Log Book Entries C-52
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Here's what other members have written about this fishing site:
Date: 6/22/00
Name: Glenn Firchow
Email: glenn@firchow.com
Comments on this site: Fished this property for the first time on 6/22 with good success. The upper lake is the prettier of the two and I caught more fish there.
The lower lake was muddy, but still produced three fish all about 16". Based on some fish I saw jump, though, there are some absolute pigs in there.
The upper lake produced on bead-head wooly buggers, and an assortment of dries, the most unusual of which was a blue adult damsel. Plenty of fish were bulging and I suspect they were taking damel nymphs, but I had no luck on any damsel pattern except the adult. Ultimately landed about a dozen fish in three hours. The largest was 20" and the smallest was about 16". These fish are FAT.
A few words of advice: Take your bug spray. Take your bug spray. Take your bug spray. Deerflies and mosquitoes were not much of a problem when on the water, but on shore they were unbelievable when the wind was calm.
All-in-all, I rate this a "definitely go back" property.
Date: 9/6/00
Name: Ron Freed
Email: rfreed7777@aol.com
Comments on this site: Weather was definitely a factor. Fished in the morning and caught 3. That afternoon we caught 8-9 more. Real tough fishing and the ones we did catch were nice sized. Fished this property about a month ago and the fishing was somewhat better.
Date: 10-6-01
Name: Mike Murphy
Email: rayraymur@aol.com
Comments on this site: This site fished quite well for my brother Terry and me. The weather was clear and cool with highs in the upper 50s to lower 60s. The wind was strong most of the day.
We fished the upper pond for about 1.5 hours and we each landed a few fish. Landing the fish in this lake can be especially tricky due to the intense fight that they tended to put up, plus the large number of snags in spots gives them easy places to tangle and snap your line. The challenge was pretty cool, actually.
They were eating beadhead scuds, beadhead brassies and woolly buggers in purple or the autumn splendor style with yellow rubber "legs".
We fished the lower pond in the afternoon and the fishing was quite good. Each of us brought a good number of fish to net in the PM. The fish fought incredibly hard in both lakes. I am sorry to say that each of us had our tippet snapped several times. It was actually kind of strange to have fish breaking 2X tippet so easily. The fish hit woolly buggers with extreme aggression at times.
Most of the fish were within the 15" to 17" range, although a handful of them ran a bit larger.
All of the fish that we caught were fat and healthy in appearance. I would recommend this spot to anyone who loves to float tube because the lakes are pretty easy to cover.
Date: Highlighted on OLN
Name: Stu Stout
Email: stout@us.ibm.com
Comments on this site: Channel surfing a few days ago and found a flyfishing show. I didn't realize it was Whistling Elk for a while. Boy, the guys on the show caught some real hogs. Made me want to drive straight up there. I fished in in August, 2000 and got skunked. I certainly planned of hitting it again, just haven't made it up there. In the summer bring lots of bug stray.
Date: july10-11,2003
Name: mick brown
Email: mbrown@peakpeak.com
Comments on this site: i stayed at the cabin at ranch,wonderful place and people.got to the lake about10am,was certain it was too hot andsunny.fished the lower lake for two hours.NO FISH!took a coffee break and hoofed float tube to upper lake. it was even too hot for the mosquitos.discouraging,eh?floated away from shore,decidedto use a clear camo intermediate line and a sparkle olive leech.BAM!it was a TROPHY tree limb, at least 24inches, maybe a little longer.thankful to get my rig back. i recast line stopped again@#$## snags!!! then the snag took off and jumped several times finally getting my head out of its resting place, i brought a beautiful five pound male Bow to the net (small boga grip,keeps you honest) the rest of the day went like this .i suggest you set up HARD on every snag.(take lots of your favorite sub-surface bugs).ended the day with 7-8 fish between 12and 18 inches,the one five pounder and an awesome rainbow at almost eight pounds!!! next day was back full of confidence early .fished hard,was skunked for two hours.Pat had asked me to give a report on the two new ponds.i had looked at them yesterday,did not think it was worthwile to fish.(too small and shallow-looking) but i launched any way. went with a floating line and a set of midge pupa. noticed the water was cooler than the other lakes,got into a fish right away and proceeded to have a hoot of agood time.culminating in a wondrful few hours of casting to risers with an adult blue damsel.nothing very large,all were 12-20inches.ended fishing with a few casts from the dam of north pond caught a 18inch rainbow and called it a day. i had put a glass in the freezer that morning, and i don,t think i have ever had a better beer!
Date: August 2, 2003
Name: Richard RMAC Member
Email:
Comments on this site: We did very well - not in the number of fish but in the size and quality of the fish. We only caught about 12 each, but one I swear had to be close to 6 pounds. It nearly dragged me around the lake. It was uncontrollable. It would cartwheel out of the water well over 2 feet in the air. Tell Jason thanks for telling me about SCULPINS.
Date: May 9, 5004
Name: Gene & Kris Edwards
Email: gedwards@tkdistributors.com
Comments on this site: Cabins and hospitality were as advertised. Another RMAC member (Steve)was next door. A frequent visiter to C52 he offered good advise and even supplied a couple of flies. Finally got Kris into that new float tube we bought her 3 years ago. She immediately caught a 15" Rainbow on one of Steve's flies, a small streamer looking thing. We fished the lower(newer) ponds and had to leave about noon. We only caught 7 or 8 but they were quality fish. Most fish were fooled by Steve's fly and standard larger bead head buggers. Olive and Black seemed to work the best. Gene
Date: 5/29/05
Name: Jim
Email:
Comments on this site: Good fighing. Caught many 15-18 inch rainbows on streamers, nymphs, midges and a few on caddis dries. Saw 4 moose above the lake. Beautiful property!
Date: June 17-19, 2005
Name: Rich Arnett
Email: rich@rnet-inc.com
Comments on this site: Fished lower twin lake late Friday afternoon. Fished from shore and using the paddle boat. Caught three fish, 16-17 inches on olive wooley bugger. Caught two more on the upper lake that afternoon as well. It was very windy so casting down wind was about the only way to fish.
On Saturday, fished from float tube on the upper lake and caught 20 or more fish, all in the 16-20 inch range, all on wooley buggers. Olive worked best, but also caught fish on black and purple.
On Sunday, fished the larger of the Klondike ponds from about 8:30 to 10:30am. Two of us fishing and we probably caught 15 to 20 fish each. I used bead head prince and olive wooley, both were effective. My friend used a black wooley and caught so many fish with it, it was nearly destroyed when we quit. These fish were in the 16-18 inch range, and very acrobatic, flying out of the water several times before being brought to the boat.
Nice cabins, great weather, fun fishing.
Date: July 3, 2005
Name: Jerrod McCoy
Email: jmccoy@islandgrovecenter.org
Comments on this site: I fished the lower pond(the one in the picture) but had the option of three other ponds. I fished from my pontoon boat and had a great day despite wind and a slow start. I did not catch my first fish for approximately 90 minutes and the action was slow for the remainder of the day. The fish I caught were in the twelve to sixteen inch range but very well fed. These fish are heavy and acrobatic! This was my first outing with RMAC and I could not be more pleased.
Date: July 12, 2006
Name: Jan
Email:
Comments on this site: Unbelievable fishing on prince's bird's nest patterns. Had 25 hook-ups, landed five. Lost several five pounders, 3X was not strong enough! The main upper pond fished best, but the lower klondike ponds also fished well.
Date: Sept 6, 2006
Name: Ron
Email:
Comments on this site: Great fishing for very large rainbows and cutbows. Caught 20+ fish up to 20" on nymphs and small scuds
Date: June 8-10, 2007
Name: Rich Arnett
Email: rich@rnet-inc.com
Comments on this site: Arrived mid afternoon on the 8th and fished the upper Twin Lake. Fishing was a little slow but still caught 8-10 fish all in the 18-20 inch range. Good success from float tube using bead head olive wooley buggers with a couple of small split shot for added weight to get them deeper. On the 9th fished the two Klondike ponds. Fished the lower pond in the morning using the same olive bugger. Had success again with the olive bugger and with black bead heads. Had a couple of really nice fish on that broke off 5lb. tippet. No real action on top. Did have a great experience with a golden eagle that came swooping out of no where to check out a fish I had hooked. Sounded like a jet engine when it went by my float tube. Moved over to the upper Klondike pond after lunch and caught so many nice fish I lost count. Even caught a few on top with small adams. Most fish again were in the 18-20 inch range and very fat and really great fighters. On the 10th fished the upper Twin again this time with good success using a black and purple egg sucking leech. Not much action on top but the wooley buggers were a big success. Unfortunately had to return home and back to reality. If you like nice cabins and lots of fish from float tubes, Whistling Elk is a great answer.
Date: July 5th, 2007
Name: Bob Bush
Email: bdbush@comcast.net
Comments on this site: On Thursday, July 5th, 2007 my friend, Al (guest) and I had the opportunity to fish Whistling Elk Ranch with it's four ponds.
We arrived at about 9:00 am and checked in and received directions and a ranch map to the four lakes. The closer lakes are called Twin Lakes and are about a mile from the Ranch office.
We decided to try the upper (Twin Lakes) first, going through the locked gate, we ventured onto the 2 lakes, quickly realizing that the downstream lake was choked with moss at least 20 feet from shore all around. Yep, we fished the upstream lake. We both larnched our pontoon boats and begain fishing it. I had a small black woolly bugger (size 12) trailed by a smaller brown bugger. Quickly had a huge fish take everything (I was using a 2x tippet)! Re-rigged with 0x and tried again. The water was not deep and sinking line was not necessary. I hooked and released five fish in the 17" to 22" range within 2.5 hours with Al landing one, also on a black woolly bugger.
We had a thunderhead move in and we raced to get off the water before the lightening started getting close. We decided to make a move to the lower Klondike Lakes while the storm hit.
The Klondike Lakes are 2 miles away from Twin Lakes and allowed the storm to blow over while we moved and had a quick lunch at the same time.
The bugs were bad at Twin Lakes on shore, but in the boat, were okay. The Klondike lakes were bad everywhere and the horse flies even worse.
Bring lots, I mean, lots of bug spray, long sleeve shirts and NO shorts!
The rewards, though, were worth it. After lunch, Al and I hit the upper Klondike Lake walking along the edge (lower lake was full of moss and not really fishable except in the very middle , about a forty foot wide open area). But the upper lake made up for it.
I used a jig type marabou streamer (black, gold and green) and was rewarded with a dozen rainbows as I worked the dam area, taking one then another, exciting!! Al moved toward the inlet, using a damsel dry with a damsel nymph trailer, he started taking fish, too. It isn't often that I have had damsel dry fly action, but Al just slayed them (just a figure of speech!) He told me later that evening that he hooked and released close to 3 dozen fish in the 16" to 22" range. The truth is, I could here Al wooping it up with each hook-up!
I changed to a favorite pattern of mine for small ponds, a snow ball beetle, and hooked and released a similar number to Al! These fish had some huge shoulders, a 20" fish weighted 4 - 5 lbs. and acted like that'd never been hooked, always jumping at least a couple times each, some much more.
We were again chased off the lake at dusk by lightening and just in time, and just in time, I might add as I doubt if I could have landed another lunker, my arm had an amazing work-out.
If ( when ) you go, use heavy tippets, and lather up on bug spray . . . you'll need both.
Date: May 27, 2008
Name: Lowell Mosher
Email: rmangling@aol.com
Comments on this site: It has been reported that the fish didn't winter well at Whistling Elk. Gary Pollock, member #776 who is an accomplished still water fisherman and also has a fish-finder on his pontoon says those reports are WRONG. The two Klondike lakes fished well, especially the upper lake. On the Twin Lakes, while Gary didn't get to fish very long on the upper lake (Lower lake is closed for repairs to the dam); he did get to use his fish finder to check out the fish population. His finder indicated that plenty of fish were still there too. So, no need to wait. The fishing is fine now and will only improve after being stocked in June.
Date: june 13, 2008
Name: Ron
Email:
Comments on this site: Fished upper Klondike pond and caught 16 nice rainbows. They were hitting WD-40's and zebra midge. They ranged from 14"-21", all healthy and strong.
Date: 06/19/08
Name: Thomas
Email:
Comments on this site: Good day. Caught 12 fish in the Klondikes. More and bigger ones in the Twin lake. Conehead crystal flash black and green wooly bugger worked the best and took the biggest fish (19") of the day. Rubber-legged stimulator and snowball beetle also worked.