Log Book Entries A-18
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View entries prior to September, 2001
Here's what other members have written about this fishing site:
Date: Sept 7, 2001
Name: Ted Simendinger
Email: nobatsbbc@aol.com
Comments on this site: Blustery day to float tube. Spent all day zooming and ricocheting around the little lake like I was playing crash cars at a carnival.
Lots of fish, regular action, best came on #20 droppers near southern shore of the little middle island.
Fish went a foot to 16." An 18-20" rainbow weed-wrapped me, also on a #20 emerger fished with 6x.
Excellent fish populations. Would be a lot of fun on a less-windy day.
Date: April 24, 2002
Name: Gene
Email: geno2552@attbi.com
Comments on this site: Fished the afternoon only in a 25 mph wind. I did net 20 or so of the "Flying
Donaldsons". On top when the wind would slow for 10 minutes at a time I caught fish on #16 Para Adams and Olive Stimulators. I had 2 really stupid fish on a #6 Orange Indicator but they both spit it out just before I got em in. Most of the fish were on #14 Hares Ears and #16 Cream Scuds. Two nice fish in the 18" size, but most in the 12 to 14" area. Pick a calm day and they'll be churning on top!!
Date: May 26, 2003
Name: TJ VanderHeiden
Email: tj.vanderheiden@mdx.com
Comments on this site: Brought 2 guests to this site for a very strange day of weather. We experienced a mix of swirling winds, dead calm, rain and blazing sun - welcome to Colorado, I guess.
My guests netted only 5 fish total on small midges, which was disappointing given their 'angling' ability. I, on the other hand, had better luck netting 20 on midges, para-adams, emerging BWO's, etc... I'm not sure of the disparity in results. With the exception of me falling in the lake, a good time was had by all. (TJV)
Date: June 15, 2003
Name: Gene & Kris Edwards
Email: gedwards@tkdistributors.com
Comments on this site: Great Father's Day on Empire Lake with my 2 grown sons. Neither has ever fly fished before today. Had a great day teaching them, didn't leave much time for me to fish but who cares. Caught about 20 fish total between 4 of us and of course Aaron and Anthony lost as many as they caught. I think I converted Anthony but Aaron still likes the spinners I guess. Probably could of caught a lot more if we could have solved the mystery of which bug they wanted on top. From the bridge lots of risers and 2 or 3 fish rushing your fly everytime it landed on the water. That part was really cool but the refusals got real frustrating. They were very selective today. I've fished here quite a bit and they've never really been that selective. We finally started taking fish on Pale Morning Duns and Light Cahills, and just to prove they haven't smarted up all that much one fish took a Para-Hopper(that season can't get here soon enough, huh) Did catch most fish on droppers, Red Copper John's and small Hares Ears seemed to be the bugs of the day.
Date: June 21, 2003
Name: Dan Hawkins
Email: dhawkins@xstreamtrout.com
Comments on this site: The morning was slow until I figured out what they were taking off the top. Take a BWO emerger, let it float in the film and have fun. Olive caddis did work as well. Mostly rainbows, 22” was the largest. Also had luck stripping a green copper john, and small bead droppers. Tried to lure the browns with an egg sucking leach, had a couple of really strong hits and did bring in a 7” rainbow. Got to admire those little ones going after those large streamers. From 4:00PM until dusk we played with the risers at the bridge. Black beetles, ants, and trico spinners worked great. All in all a great day on Empire Lake.
Date: August 3, 2003
Name: Andy-RMAC Member
Email:
Comments on this site: Fished Great. Fish are stacked up at the two inlets. Suprisingly we caught 50/50 browns and rainbows up to 20 inches. Primarily used midges, shuck midge, griffiths gnat, but did catch a few on a bunny leech. Did get some occasional action on a hopper. Wonderful day.
Date: April 11, 2004
Name: Jimmy Stogner - RMAC member
Email:
Comments on this site: A s10 yellow egg pattern, trailed with a s8 brown flashabou bugger produced a 16" German Brown and a 27", ten pound Rainbow to the net. These trophy fish were landed by a nine year old Texas boy, Kale Gregg, while vacationing with his Dad, Johnny Gregg.Both the kid, and the fish put on a show worthy of champions.
Date: March 27,2004
Name: Richard Bass
Email: rbass61657@hotmail.com
Comments on this site: Since my girlfriend bought me the membership to RMAC for Christmas I have been waiting to have a go at any number of the local stillwaters available to me.
As spring approached I got all my regular patterns ready and tinkered with my gear week after week.
Two weeks of inclimate warm temeratures only increased my anxiousness to hit the water.
After a week of tracking the melting ice on a couple of RMAC properties and determining when the first full day of ice-off would be I made my resevation to fish A-18.
The weather was cold, the wind was howling and drove the snow sideways on a half a dozen occasions throughout the day.
I arrived, unloaded my floatube, and immediatley started kicking for the south side, trolling all the way. I had decided to start simple and just keep my eye open for some clues as what to fish. I started out with an olive bugger which produced nothing,
After I made it all the way over to the south side I began to see trout finning right at the the bank. I immediatley put on a #14 Royal Wulff as an attractor and dropped a #14 bead headed soft hackle all purpose fly that I have fished on stillwaters for the last few years, peacock herl and partridge, very simple, very effective.
I cast the rig in the area of the cruising trout. The fly settled for only a second and then dissapeared. 15 minutes later I had landed in a very small net a very large 28" plus, approximatley 10 pound hook jawed brown.
I could not beleive it, I thought to myself that just justified the rod fee, the rest of the day would only be gravy at this point.
After gathering myself I cast the rig out in the same spot and within a few more minutes to my delight I was hooked up with an almost identical sized rainbow, also with a hooked jaw. I was astonished at the girth of these fish the day after melt off.
A short time later I broke the tip off the 4 weight rod I was using and had to leave because I did not bing an extra rod. I made the 30 minute drive home to summit county and returned with my 11' 6 weight I normally use for trout of this size.
I fished until 3:00 that day battling the wind and snow ending up catching another four trout that were all over 24" and fat as footballs. I only landed about 10 fish but I have never caught a finer half dozen fish in my life and doubt that I ever will again. Each of those fish weighed between 8-10 lbs. I also was broke of several times by fish of equal size.
I have caught many large fish but never this many in one day, I was truly fortunate to be able to fish a wonderful spot on the one day when these big boys are most vulnerable, even to a novice.
I only regret I cannot make my reservations for next ice off in 2005, but I have a feeling that is where you will find me for the next few years.
Thank you Mary for such a wonderful gift.
Date: June 11, 2004
Name: Dennis Collier
Email: dcollier@jpcolorado.com
Comments on this site: 8:00 AM...fresh snow on the divide, cold wind blowing down the valley. Beautiful lake, actually two lakes in one! The islands provide calmer water on the North side when the wind kicks up. Started fishing with black/purple wollybuggers on slow sinking lines. A lot of missed strikes(?)but enough hookups to keep you warm and entertained. By late morning, sporadic midge activity and the Donaldson's became airborne. Switched to floating lines with midge pupae and #18 pheasant tail nymph combo's floated in the film. From 11:00 AM till 7:00PM, continual action on bows averaging 13" to 17"...almost too much fun! Saw 20"+ cruisers but 18" was our largest. No sign of the Big/bad boys tipping the 10 pound scale, but I suspect they were holding very deep in the east end. Will put my depth finder on the tube next time - and there will be a next time! Recommend this property for a small, relaxing place to float your boat and catch a lot of fish. DC
Date: July 29, 2004
Name: Chuck Prather
Email:
Comments on this site: Fantastic day with s22 RS 2's in the am and ginger wooly buggers and olive damsel nymphs in pm. Used 6X tippett and had quite a few break-offs.
Date: May 16, 2005
Name: Lyn
Email:
Comments on this site: Had a good time fishing with Olive Wooly Buggers and dries. There was a midge hatch and the fish would take just about anything on top but the most productive flies were a Parachute Adams and a Griffith's Gnat.
Date: 05/19/05
Name: BRYAN
Email: allamerican444w@yahoo.com
Comments on this site: Fished A-18 on Thursday, started about 7:30am. Had good success with para adams and BHPT dropper. @11:00 swithed to BH wooly(olive was the only color that worked). Hot sunny day and fishing slowed until @3:00pm. Went back to dry with copper john. My guest and myself caught @ 30-40 fish, biggest 19". Great pond will come back and try float tube.
Date: May 21, 2005
Name: Stu Stout
Email: stout@us.ibm.com
Comments on this site: With most rivers blown out I tried A-18 for 1/2 day. Didn't plan on stillwater fishing so I was forced to bank fish. I didn't get on the water until about 2:00 PM. Had good success with both green & black buggers; but took most of my fish on small dries after 5:00PM. G-gnats, Renegades and P-Adams all worked well. Ended up with 20+ fish, none of any real size but all fought well for thier size. The wind, although not strong blew from about every angle possible. Great 1/2 day.
Date: 05/26/06
Name: Paul W.
Email:
Comments on this site: Fishing was good. Caught a 19 inch brown by the inlet on a wooly bugger, and many 16-18 inch rainbows on buggers and big attractors on the surface. Yellow humpy was the fly of the day. Tried a dropper but only took one fish on a copper john, almost all on the surface.
Date: May 28, 2006
Name: Mike Murphy
Email: rayraymur@comcast.net
Comments on this site: The fishing was great as was the weather. In spite of a prediction that called for t-storms, we instead were given mid-60's with gusty winds and sunshine. Numerous fish were cruising the banks eating ants and a foam ant #16 hammered the snot out of them for hours. My brother used a hopper and a beetle and did great as well. This is fishing better than it did when we first got our lease in my
opinion - and it was pretty good then!
Date: 5/19/06
Name: TJ VanderHeiden
Email: vanderheidentj@comcast.net
Comments on this site: Had a great day at this site despite swirling winds in the afternoon. Fishing was GREAT in the AM on Parachute Adams, Picked up in the mid morning with Hare's Ear's, Buggers and the fish went absolutely nuts at one point on white zonkers (and anything else white). After about 4 it did drop off a bit. We thought the evening would be as good as the morning, fish seemed to be hitting just below the surface and we took a number on zebra midges, prine nymphs and Para Adams. Fished with 2 guests and each of us caught over 20 fish with a number of them over 15 inches.
Date: July 8, 2006
Name: Allan
Email: afries4@comcast.net
Comments on this site: Great Half Day - despite the weather - 57 degrees, constant rain - parchte BWO and parachute adams brought in 7 nice rising rainbows - caught some smaller bows and browns casting against the bank with small hoppers w/ant dropper - had one big brown on beetle break my 5X - great (cold, wet) half day.
Date: April, 15, 2007
Name: Joe Bo
Email: joseph.bobinis@lmco.com
Comments on this site: Water very cold, wind blew relentlessly most of the day, tough float tubing. Between 2 of us 7 fish in the 13 -15 inch range all bows. Broke off an 18 inch bow that took a 12 simulator on top (surprised the heck out of me). Most fish caught on buggers, and Richard's still water nymphs size 14 (olive). Will return in the fall. Fish were only taking during calm periods, nothing hatching.
Date: April 20, 2007
Name: D. Collier
Email:
Comments on this site: Two of us fished this property in the PM. Water temp 48 degrees. Numerous hard fighting, slab sided, Donaldson's averaging 16 to 19 inches - my biggest went 22 measured inches. Most were taken on very small(size 10/12)GBH vanilla ice or white wollybuggers - fished deep with a very slow retrieve. Fish were concentrated in the two cove areas at the East end of the lake. Of note, I had a depth finder on my float tube and the deepest water I could find was 10' in the NE cove - 9' in the SE cove. Saw lots of good sized fish, so the lake appears to be in excellent post-winter condition.
Date: April 29, 2007
Name: Mike Plante
Email: pproperties17@qwest.net
Comments on this site: I arrived at 10:00 a.m., a little late, but there was good action on Parachute Adams which continued throughout the day. I fished from a belly boat and loved getting underneath the willows. Five in the net, one broke off and two rose to the fly. Not bad for my first on rmac water. Size was mostly 16-18" with only one at 12". The best part was two gigantic rainbows leaping out of the water to engulf an unsuspecting morsel within 10' of me. Wow!
Date: 5/3/07
Name: Ron Freed
Email: RFreed7777@msn.com
Comments on this site: Two of us fished Empire Lake on Thursday. The fishing was good in the morning. We took several nice sized Rainbows. At about 3:00 PM a storm blew through and put the fish down. This was enough to slow the fishing for the rest of the day. All in all a good day on this property.
Date: May 10, 2007
Name: Ken Skinner
Email: mckendree64@msn.com
Comments on this site: I fished from 9 until 3:30.A fair wind blew most of the day,when it stopped you could spot little sipping rises of slow cruising fish. A small parachute Adams dropped gently in the rings would generally get a hit - some small 10-12 inches some much better - 18-20".I tried a size 18 Pheasant tail nymph in the small inlet from under the road. That got a 16" Whitefish so I quit that.While the wind was up & risers not visible casting a black Woolybugger or white marabou Muddler up towards the bank & stripping back at a medium speed got some nice fish(18 -20") Hits generally came 4 to 12 feet from bank.
Date: July 5, 2007
Name: Steve Sparks
Email: sparkr@msn.com
Comments on this site: Tremendous place!! caught 4 Donaldson steelheads, and 9 rainbows and brown, all nice sizes, hooked but lost about 5 others including a large steelhead; fished the two inlets from a float tube with the middle one the best for steelhead, used white zonkers until I ran out and moved to black woolly buggers with fairly good success. This is a great place but you need to fish from a tube to get to the middle inlet..
Date: July 19, 2007
Name: Steven
Email:
Comments on this site: Caught several hog-sized rainbows on Denny Rickard's stillwater nymphs. The water was in good shape, the weather was hot and sunny.
Date: May 11, 2008
Name: Stephen R. Sparks
Email: sparkr@msn.com
Comments on this site: Caught 9 fish in about 4 hours from a float tube. All were Rainbows with two in the 18 to 20 inch range. Best results near drainage before the bridge. White buggers did not work, but black and olive buggers worked after about 9:30 AM. Appeared spawning underway in the areas where water enters the lake, which are typically the best fishing, at least from my prior visits.
Date: May 24, 2008
Name: Allan F
Email: afries4@comcast.net
Comments on this site: Mixed bag day - windy, snowy, sunny - did I mention windy?
When the sun is out - the fish hang in the shadows near the inlets - got good action on small hopper, beetle and ant patterns.
When clouds came over fish were active finning on the surface as well as lunging out the water for surface bugs. #16 adams with barr emerger dropper provided a half dozen fat - healthy rainbows all in the 16 to 20 inch range.
Another great day (despite the weather) on a great property.
Date: May 31, 2008
Name: Jeff Pemberton
Email: jwpembie@gmail.com
Comments on this site: What a great place - even though there was not a cloud in the sky and the sun was just beating us down the trout were very cooperative. The inlets under the trees were productive but the strikes were very suttle - the most aggressive ones came when they were competing to take the fly (ants, bwo, med. stimi, san juans among others). The outlet was very active and the bows were coming out of the water at times, maybe new stockers. They were so excited a number of times they made such hard strikes they missed the fly but we still had a very prodictive afternoon on this end of the lake as well. Guests threw some god-aweful wholly bugger patterns, one even had a propeller and yes to my surprise that worked as well. Great day - better than work!
Date: June 12, 2008
Name: Jason Price
Email:
Comments on this site: Attempted to belly boat but kept getting blown to the shore. Tried nymphing off the bridge with no success. Walked around the lake to the inlet and found the fish stacked up and sipping on the surface. Used griffiths gnat, renegades and rs2's slicked to ride in the film. Caught a few in the 18 inch range. Still had a fun day.