Spring fly fishing on Mable Lake

Well after a year or so break, I decided to get back to the fly-fish-bc blog.
Not that I haven't been fishing, I fished with as much conviction as any other year that included a couple great days on Bleeker Lake and Pass Lake, a trip to the Elk River and Wigwam, a couple streams in Wash. State, a day on the water in Cabo San Lucas not to mention some epic days and nights throwing string on the Columbia River and local lakes.

So like every year, eager to get out on the lakes for some early spring fly fishing, we headed out on Apr. 21 to Whatshan Lake. I've been a few times in late April and the Stevens or Ritchie campsites are beautiful spots. However, with the late spring, the lake was still in the icy grip of winter, and snow made the rough dirt road into the campsites impassable.
Box Lake was open when I drove by it en route, so back we went. I jumped in with Colin to test another rough road into the Rec campsite, but we were barely a couple hundred metres down the road when snow again blocked our path.

Wretched but resigned we spent a night by a frozen Summit Lake. The next day we made the decision to hit Mable Lake, and what a great decision that was.
At an elevation of about 1,200 feet (400 m), Mable is a pretty lake just outside of Lumby with an expansive but beautiful provincial park that was closed at the time. We simply set up the trailer in the parking lot and used a nearby campsite, complete with firewood.
The weather turned from cold, torrential rain, to a balmy 25 C for the next couple of days, and while we landed a few fish, it was tough going.
But it was my first time at the 35-km long lake, whose crystal clear waters plummet to a depth of close to 700 feet- , at least that's my excuse.
I managed a couple nice rainbow between 18-20 inches dropping an egg sucking leech pattern about 14 feet below a strike indicator, on a 5-wt. Sager rod and Colin also picked up a few dragging similar patterns on his 6-wt GLoomis.
The locals were doing pretty well, and about every half-hour a dozen beach fishermen would become animated when another rainbow crushed their offering.
Mable Lake bailed us out of an otherwise disastrous trip. I've fished Box, Summit and Whatshan at the beginning or mid April in many previous years, but in 2018 winter would not go away, and all the lakes from the Kootenays to the Okanagan were about two to three weeks late.
A good experience to file away for next time.