East Lake is fishing good too. The Hot Springs area with a brown or tan leech on an intermediate line has been hot. Chironomids under the bobber through there is great. I’d choose a #14-18 red for the bottom fly and a Black #16 for the dropper and concentrate on water between 9 and 12 feet now.
Stripping a callibaetis nymph is recommended. Not really much hatching quite yet, but they will soon and the fish are looking for the nymphs.
Scuds, Beetles, Damsel Nymphs and keep an eye open for March Flies (bibio) on the East Banks and try an RP Ant if you see them hatching and fish eating them. About 4 or 5 years ago there was a mega hatch of these little suckers and they are hard to match the hatch but the fish like to eat them.
There are no docks planned to be installed at East Lake CG, Hot Springs or Cinder Hill CG this year. This is upsetting and I think a mistake on the USFS part. We would at least encourage them to put a dock in a Cinder Hill, possibly using a piece from an unused dock from another area and bringing in a back hoe to move one or two rocks to make launching easier for us peeps with bigger boats. I may end up using the East Lake Resort launch ($5 fee) or using my smaller boat this season if needed.
I would expect the lake level to pop up some as more snow melts off on that volcano. That would help. It’s so interesting how Paulina is so full that the trails are under water on the east side of the lake, yet in the same caldera, East is suffering low water again.
No doubt the USFS will need to reinvest and retool the ramps and docks there if this is the new normal. But when will that happen?
In the mean time, if you are upset about no public docks at East for 2022 please look at the Fly Fisher’s Place Instagram or Facebook post from 6/3/22 and get involved with a phone call or a letter to the agency that is in charge of the area.
I did have a very good and hopefully productive talk with the District Ranger in the Bend office yesterday. It may be they can’t do anything this year due to drought. But I think a little effort to make Cinder Hill work for us is possible!