Paulina Lake is a Good One

Paulina Lake - La Pine, OR (Deschutes County)


by The Fly Fishers Place
8-17-2024
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Paulina Lake is also a good one, and I am always amazed at how different it is compared to East Lake. The dry fly fishing is not entirely made up of terrestrials now, but leaning hard that way with a little bit of mayfly action mixed in, and some dry fly midges getting fish looking up on calm mornings. 
Chironomids and Balanced Leeches, Red 2 Bits, Black/Red Double Down and Callibaetis Cate are great nymphs to hang under the indicator in deep water 8 feet to 18′, or along the ledges from 7 to 10′ or so. The Balanced Leeches I like best are Brown with a Hot orange Bead and a very small Black leech with some red flash in the tail and a gold bead. I also like the Watermelon Leech over the weed beds, but the other 2 I like to fish the rocky structure with those colors. 
Over the sand/marl flats now is a good time to use the Blonde Leech with an Intermediate Line stopped or on an indicator with a slow retrieve. 
Just like at East Lake, fast sinking lines for a Dangle in 20 to 30 feet (or more) is good, and Type 3 and 5 lines to strip flies in deeper water is a smart way to approach the lake too. I use these to add to what we are doing throughout the day if the bite isn’t magnificent on any one thing. Grabbing a rod with a Type 5 out the rack and stripping a leech near the deep drop off’s is a smart way to add a fish to the net and if done over the course of a day in the right places it can add several fish to the end of day total you might not have seen otherwise. Moral of the story, experiment and have a plan to mix it up and that goes for all of your fly fishing days, not just at Paulina.




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