I fished Chopaka from Saturday, June 6 through Friday, June12. The weather was variable as always this time of year. We
experienced wind, rain and thunderstorms, plus some warm and pleasant sunshine, often all on the same day. Fishing was generally
very good except when the weather was kicking up. There are lots of 16-20 inch trout available, with some much bigger. Best
surface action was on a size 14 emerger/cripple mayfly during the afternoon hatch and adult male (blue) damselfly before and after.
I watched trout smash into writhing clusters of mating damesels right in front of me; has anyone got a good pattern for a writhing
cluster of damsels? Griffen gnats (size 16-18) also worked for me in the evenings. Other people did well on 14-16 Adams, and chironomids and wooley leeches subsurface. This lake is getting a lot of pressure and the fish can be very selective, so make sure your flies are good matches for size and color and user tippets as light as possible that can still pull them out of the tules; 4X was a
good compromise for me. Chopaka is probably the most beautiful of our flyfishing lakes. Since it is getting so much more popular,
try to tread lightly if you go there.

One more item: someone illegally introduced smallmouth bass into the lake about 5 or 6 years ago and they are starting to become more noticable. It is very upsetting that anyone would do this since they cannot possibly have thought they would be creating a
bass fishing opportunity on this trout/flyfishing only lake. This stikes me as a deliberate act of vandalism and sabatoge. It may be
necessary to poison the lake if they overpopulate and devour all the trout food. While this is an extreme measure, it probably
is the only viable option. The people who make these illegal plantings are virtulally impossible to catch in the act. Our only hope is
that the responsible fishing community will increase its efforts in support of fishing organizations such as FFF and TU that teach
outdoor ethics and conservation, and that we ourselves always act ethically to set the best example for others.

Craig McKelvey

"Ignorance isn't always as great an enemy as what we know for sure that ain't so." Robert A. Heinlein

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