back to the boat. Most of these schooling fish were 11” – 12” long.
There were some fish in the channels and at the boat-ramp end of the lake that were much larger, maybe 24” – 28”. I never hooked one of these, but it was always a thrill to be casting to such big fish that I could see. One time I was in the boat by the ramp, waiting for my wife to bring the car around and I looked down and saw one of these giants cruising toward me. I had on a tied-down caddis, so I just dropped it straight down in front of the fish. It didn’t even have to turn and it opened its mouth and the fly was in it, but it didn’t chomp down and I waited for a tug, and then the fly was out. So close to something really exciting!
The salmon now seldom get more than about 16” and I have never seen a cruising school of them. Now they hang out on the dark streaks in the bottom of the upper lake, or at the corners of the channel between the upper and lower lake. There are also lots of brook trout in the channels, about as long as the salmon, but heavier.
Besides the strain of fish, the other big change is the amount of traffic on the lake. Back in the day, the campground was seldom full, and it was as likely to be bird watchers as a fishermen. There might have been a total of 15-20 boats scattered on the whole lake. Now Hosmer has been discovered by the recreational paddlers and the campground is frequently full and the parking area at the ramp is usually over-full. The channels have a rush hour stream of kayaks all day long. It is more difficult to flyfish in this crowd, and the fish are constantly stirred up by the passage of boats overhead.
Hosmer was always a great place for bird watching, most especially the osprey and bald eagles. Lots of dramatic splashes into the water by the osprey, and occasional dogfights in the sky as the eagles tried to take fish away from the osprey. There have also been many kinds of ducks, phalaropes, sora, cranes and a bittern.
I think this is the only time we have been there and not seen an osprey. We did see one eagle and we heard sandhill cranes. I wonder if the kayak traffic has driven away the fishing osprey? Or maybe I just wasn’t looking in the right moments.
It’s always nice to visit with Max and Nila, the campground hosts for the last 21 years. Max has been devoted to Hosmer forever. He hand-routed the first sign installed by the ramp that described the fly-fishing regulations.
I think I have made at least one trip to Hosmer Lake every year since 1977, and it was great to be back again. Maybe next time I will fish with a knotless leader, maybe a little heavier for the low light of the evening rush. And maybe someday I will have a granddaughter thrill to a flycaught salmon in Hosmer.
TC