Fly Fishing Insider Newsletter featuring Davis Lake, Oregon

Davis Lake is one of the most popular fly fishing only lakes in the Pacific Northwest, producing abundant trophy size rainbow trout. Rainbow trout here are common in the 2-5 lb range during periods of wet years. Trout of over 15 pounds have been caught.

Davis Lake is located at the southern end of Cascade Lakes Highway in a picturesque setting on the Deschutes National Forest and is a large, shallow lake that was formed approximately 6,000 years ago by a lava flow cutting off Odell Creek. Prior to the volcanic eruption, Odell Creek was probably directly connected to the upper Deschutes River.

The 3,000 surface acres of shallow water coupled with the primary inlet Odell Creek, makes Davis Lake a very rich and productive aquatic system producing numerous large rainbow trout. Davis Lake is open to fly fishing only.

Klamath rainbow trout have been planted annually to supplement natural reproduction, which was successful until the drought in early 90’s. Tui chub have been a problem in the lake, and it is hoped that the piscivorous (fish eating) Klamath trout are dining on the chubs. The stocking of Klamath strain rainbows was discontinued in 1999. The wild rainbow population seems to be doing fine since habitat and structure restoration work in Odell Creek. Largemouth bass were illegally introduced in 1995 and seem to be thriving. Their impact on the lake ecosystem is a constant controversy among managers and anglers. Some people think that they may prey on small trout and compete for food. Others say that the bass help control the Tui Chub population and provide a fishery in areas of the lake un-utilized by trout. Whatever the viewpoint, they are likely here to stay.

Vehicle Access:	Davis Lake is near the southern end of the Cascade Lakes Highway (FS Road 46).
Fishing Access:	To fish the best fishing areas, you need a boat or float tube. Lakeshore is primarily reeds and grasses and muddy bottom, making it difficult to wade and fish from the shore. Motors are allowed. Speed limit is strictly enforced. Electric motors are preferred.
Launch Points:	There is a primitive boat launch at West Davis Campground, and a good boat ramp at the Lava Flow Campground on the northeast corner of Davis Lake (due to some nesting eagles nearby this ramp may be closed). A new primitive campground has bee established near the lava flow away from the eagles nest.
Fish Species Present:	Rainbow trout (2 to 15 pounds or more), and largemouth bass.
Physical Characteristics:	Size: 1,000 - 3,906 surface acres. Depth: At full pool, average depth of 9 feet with 20ft maximum depth. Elevation: 3,386 feet
When to fish:	May to October. Get a weekly fishing report from ODFW.
Popular Fishing Methods:	Fly fishing only
Fly fishing methods:	Most productive areas are: the northeast end near the lava dam; the west shore between Ranger and Moore Creeks and in the Odell Creek Channel. Floating, intermediate and slow sinking lines are used.
Hatches:	Hatch Chart for the Davis Lake.
Camping Information:	East Davis Campground, Lava Flow Campground, and West Davis Campground

has worked with several other shops in our region. We feel lucky that they have decided to team up with us. Patty and I spent a day on the Clackamas River with Ron & Leroy. We had them teach us to spey cast as though we had never spey cast before. Then we took it a step further and asked them improve our spey casting. Or should I say, help us to the next level. Ron worked with Patty and Leroy worked with me. No doubt about it. Patty and I both cast better because of our session with Ron & Leroy. My back loop is tighter and her forward loop gained a lot of speed. Goes to show - you never have to stop learning. "Also shows that these guys working as a team, have one heck of a product! I am proud to endorse them", Mark Bachmann

INTERMEDIATE SPEY CASTING CLASS:
This class is for all students that have completed the Introductory Spey Casting Class above. Also welcomed are those anglers who have had some spey casting experience. We will refine the basic casts and demonstrate the Perry Poke, Snap T/C cast and how to fish with a double-handed rod.

Date: April 3, 2004 8am – Noon. Cost $75

Item

Description

Price

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SPEY-CL2

Intermediate Spey Casting Class - April 3, 2004

$75

One-Day Spring Steelhead Fly Fishing School
Take a drift boat ride down the Sandy River with:
Mark Bachmann, Brian Silvey and Ron Lauzon.

Spring Steelhead fly fishing is very practical if you know how. Being able to find fish and being able to present the fly properly are key factors.
We will show you how.
This is a school that will cover a lot of water and fishing knowledge in one day.
Length of the class is 8-hours on the water. Three student per instructor format. Emphasis will be on giving you a solid foundation of skills to build on, with a high priority given to hooking fish during the class.

We want to give you maximum advantage by having as many fish hooked during this class as possible. Nothing teaches you more about fishing than being where fish are being hooked and landed. Emphasis will be on spey rod casting and sinking-tip line fishing, but will also cover single handed rod techniques. Learn how to locate steelhead water and how to approach it.
Watch an expert guide as he fishes and discloses the secrets and proven methods that put fish on the beach. Get a lot of hands- on help so that you too can be productive.

Bring your own waders, rain gear. Bring your own rod/reel set up if you want to.
A variety of premium quality 2-hand and single-handed rod/reel set-ups will be available for you to use at no extra charge. Flies are supplied.
A hot lunch will be served on the river.
There will be a very short rest period after lunch.
Meet at The Fly Fishing Shop at 6:30am for orientation.  Coffee and donuts will be served.

Arrive back at The Fly Fishing Shop at 6:00pm.
What our customers say. A report on our last Steelhead School.
9 students per class only!
First come, first served.

Two versions - Short Head and Standard Spey, both with complex head designs for exceptional spey casting performance. The Standard Spey is ideal for normal and long-range fishing. The Spey Short Head quickly loads rod. Both designed for fishing with two-handed rods. Ideal for salmon, steelhead, and big, wide rivers.
CORE: Braided multifilament nylon with optimum air entrapment for minimum memory, maximum floatation COATING: Specially formulated 3M PVC with patented AST - Advanced Shooting Technology -designed to stay supple in cool steelhead waters.
COLORS: Light Yellow/Mist Green
DELIVERY: Moderate
STIFFNESS: Low

1		6/7 = 50' head length
Scientific Anglers Mastery Short Head Spey Line, Yellow running line/ mist green head, 120 feet long. Short Head compact compound tapered head allows easier turnover for longer casts with less effort Rear taper and running line work together to reduce friction, permitting the longest overhead casts.		7/8 = 52' head length
		8/9 = 54' head length
		9/10 = 54' head length
		10/11 = 54' head length
Item	Description	Price	To Top
911192	Scientific Anglers Mastery Short Head Spey Taper, Yellow/Mist Green WF6/7F	$69.95
911161	Scientific Anglers Mastery Short Head Spey Taper, Yellow/ Mist Green WF7/8F	$69.95
911178	Scientific Anglers Mastery Short Head Spey Taper, Yellow/ Mist Green WF8/9F	$69.95
911185	Scientific Anglers Mastery Short Head Spey Taper, Yellow/ Mist Green WF9/10F	$69.95
911154	Scientific Anglers Mastery Short Head Spey Taper, Yellow/ Mist Green WF10/11F	$69.95

2		6/7 = 65' head length
Scientific Anglers Mastery Short Head Line, Yellow running line/ mist green head, 120 feet long. Standard Spey long 75' head enhances long-distance mending and roll casting and minimizes need to strip and shoot line Standard Spey extended head and long front taper provide the long-distance line control needed to fish wide rivers		7/8 = 65' head length
		8/9 = 70' head length
		9/10 = 70' head length
		10/11 = 75' head length
Item	Description	Price	To Top
858947	Scientific Anglers Mastery Spey Taper, Yellow/ Mist Green WF6/7F	$69.95
858961	Scientific Anglers Mastery Spey Taper, Yellow/ Mist Green WF7/8F	$69.95
858978	Scientific Anglers Mastery Spey Taper, Yellow/ Mist Green WF8/9F	$69.95
858800	Scientific Anglers Mastery Spey Taper, Yellow/ Mist Green WF9/10F	$69.95
858954	Scientific Anglers Mastery Spey Taper, Yellow/ Mist Green WF10/11F	$69.95

In the days of yore...
Home rivers teemed with salmon.
Furs, tinsels, silks and exotic feathers from far away places found their way to English, Scottish and Irish rivers as dressing for flies.
Most were cast with two-handed rods.

The angling arts migrated to America with the Northern Europeans. By the time of Columbus, fly fishing for trout and possibly salmon was already a past-time in the British Isles. The favored approach was a fly tied on a hook made from a reforged needle, cast on a braided horse hair line with a two-handed rod. By 1800 the British Empire spanned the globe. Home rivers teemed with salmon. Furs, tinsels, silks and exotic feathers from far away places found their way to English, Scottish and

Irish rivers as dressing for flies. Most were cast with two-handed rods. In southern England many river banks were landscaped so that the angler needn't worry about snagging his back cast. Salmon were regularly caught off the lawn.

Scottish Rivers on the other hand were larger and wilder with natural vegetation along their banks. Long back casts were out of the question on much of the water. Most notable of these wild Scottish rivers was the Spey. Here anglers devised a change of direction roll cast which became known as the Spey cast. By the 1800's anglers were using fifteen to eighteen foot two-handed fly rods elaborately carved from Greenhart or the new technological breakthrough;

laminated bamboo. Some rods weighed nearly three pounds. Men were men in those days. This type of tackle has remained very popular in Europe where ever salmon still exist. The first rods used for American Atlantic Salmon were likely made in Europe. However the lively Americans were too busy damming, logging and netting their watersheds to develop much of a sporting tradition until their salmon were mostly gone. They did however, retain their interest in trout and pursued them vigorously with light tackle.
Fly fishing had become a popular sport in America by the 1880's. Because of the more mobile American life style and thousands of miles of trout streams open to the general public, lighter single handed rods became the vogue. This tackle was adapted to West Coast rivers as steelhead fly fishing became popular in the 1930's.

Fly fishing had become a popular sport in America by the 1880's. Because of the more mobile American life style and thousands of miles of trout streams open to the general public, lighter single handed rods became the vogue. This tackle was adapted to West Coast rivers as steelhead fly fishing became popular in the 1930's.
There is little doubt that there was also some experimentation with two handed fly rods during this same period. Rodrick Hague-Brown mentions catching Vancouver Island steelhead with a spey rod in the 1940's. These early two-handed steelhead rods were still made of split cane.
Some fiber glass spey rods were built from 1950 to 1970 but they were too heavy and sloppy of action to gain much following except by some tournament casters.

Graphite changed the two-handed fly rod forever, but it was not until third generation graphite that the spey rod became the versatile, practical, comfortable fishing tool that it is today.
Today a fast recovery fourteen foot spey rod may weigh as little as seven ounces. It develops the power and speed to deliver a wide range of fly lines to long distances with little back-cast room. On winter steelhead rivers these rods allow the angler to cover much more water than a single handed rod, with less fatigue.

In many types of water the modern two-hander can be as efficient as a spinning or casting rod . It does, however, take more river time to master. The spey rod is the great equalizer for fly anglers covering medium and large rivers. It is the superior tool for water that is six feet deep or less. This is the depth most preferred by steelhead. This is the travel band.

The rebirth of the spey rod has destroyed two highly ingrained myths: Winter steelhead are easier to catch on bait or lures, and desert river summer steelhead won't take flies in the middle of the day. In fact they will usually take flies if they are in the taking mood.
The spey rod is great for systematically covering large amounts of water at depth.
Variable sink-rate launcher lines are an indispensable part of the tackle system. They are specifically designed for two handed fly rods.

Most popular are floating weight forward lines with easily changed sinking tips. The floating belly is comparatively short and is usually two weight sizes larger than the rod is designated for. The basic concept is a line that turns around quickly and builds enough kinetic energy to turn over large heavy flies with a minimum of back loop.

The interchangeable sinking tip sections are looped to the floating launcher. Many types of tips may be used. The highest line speeds are achieved and the best accuracy occurs when the tips are two line sizes smaller than the launcher. These tips actually accelerate as the loop unfolds assuring that the line will land straight and mend easily. The best systems incorporate tips that are the same length and weight, but vary in density so that the casting rhythm doesn't change when different water conditions are encountered.

These tips may be carried in a wallet with the appropriate leaders and flies attached for minimum tackle change time. This fly line design casts comfortably close as well as long, bucks the wind with authority, and facilitates precise control of the sinking portion. The keys to catching steelhead are focus and efficiency. Most steelhead are

found in snow melt rivers where water conditions change dramatically in short periods of time. Steelhead are adapted to these fluctual rivers and can migrate long distances quickly. They are always on the move, traveling in scattered populations. Often a lot of water has to be covered to find a few. The spey rod with a launcher system allows the angler to cover large amounts of water efficiently. Out to ranges of eighty feet it is one of the most practical casting tools ever made for fishing moving water of

moderate depth. You don't have to reel in line and you don't have to false cast....both acts take the hook out of play. The fly has to be fishing to catch fish. Most importantly, these long two handed fly rods provide the angler with enough leverage to easily mend line at all distances. Fly speed and proximity to the fish are important factors in producing strikes. Easy prey brings the attention of predators. The closer and slower the fly, the more vulnerable it appears. There is little doubt that steelhead are more prone to grab a fly that is moving at current speed or slower than one which is traveling faster than the current, and that demands control.

Knowing this, we were some of the first to use two handed fly rods for winter steelhead on our local rivers. They instantly created a lot of interest. People would actually pull their boats to the side of the river, anchor-up and sit and watch. That was only a few years ago.

Now most spin fishermen take us for granted, unless we're catching fish and they are not. Then everyone pays close attention. This is happening often enough that fly fishing for steelhead with a two-handed fly rod is a growing sport. It is a sport that will feed on its own catch rate.

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