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“What I call the slip bubble is the one with the clear plastic tube down the middle. The ones with the surgical tube are, as you say, easier because you don't need leader. I like to go down to 2 lb test, so I go with the slip bubble. Realistically, it probably only makes a difference if you are using really small flys.”
I use a 2 lb leader when I’m using a fly and bubble. The best kinds of bubbles are either the teardrop shaped bubble or the slip bubble.
The teardrop bubble is pre-weighted. You can either fish it with the heavy end toward the fly, or the light end but each has advantages/disadvantages. If you are doing a lot of casting put the heavy end toward the fly because it is less likely to tangle. Then you can control the action of the fly by popping the bubble with your rod tip, or slowly reeling, depending on what the fish are going for. If you put the light end toward the fly it will want to flip as you cast and tend to cause tangles. But, when you retreive the bubble will wiggle back and forth giving your fly some action. This is mostly useful if you are trolling from a raft.
The slip bubble is the one I prefer to carry these days. Those are the ones that have a hollow tube through the middle. I weight it by filling it half full of water and slip it on my line. Then I attach a snap swivel with the leader tied to that. Then when a fish hits the fly the line can slip through the bubble and you don’t get as much drag as you would with a fish dragging an attached bubble under the water.
The length of leader I use depends on conditions. I normally don’t go longer then about 3 feet and only if the fish are spooked by the bubble. This is very rare. More often fish will hit the bubble and I’m wishing I had hooks on it.
“Williams is at 4600'. On the flip side of the coin I've skied into, and across, lakes that got really scary when water started showing up around my skis. I think the position of the lake (slides coming in?, lots of snow in the area?), and the weather that year will greatly effect when the best time to try it is. The lakes typically won't have their snow blown off like the lakes in the midwest so snow is likely to be an issue no matter what. It is probably more dangerous early in the year then later. When people are ice fishing in other areas do they often catch trout?”
“I've heard a lot of speculation about it, but I've never heard of anyone actually doing it. Several years ago the biologist in King County hauled an ice auger in to Williams Lake on snowshoes in the late winter or very early spring so he could test dissolved oxygen to see if that would explain the lack of fish survival in the lake. He went down to the end of the auger and had to improvise an extension and even then was barely able to get down to open water. The dissolved oxygen turned out to be fine and the problem with the lake is chemical, possibly from the mines up at the Chain Lakes.^^^^[Edited on 10-21-2003 by Brian Curtis]”
“Steelheading with a Popiel Pocket Fisherman. All I can do is shake my head. Last time I saw one of those I was a Wallace Lake. A bunch of Scouts came in and a couple started fishing. The Scoutmasters were too wrapped up in whatever they were wrapped up in to help, so I showed then how to cast properly. One was using a Popiel Pocket Fisherman. I was telling this story while waiting in line for food and the Trail Blazer/Hi-Laker Social one year when the guy behind me said that is what he fishes with all the time.”
I just found some at Cabelas on-line. They have some other interesting looking lines that are similar.
We were way north in BC in Atlin Park. It is almost in the Yukon. Here’s a page that talks a bit about the park
http://www.spacesfornature.org/greatspaces/atlin.html
My dad caught a 37″ northern pike on 4 pound mono. The biggest I landed was 32″. Those things are really toothy and scary.
“None of my local shops carry Fireline in 4 lb test. I didn't even know they made it. That might have saved the 6 to 8 lb lake trout I lost the other day up in northern BC. I'll track some down and give it a try. Do you find that it ages, like mono? Or are you able to use the same line for several years?”
“Nice trip report. I went into those lakes many years ago. It was early in the year and we were heading to a lake from Slate Peak. We started hiking but soon found ourselves postholing through deep snow and the weather was horrible with snow falling. We bailed out and went down to Twisp and picked up a FS map of the area. We picked out the Craters as our alternate destination because we figured we could get there without a topo. If we had known they were over 7000 feet we probably would have figured they were frozen and not bothered. We went in and the lakes were wide open. They seem to get warm air coming directly up from eastern WA and open up very early. The weather was perfect not a cloud in the sky. I couldn't believe it, snowing on Slate Peak, cloudless on the Chelan Crest. It sounds like the fishing hasn't changed much in the last 20 or 25 years, though I don't think we caught anything nearly as large as 14″ so maybe its gotten a bit better.”
“Hey Ed, can you send me your email address? send it to trailblazer@mac.com.^^^^Brian”
“Welcome to the forum, Scott. The funny thing about high lakes is that the fishing is always worth the trip, even when you don't catch anything. The scenery and setting is worth the trip all by itself. Fishing in the most beautiful places in the world is reward enough. So, yes, the fishing is worth the trip. Is the fishing good? You'll have to go up and find out for yourself :D”
“The question of how much fish impact the high lake environment is a good one. There has been a lot of recent research on the subject. The science section of this site has links to an extensive study in the NCNP. Basically, they could find no significant impact by fish in low densities. Fish in high densities, where they are naturally over-reproducing, or are over stocked, can impact the long-toed salamander. These finding dovetail nicely with WDFW stocking practices. Their emphasis in high lakes is on low densities of fish and they are searching for effective ways of controlling spawning populations.^^^^There has been a lot of press about impacts of introduced trout on endangered mountain yellow-legged frogs in the Sierras of California. This is a legitimate problem that stems from over stocking of lakes by California Fish and Game and the life history of that particular frog that puts it at particular risk. The MYL frog depends on large deep lakes where it spends up to 4 years as a tadpole. This is in direct contrast to the situation here where the long-toed salamander, common throughout its range, prefers shallow water habitat that is often not even suitable for fish.^^^^There was some research on Idaho in which they failed to see salamanders in lakes with fish. So they did an experiment where they stocked several ponds with fish to determine exactly what impact they had. They could find no impact from the introduced fish and this left the researchers stumped. They didn't see it, but the answer was only as far away as the Idaho Fish and Games stocking records. The lakes in the region were being severely over stocked and the massive quantities of fish were stressing the fauna of the lakes in which they were stocked. ^^^^Carefully managed low stocking rates allow us to stock fish for recreation while retaining the full range of native species in the lake.^^^^Many people against fish stocking feel that no fish should be introduced into park (or wilderness) lakes just because they have an impact, no matter how minor. I find it interesting that many of those same people are blind to other impacts in parks and wilderness areas. Trails are the best example. Trails have an impact in wilderness. If they want zero impact on wilderness then, to be consistent, they have to be against trails, too. Well built trails are built and maintained to minimize impacts while supporting recreation. Just like lakes are stocked to minimize impacts while supporting recreation. In almost every discussion of fish stocking in wilderness I've ever seen you can substitute trails for fish and almost everything still applies, from either side of the respective issues.^^^^Everything we do has an impact on wilderness. Just by visiting we have an impact. We need to decide which impacts are worth the benefit and which ones are too destructive. IMO, carefully managed fish stocking is a huge benefit with little impact that should continue.”
“Charlia contained eastern brooks until 1973. In that year the stunted brookies were removed with rotenone. A couple species of fish have been planted over the years but they are now managed for cutthroat. You need to examine your maps more closely to determine the best route in. You can always find a place to fly fish if you carry a boat.^^^^I've never been to Royal, but I know it does have fish.”
Getting out in Indian Heaven with no mosquitos is always a special treat. I lived in Portland for a few years and crawled around that area a lot back in those days but there are still a ton of lakes I need to explorer around there. Thanks for the report.
