Stillwaterflyfish.com

Checked out Tokaryk two weekends ago and it was insane! Believe it or not it was my first time fishing for rainbows. Just never had the chance or ambition to target them. However that changed with the first hit! Armed with an 8wt Sage, a box of streamers, nymphs and deer hair bugs, I set out with my float tube.

The wind was nuts. Gusting to 40kph from the north. I worked the south end of the lake thinking the wind blown side would be productive. It took me two hours to finally hook up. My theory was wrong. I moved to the far north side of the lake where there's a section of sandy beach breaking up the endless bulrushes. Upon approaching I was dragging a beadhead bugger just below the surface. Got a stiff whallop and immediately a chrome bullet leaped about 4ft into the air!

My jaw hit the stripping apron as I paused and didn't really know what to do. I quickly regained my consciousness and tightened the line. After about a good 10 minute battle and 5 or 6 aerial acrobats I landed the beaut in the net. My first bow and she was the magic 20".

The bows were surfacing all along the northern shoreline where it was calm and sheltered from the wind. I landed 7 over 20-inches and two just under at 19-inches. I fished from 3pm til 7pm. My biggest was 22.5-inches. I coaxed one brown from the edge of the reeds but it shook the hook before the fight even began. It was maybe mid-teens in length.

Despite the overcast, rainy day, with high winds, I had a blast. Didn't seem to matter what I tossed. They'd eat it. My most productive though were muddlers fished just below the surface. The bows were slashing at dace and sticklebacks that were hovering on the weed tops. All you had to do was skitter the muddler just sub-surface over the weed tops and you'd get explosive strikes. I lost at least twice as many as I caught. They were diving into the weeds and popping the hooks out. So I learned to try and turn them to deeper water and pull them out with the float tube. Once they were out from the weeds then I managed to land all but one.

From there I scooted over to Patterson for the evening bite. There was a lot less happening on this lake but I figured I'd try it. I tooled around the east side and up towards the northeast side. Around 9pm I hooked into a biggie. My personal best at 24-inches. Gorgeous hen with beautiful spotting and nice banding.That was the only trout I managed to coax. It was caught on a streamer pattern.

Next day I stayed on Patterson. I wanted to try for a brown. I tried the streamers again. It took me about two hours to finally get a hit. Landed a little 15-incher. About an hour later I got a nice 22-inch drake on the west side of the lake in the shallow reeds. He hit like a tank! After this fish I paddled back and headed home. I was pretty beat from battling the waves and forgot to bring food. Was too excited. haha.

I'd like to head back when we get another crappy stretch of weather. I dunno if this is a good time but it seemed to work for me.

Thanks for the report. I cant wait to get up there this fall. A bunch of us from Bismarck will be there Oct 7th-11th.

The weather was brutal for our Oct 7th-11th trip, 20-30mph winds with lows in the lower 20’s and highs of 32 degrees or less. Everyone managed to catch fish but they did not come without pain and suffering. Overall it was slow fishing.

We only fished Patterson but from the crowds and discussions with others Tokaryk was the place to be. Tokaryk also seems to block the ever present West winds better.