I'm Back

Hello to my one subscriber and anyone else who finds this site. I spent the summer of 2009 fishing Lewiston Lake a couple of evenings a week. I have discovered some of it's secrets and am tying flies like mad to get ready for the upcoming summer. I had a blast in the evenings and released 2 to 15 fish each night (3 hours fishing)

To summarize my new found knowledge: there are large fish in Lewiston Lake -- they feed on midges -- evenings are cool and the fish are active -- instead of matching the hatch when fish are sipping under the surface, stripping a blackberry leech pattern yields great results (one leech = 10,000 midges??).

I have been preparing for the summer and have found some great ideas on the web. Pictures are on their way.

I did fish one day this year already, in mid-March. The midges were hatching but the fish weren't hitting them. In the evening one fish was actively sipping just under the surface. I stripped a sparkle chenille bead head wooly bugger over it's area and it smashed it. It was a beautiful, colorful fish, 16 to 18 inches long, sadly, with many leech marks. I didn't have my net and trying to release it my line broke with the hook still in the mouth of the fish (aarrgghh -- supposedly they hooks fall out in a couple of days).

I look forward to keeping a web journal of my experiences and the fishing on Lewiston Lake -- and starting this summer, in the lakes found in the Trinity Alps. Nothing like a little hiking to get one in shape (and it is cooler in the mountains!!!).

Take Care,
Shane

Saturday: Beautiful but no fish

The boat: 11 feet of rip-roaring power (5 hp)

I fished 4 hours on Saturday (1 - 4 and 5-6), between the boat dock and "pile of rocks" near Pine Cove Marina. I trolled with a floating fly line / sink tip, drifted midges in the wind, and blind cast wooly buggers on an intermediate line. Not a single take. I did see one person land a 16 inch fish between the docks and the island. He was using a "black AP Nymph", drifting and stripping. He worked the water hard while I just floated around lol.

The weather was great: clear, 60 degrees (T-Shirt Weather), very few bugs were active, and the water was green with about 5 foot visibility. There were very few boats on the water -- about a max of 3 at a time.

I did see two fish rise, if torpedoing 3 feet straight up out of the water can be called a "rise". I thought they were bass because they were SO FAT that they didn't look like trout---their bellies were extended probably filled with 1000's of midges.

Traffic Jam: Another Fisherman AND a Canoe

Yes, no trout were caught, but I had a much better time on the water than pretty much anything else that was possible (a backstage party would be better, but let's be real). Spring has started and I'm sure the fishing will pick up, especially on weekends that I'm unable to participate on the water. All in all it was a pleasant day even with the skunk on the boat. I'm waiting for the water to clear so the fish can see the flies along their cruising routes. Until then, it's trying to blindly drop the fly just in front of their noses.

Good Luck All

An Introduction

My name is Shane Feusier. I am a high school teacher, a single dad to two kids in college, and am an avid fisherman who seldom fishes. I fell into a beautiful trailer / addition / deck in the Pine Cove Trailer Park right on Lewiston Lake, California. It is a 2-1/2 hour drive from my home in Eureka.

In the 90's, Lewiston Lake was a flyfisher's paradise: tons of fish being planted; many planters overwintering, and Callibaetis hatches that were huge and you could set you watch by them. Alas, I never fished Lewiston then, and a huge water runoff (98?) wiped out most of the hatch. I heard it was coming back but then another huge water runoff hit in 2006, knocking down their recovery.

My goal is to provide information about this fishery and to generate a renewed interest in the lake, in the hopes of increasing the planting of more fish (I've spent hours trying to find online how many fish were planted in the lake in 2008 -- any help in finding this information will be helpful).

I'm heading out this weekend to try midges in the lake and possibly doing some fishing in the recently opened fly fishing only section of the Trinity River.

Tight lines all!!