Gilligan and the Skipper!

Friday May 11th. Hyalite Reservoir with Trish, Larry and the Dogs. Weather was warm and partly cloudy with temps in the mid 70's and afternoon showers. The Cutts have left the Building.


Larry had to take Boze to Petsmart for a grooming at 9 am so we would not be able to head out to the lake until he was done at the groomers. We finally met up with Trish and picked up some lunch at Berries and Beans around noon. I had high expectations for the day since I had such good success only ten days earlier on the lake. When we got to the dam the water was all the way up to full pool and my hopes quickly dwindled as the lake had come up some 16 to 18 feet in the past ten days. Knowing that the lake filling up signals the cutts to head for the creeks and leaves only a few stragglers who do not want to partake in the spawning festivities and the grayling which spawn in the fall. We finally got to the ramp and loaded all of our gear into the boat for the ten minute row over to the inlet where most of the fish congregate in the spring. There were a couple of motorboats slowly trolling around the lake and two other guys on pontoon boats that had come in from the small sliver of state ground where hand launching a craft is possible. It does save a lot of rowing by putting in at the state land but with a drift boat you have to get lucky and not have anyone in the parking area. It is always a gamble that I usually do not take because the pot holes in the road are big and it takes nearly as long to bounce down the road as it does to row across the lake.


When we arrived in the southern end of the lake the island was two feet underwater and I told both Larry and Trish that I did not expect to catch a boat load of fish as most of them had probably made their way into the creek or they were stacked right at the creek mouth which is closed to fishing. The pontoon boats were fishing between the island and the western shore so we headed to the creek channel to try and get a shot at any fish that were getting ready to head up the creek. I anchored the boat a couple of hundred yards from the guys who were wade fishing across from the FW&P sign that tells you the fishing is closed behind the sign. I put on the Hyalite two fly rig that works well most of the year and we proceeded to sink the bugs in the channel that is now 10 feet below the surface. Ten days earlier the channel was clearly visible and the fish were stacked in it like cord wood. After 20 minutes of going fish less I started to reel in my flies and I had a take from a smaller 10 inch cutthroat. I landed it and let it go so that the fish could be caught again when he put on some additional inches and a pound or so in weight. Shortly after I let the small fish go Trish hooked into a larger fish and as it came to the surface it was a brightly colored Grayling.

"Trish with a Hyalite Reservoir Grayling"

It was Trish's first Grayling and she was very excited to catch one. I decided it was probably going to be a better day for drinking beer than it was for catching lots of fish so I reeled in my flies and cracked open a cold Busch Light that had been sitting on ice. Larry and Trish continued to fish for a while and then I decided to try and move further into the lake where the channel makes a bend and heads for the submerged island. We dropped anchor on the bend in the channel and I had them send their flies into the depths of the hole. Larry came tight to a nice 18 inch cutthroat right away and it hit while he was turned around responding to Trish and I giving him shit about his Gilligan hat that he likes to wear when we are fishing. Murphy did poke his head into our day with the fish taking the fly when we were not paying attention. Larry landed the cutthroat and we were happy that we had all caught at least one fish. Larry continued to make cast after cast into the channel and he came tight to another fish about 15 minutes after the first one. It was another nice Grayling and he was excited to get on the Grayling Board as well.


After Larry had two fish to Trish and my one he chided in every ten minutes or so about that he had caught two and we had only got one. The dogs were getting eager to get out of the boat so I pulled up anchor and we headed to the shore to fish between the island and see if we could pull in a few more grayling. We fished at the island for a half hour and then decided to give the other creek mouth a try on our way back to the truck. Trish jumped on the oars and rowed us over to the creek mouth where our luck consisted of catching a few sticks that had come out of the creek with the higher water. We decided to call it a day and Trish rowed us all the way back to the boat ramp and the waiting truck. It was a great day to be outside and our decision to leave turned out to be a good one as a big thunder storm moved into the area for the evening and it would have been a cold and wet row back to the truck had we stayed another hour or so on the lake.