Banks Lake

After the Washington Council FFF meeting in Ellensburg last weekend was adjourned, Big Red (my darlin’s Ford F-150) took me up to Banks Lake so I could check out the spots were I was going to show Blake Oxley, Jim Morrison and Leland Miyawaki all my “secret” carping spots. Good thing because the lake is about 2.5 feet higher than I’ve seen it at this time of year. Found some carp and smallmouth bass in the bright sunlight.
Fast forward to the meeting the three nimrods at Coulee City Park, the clouds threatening to rain again and the wind freshening. The two enemies of sight fishing for carp are wind and clouds. I don’t usually put rain on the enemies list because it never rains in the desert in July.
So as the wind increased to 25 knots, the water muddied and the clouds opened up, Leland caught his first carp on a olive rabbit and rubber legs fly tied by your faithful correspondent. Unfortunately, the other flies given to Blake and Jim failed their appointed duties.
They all packed it in when the rain pelted the surface into a froth. I hung around to check out a couple more spots for future reference. Then the sun emerged, the clouds rolled back, the wind stopped and the fish were easy to spot.
Of course, they pretty much maintained their closed mouthed demeanor, though I did manage to trick one carp and another smallmouth–a bit smaller than the one in the morning.