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Dusty is near Quincy. “Above” the lake are a bunch of decent car-camping fishing lakes: Quincy, Burke, Stan Coffin, and more. There’s a short access trail from up there down to Dusty.
The hiker way to get there is from the Ancient Lakes trailhead. I went in that way, camped at Dusty overnight, and hiked back the next day. Ancient Lakes is a worthwhile stop on the hike. Great camping. Unless there are a lot of folks coming down from above (none during my trip) this offers a backcountry-like experience during the springtime when the High Lakes are frozen.
Go! You won’t regret it!
-Curt
It’s definitely worth getting some of the right bubbles – the technique is dependent upon them. In fact, without them, you’re trying something completely different. Unless you’re tying on a bunch of weights you won’t get any distance. They have the right bubbles for 50 cents or so at most fishing places. If you’re heading up to the ALW via I-90, the Ace Hardware in North Bend has a ton of them in 3 sizes. The middle one is the best for my rods (F3-7, I think). The bigger ones will really fly with a stiffer rod, but they’re too much for my light ones.
Good luck!
Do you still use a swivel with the twist-on type?
I did use Fireline for quite awhile this spring. Interesting stuff. Incredibly strong. Pretty much zero memory. Super limp. I had three problems with it, though. First, it frays. It was pretty fuzzy after a month or so. I’m not sure this matters, but it’s annoying. Second, it’s super visible. Maybe the Smoke color is less so, but the green really stands out. Maybe it doesn’t matter if your leader is long enough, but I generally think clearer is better. Finally, and probably the reason I don’t use it all the time, is it feels abrasive. When I’m reeling in, I can feeling grinding all down the rod. It seems like it’s sawing into my guides. Maybe it’s harmless, but it seems like I’m reeling in sandpaper. I do keep a spare spool of Fireline in case I’m in a really rocky area. The strength is just unbelievable.
My bubble takes water. I usually fill it 3/4 full, which gives me a good long cast without feeling like I’m throwing bricks. Depends on the rod, mostly. I use 3 pretty regularly. Two of them are so light that a full bubble is tough to sling well. They make a few different sizes of these bubbles, but I generally stick with the middle one. The big one is a monster, the small one just too tiny for anything but creeks. That middle one though – it’s just right….
I fish exclusively fly and bubble. I go 4lb. line on the reel, through the bubble, tied to a ball-bearing swivel, then 2lb. line to the fly. Usually 6-7 feet.
This seems to be good balance of durability, strength, and invisibility. I tried out about 1/2 dozen different lines as I concentrated my spring fishing on really dialing in my setup. There are tons of differences in lines and swivels, I found, and it seems everyone has their favorite. I put a huge priority on invisibility in water (those high lakes are CLEAR!) and low memory. With small spools and big casts, pigtail tangles are what I’m trying to avoid. I find that Maxima Ultragreen is the best balance so far. Curious to hear what others have found to be good low-memory, limp lines.
I tried the twist-on bubbles but didn’t like them. Seem to get way more casting tangles with them. WAY more. Also, they make it very hard for the fish to swim once hooked. They do give good wiggle to the fly, though. With the slider bubble, when the fish goes under the bubble stays on the surface and the fish can swim (i.e. fight). Makes the little 8 inchers much more fun to catch.
Bob Kayne’s book Fish Don’t Think is dedicated to fishing the fly and bubble technique. It’s not perfect, and I’ve tweaked his methods to my preferences, but it’s the best publication on the subject that I know of. Essentially it’s spin reel, bubble, and fly on a fly rod. I’m still working out the perfect rod, but the system works. Monster casts are possible with this setup, allowing a much, much bigger fishing area. Best thing going for shore-fishers that I know of.
I had good luck up there a month or so ago with a Hare’s Ear. Even though they were rising A LOT, I couldn’t get them to take a dry fly. Went just underneath and they went crazy. Unbelievable mosquitos made the trip less than pleasant, but the fishing was good.
Great idea for a thread! Nice to see the board getting more posts lately, too!
I fish almost exclusively fly and bubble. I keep wanting to get into fly fishing, but pretty much every puddle of water I go to seems impossible to backcast on. Are high lakes flyfishers all using flotation? I’d be curious if any are shore fishing.
Anyway, in the past 4 months I’ve got down to about 5 flies that I use. I keep trying others, but none come close to what these catch:
1. Beadhead Hare’s Ear Nymph: probably 3/4 of all fish caught are on this. Pretty much every high lake population has been interested in this. Often when nothing else works, this is the fly. Usually size 14-16.
2. Adams: if they’re rising, this seems to work. Not nearly as effective as getting under the water, though.
3. Elk Hair Caddis: another one like the Adams. If they’re rising but not taking the Adams, I’ll switch to the EHC. If that doesn’t work, I go to the Nymph.
4. Midge: essentially a furry hook, this is pretty successful. Even though the fish rarely get bored with the Hare’s Ear, I do 🙂 I’ll pull out the midge and they’ll go for that pretty happily.
5. Ant: If I have a nice angle on overhanging vegetation, fishing underneath it with an ant can be a lot of fun. The fish seem to just hang out there and wait for them to fall. Must be a lot of nutrition in them, because they hit them pretty hard, too.
I have a bunch of other patterns, but they spend their life in the fly box. I keep trying one out here and there, but have little luck. One of these days I’ll re-do my box with just the flies I mentioned above in all kinds of sizes and variations. If none of those are working, it’s usually time to stop fishing.
