greeting fellow stillwater enthusiasts! It’s been a wild ride on the weather for the last 5 days and this changes the game quite a bit for most of us accessing some of the lakes, and gives us new ideas for some of the others we might not have on the radar as much.

Starting up at the highest elevations and moving down the slope:

Three Creeks Lake is now under about a foot of snow. I have not heard if the lake has started to ice up, but even access is going to be darn hard, so why? See you next June 3 Creeks. You were good to us again in 2022 and it’s always fun to spend summer with you.

East Lake is getting some accumulation of snow too, but it is too big to ice over quite yet. Fishing is not over, but be prepared for winter driving conditions, and avoiding hypothermia and self rescue in case you had to stay the night with all the right gear, food and water. To some, it is still worth it to wade or tube the banks for big fish. I get it.
Balanced Leeches, Chubs, Scuds would be on the short list of the best flies. Don’t hesitate to hang that balanced leech or scud under a Purple Chubby for the indicator (as an option) as the browns like to roll that Chubby and you just may very well hook and extra fish or two doing that. Fish are in shallow water too. Not sure when the snow gate at MP 10 will close, but if it keeps snowing USFS will lock it soon for public safety.

Paulina Lake is about the same story as East, but wade fishing at Paulina is very limited so you need a drift boat or tube to access the fish. Launch on the west side, since the east side launch is locked up.
Balanced Leeches, Chubs, Scuds, Purple Chubby, Rainbow Warrior.

Hosmer is getting pretty snowy, and I can’t verify this, but I would guess the channel and upper lake are now frozen. See you next May Hosmer. You are always a favorite of mine.

Lava Lake remains a good option for now. Wind Drifting, anchoring and stripping, Loch Style, and under the indicator are all good with leeches, damsel nymphs (because they are on the move to deeper water for winter, not because they are going to hatch), scuds and callibaetis nymphs. The Resort side coves and down the west bank over the muddy bottom is a great place to start.

Crane Prairie is certainly worth fishing for the last 5 of October before it closes at sunset on Halloween.
Leeches and Damsel Nymphs stripped, Balanced Leeches and Zebra Midges under an indicator . Out of all of these lakes in this report it is the only one not open beyond 10/31 so keep that in mind as we turn the calendar to November next tuesday.

South and North Twin Lakes are really good fall options for lake anglers until it gets really cold sometime over the next month or so. Until that happens get your tube or drift boat (no motors) and enjoy these smaller lakes.
Balanced Leeches, Soft Hackles, Damsel Nymphs, Water Boatman, Scuds and somedays wow them with a Blob or a Streamer stripped quickly.

Suttle Lake is a good option well into the fall, and in fact this is the time you want to be hitting Suttle. The browns are there, you should see them and get excited as all get out to cast and cast and cast. They are hard fish to fool. But they are big and worth the effort.
Black Balanced Leeches, Snails, October Caddis Pupa and Adults, Hot Head Leech. Easy launch at Link Creek, as well as some limited wading opportunities there too.

This will be my last lake report for 2022 I’d have to guess. Watch the weather, be prepared and don’t quit yet. Thank you to all of you who read it, and commented on it and for those of you who shared info that contributed to the success of the report each week.

See you in the shop or on the water!

Jeff