Outfished by Cheryl at Quail Lake

March 23, 2017

Beauties like this is one of many reasons that I love fly fishing!

Cheryl's Aunt offered to watch our kids for the day so we could go fishing together.  We jumped at the opportunity!  Amazingly, the weather cooperated, and we were treated to a beautiful day on Quail Lake.  Unfortunately, many of the Columbia Basin lakes are still frozen.  This means that the ones that are open are quite popular.  In my previous six visits to Quail, I have never had to share the lake with more than one person.  Today there were four campers in the parking lot, and we shared the lake with five other guys.  Everyone was nice, however, and although the lake is small, we were all able to find our spots and catch our fish. 

The trail to Quail is short, but it isn't easy!

I set Cheryl up with a shallow chironomid/balanced leech rig.  I anchored up in the location where I had success in the past, and started working a balanced leech off the bottom.  Soon, I looked over to see Cheryl fighting a fish!  I asked why she didn't say anything, and she said she hadn't landed it yet and was nervous.  She played it perfectly and soon had a beautiful 18" tank of a rainbow in the net.  She removed the hooks and kicked over to me while I got the camera out.  She took the fish out of the net and it slipped right back into the water!  Aargh!  I teased her for a second, and then we each went back to our respective spots and kept fishing. 

The only image we got of Cheryl's first pig.  It's in there, I promise!

Soon my indicator was under too, and I landed a chunky 13 incher. 

If they're going to be small, they might as well be chunky and beautiful!

After 45 minutes or so without a bite we moved, and decided to tie the pontoon and float tube together so we could chat and fish at the same time.  While I was tying them together, Cheryl's indicator went under and she landed a small rainbow.  Even the little ones put up a fight.  We got a picture of this one though!

It looks like she's done this before!

There you go!  Now try to hold on to one of the big ones!

I had a take down that I missed, and then Cheryl hooked into another nice fish.  Soon she had her second 18" rainbow in the net!  Again, however, she fumbled the photo, and the fish slipped back into the lake undocumented.  Double Aargh! 

Major bendo from a nice fish!

We made one more move, where, once again, Cheryl caught one, and I came up empty.

Good job!  Way to make it look easy!

Finally, we kicked back to shore, and decided to fish a little area that I like from shore.  Just as we were about to go home for the day, my indicator went under, and I fought and landed a big, beautiful rainbow!  Luckily for me, I have more experience posing with fish - some say I have a Ph.D. in long-arm-ology.  It was a beautiful fish!  Both of Cheryl's that we didn't get pictures of were this size. 

Boom.  Fatty from shore!

I wish pictures did him justice!

In the end, it was a wonderful day.  After eleven and a half years together Cheryl and I work together seamlessly as a team.  There is no bickering or fighting, but plenty of laughing and teasing.  I love these rare times that we are able to get out together, and hope that we have many more to come!