The small black fly landed in a bit of a heap in the shallows and I gave the line a sharp pull, and then I was fast to the fish. I could tell right away I was in trouble, that this fish was going to do what it wanted to do. It took off for the middle of the lake and I spun around in my float tube and tried to keep up with what was going on. My fly line disappeared into my backing, and my backing began to spin off the reel at an alarming rate.

Finally, the fish slowed and stopped and sulked for a while. I could feel the weight of him on my 5-weight fly rod, and I could tell this was the biggest trout I had ever encountered on the end of my line.

This sublime moment took place five years ago on a lake in the Cascade foothills, which my fishing brethren have dubbed with the especially clever nickname, "The Secret Pond". It is a beautiful lake, but it always evokes a kind of spooky ambiance reminiscent of "Twin Peaks", especially in the fall when deer hunters emerge at the waters edge bearing arms and shots ring out occasionally in the woods nearby. Or in the early spring when the skinny leafless Alders and the sodden blackberry vines gives one the sudden urge to make sure the Green River Killer hadn't deposited a body somewhere in the area.

Spring means Opening Day of trout season (this year April 29th) throughout Washington, and traditionally this means many crowds at Western and Eastern Washington Lakes. The crowds seek recently planted trout, and these hatchery-bred fish are an easy catch in the first few weeks of the season. But there are plenty of other lakes around the state that provide solitude and excellent fishing if one makes the effort to search them out.

I eventually landed that Cutthroat Trout, and at the time, it indeed was the biggest trout I had ever laid hands on. I had to kick back into shore to deal with the fish, and my rapid breathing trying to fit the beast into my net turned into hyperventilation, which convinced me I was having a heart attack. I managed to snap off a picture of the fish, but in my addled state, I wanted to make sure the fish would live and I forgot to measure it.

I revived the fish in the water, and watched it swim away. The photo I took managed only to capture the back third of the fish, as I had my thumb or some other impediment over the lens. But my rod was in the photo, and I estimated the length of the fish to be about 30 inches, probably a native bred Cutthroat that was born in the shallows of the outlet stream of the lake.

But Secret Pond is not an easy place to catch fish, nor are most Western Washington lakes. I have fished the lake several dozen times, and probably gone fishless at least fifty percent of the time. The best time to fish local lakes is in the spring and fall, when the water temperature climbs out of the 40's and hovers around the low 50's.

A map book called the Washington Gazetteer and a book called the "Washington State Fishing Guide" by Stan Jones are excellent places to begin your search for your own secret pond.