Explore one of Washington's premier fly fishing destinations—Lone Lake on Whidbey Island. Known for its rainbow trout and scenic setting near Langley, WA, Lone Lake offers anglers a rewarding experience year-round.
The Rundown: Fly Fishing Lone Lake
- 90-acre lake with Selective Gear Rules
- Rainbow trout stocked regularly; 15–18 inch fish are common
- Located on Whidbey Island near Langley, WA. Map on Google
- Best fishing: March–mid-June & late September–November
- Concrete boat ramp, ample parking, and public toilets available
- Lake restoration led by local anglers and conservation groups
- Shoreline access near the ramp; small boats or float tubes recommended
- Rowing or electric motors are best; but motorized boats are allowed
- Catch and release is encouraged
When to Go Fly Fishing on Lone Lake
Lone Lake is a shallow lake with a maximum depth of about 20 feet deep. It gets warm in the summer months so spring and fall produce the best fishing, but even the winter months can be productive.
Spring & Early Summer
March through mid-June are the most popular fishing months on Lone, especially with anglers who enjoy fishing chironomids. It is common to see fly fishing club events on the lake this time of year, but the fishing is usually good enough to keep everyone enjoying the day.
Fall & Late Season
Once the weather cools around mid-September, the fishing picks up again and October can be great on Lone Lake. This is a great time of year for anglers that enjoy fishing sinking lines with leeches, although the fish can be surprisingly shallow during this late season.
Recommended Tackle for Lone Lake Fly Fishing
Take a 4wt or 5wt rod with a floating line for fishing chironomids and balanced leeches. Our recommendation would be to put on a 7.5-foot 3X nylon leader and have 3X, 4X, 5X and 6X fluorocarbon tippet ready to tie on.
If you can, take a second 5wt or 6wt rod loaded with sinking line. If you’re only taking one rod, a 5wt would be a good choice, but have extra spools so you can fish it with either a floating line or sinking line.
If you only have one sinking line, a type 3 or type 4 sink rate is ideal in most cases on Lone Lake, however, an intermediate (type I) is also a very nice line to have on Lone in both Spring and Fall months. For your sinking lines, have a 7.5-foot 3X fluorocarbon leader tied on with 3X and 4X fluorocarbon tippet ready to go.
A pram, rowboat, pontoon boat or float tube will be necessary to get you out on the lake. Shore fishing is possible, but your fishing will be very limited.
Other recommended equipment: landing net, forceps, quick releasing strike indicators, stomach pump, glass vials. For anglers fishing from a pontoon boat or float tube: waders, fins, neoprene boots.
Best Fly Patterns for Lone Lake
Chironomids
Lone Lake hosts prolific chironomid hatches. Use patterns in sizes 18 to 10. Effective colors include black, brown, gray, and summer duck. Around February and March, blood worm patterns can be especially productive.
Leeches
Top leech colors: black, black with red, solid red, and dark olive. Fish them on sinking lines for best results.
Balanced Leeches
Ideal for early spring when trout are less aggressive. Balanced leech flies in black or black with red accents is a reliable choice.
Damsels & Dragonflies
Lone Lake supports strong populations of damselflies and dragonflies. Try the Olive Willy or Bernie's Mud Bunny as a suggestive damsel/dragon imitating pattern. When the fish want a more realistic pattern, the Master Damsel and Rowley’s Grizzly Dragon can be very productive.
Techniques for Fly Fishing on Lone Lake
Chironomids
Use your 4wt or 5wt rod with a floating line and your standard nylon leader of 7.5-feet and 3X tippet. Watch the surface of the water for hatching chironomids and match your fly to the size of the empty pupal shucks the hatching chironomids are leaving on the surface of the water after they hatch. This is the size of fly you want to choose.
Slide a Quick Release Chironomid Indicator up the leader and then tie a tippet ring onto the end of your leader. Next, also tied onto the tippet ring, attach a fluorocarbon tippet section of appropriate size for the fly size you have chosen. The length of the fluorocarbon tippet section is dependent on the depth of the water you’re fishing. The total leader length should be about the depth of the water. So, if you’re fishing in 15 feet of water, tie on 7 or 8 feet of fluorocarbon tippet so that the combined length of your leader and tippet is right about 15 feet. See our instructional video on Quick Release Chironomid Indicators for a demonstration on this rigging.
| TIP: To figure out how deep the water is, securely clamp your forceps to the end of your leader and drop it over the side of the boat. When you feel the forceps on the lake bottom, reel down so that your rod tip is just touching the surface of the water when the forceps are on the bottom. Then, lift the rod and handline in the rest of the line. Compare the amount of line to the length of your rod to get a good estimate of the water depth. If your fly rod is 9-feet long and the amount of line is five feet longer than the rod, then we know the depth is about 14 feet deep. Use this information to quickly determine how much tippet to put on the leader. We will use a similar method to determine where to set the strike indicator when chironomid or balanced leech fishing. |
Tie your chironomid on and set the indicator to the depth you want the fly to suspend at. Watch our video on Quick Release Chironomid Indicators to see how to set the flies depth. Usually, we want the fly to be 2-3 feet off the bottom. However, this can vary significantly and figuring out the depth the fish are feeding is part of the puzzle you need to solve when chironomid fishing.
When looking for a location on the lake to fish chironomids, keep an eye out for birds feeding on the hatching chironomids and watch for the actual chironomids hatching on the lake surface. When you decide on your location, drop an anchor (or two) upwind of where you want to fish. Cast downwind to the location you want to fish and make sure the fly doesn’t tangle as it hits the water.
Keep watch on the floating indicator. The moment it moves, set the hook with a quick, high lift of the rod. If you’re not getting any strikes, change the color of your fly and experiment with the depth. A fish finder can be very useful for all sorts of reasons when chironomid fishing, but one of those reasons is seeing the depth that fish seem to be cruising underneath the boat. Make note of any clues you get and be quick to make changes. Change the fly color, depth of size every ten minutes or so until you begin to find success. If the chironomids are hatching on the surface, the trout are down there eating them. Once you hook your first fish, a gentle stomach pump and glass vial can be great tools for an up close and personal look at what they are feeding on.
Leeches
There are two ways to fish leech fly patterns. The traditional way is with a full-sinking line. On Lone Lake, a type III or type IV sinking line is about right. The number one goal when fishing leeches on a sinking line is that the fly needs to be close to the bottom. Nothing else matters until this is accomplished. Whether you troll or prefer to cast and strip retrieve, the goal is the same.
When trolling with a sinking line, use tippet of at least 3X in size or you’re going to break fish off with regularity. Use a Non-Slip Loop Knot for better action on the fly. Maintain a trolling speed and amount of line out that keeps the fly close to the bottom. When you have it right, you will occasionally be hitting bottom and needing to clean weeds off your fly.
Fishing a full-sinking line by casting it and retrieving it is our favorite way to fish lakes. Every cast is an experiment to keep that fly parallel to the bottom of the lake. Slow your retrieve to drop the fly down a steep gradient. Speed it up to keep it just above a weedbed. Keep your mind focused on how the fly is fishing in relation to the lake bottom and the strikes will come. If you’re not touching weeds every once in a while and not getting strikes, let the line/fly get deeper until you are.
Balanced Leeches
Completely different in technique than standard leech patterns, balanced leeches are fished below a strike indicator like chironomids. Balanced leech flies are tied so that they sit below an indicator with the fly suspended horizontally. They can be incredibly effective, especially when the fish are not very active and when a slight wind keeps the indicator bobbing on the surface and therefore the leech below undulating in place waiting for a trout to cruise by and slurp it in.
Fish balanced leeches just a foot or two off the bottom. Cast directly downwind or perpendicular to the wind. Casting perpendicular to the wind direction will slowly move the fly with the wind and can be effective. Casting directly downwind will keep the fly as stationary as possible. Anchoring is not as important with balanced leeches as it is when chironomid fishing but is certainly less tiresome if there is any wind to deal with. Remember to size the tippet to the size of the fly and a Non-Slip Loop Knot will allow the fly to have much more movement. See our video on Quick Release Chironomid Indicators for more rigging information for balanced leeches and chironomids.
Fish balanced leeches in areas where trout will be travelling to search for food. These feeding lanes can be depth changes like a point or ledge or near a weedline edge.
Damsels and Dragons
Around April and May, Lone Lake offers the trout a solid menu of damselfly nymphs and dragonfly nymphs. The southern area of the lake is prime for these critters, and the trout will seek them out when they are hatching and making themselves available to the trout. Damsels will start hatching in April and dragonflies are generally about a month later. Fishing an intermediate sinking line for these hatches is perfect when they are swimming from deeper weeds towards the shoreline to hatch. Damsels are more numerous than the dragons and when they hatch, you can often see swirls on the surface as the trout eat them just under the surface of the water. Don’t be afraid to fish shallow when you see this with an intermediate line, long leader tapering down to 4X, and an damsel nymph like the Master Damsel. Make long casts and retrieve the fly just under the surface with long, slow strips. If you’re getting too deep, put some floatant or floating line cleaner on your intermediate line except for the last ten feet. (You will want to clean this off later with Sink Fast).
If the damselfly nymphs aren’t actually hatching when you are there, they can still be super effective to imitate. Try fishing your damsel nymph deeper on a full-sinking line near deeper weed edges. A type III or type IV sink rate is usually ideal and keeping the fly near the bottom is usually a key to being productive. Give the Olive Willy a shot as well as it may out fish the more realistic patterns in this scenario.
Summary
Well there you go. Hopefully you’re all ready for a great day on Lone Lake. Remember that great days on the lake often don’t start that way so experiment throughout the day and listen to any clues the lake and fish provide. If we can help, drop into the Pacific Fly Fishers store and we’ll certainly help the best we can.