Thanks to an unseasonably warm spring and moderate snow pack, the road into Newbury Crater opened on Friday. Boat ramps at both East and Paulina are accessible, although parking is still a little limited at the Hot Springs ramp at East due to snow. I fished Paulina on Friday and East on Saturday. Numbers of fish in both lakes is good. East gets the nod, however, for better fly fishing water and larger fish. We caught good numbers of rainbows in the 10-16 inch range and a few browns that were creeping up into the 20 inch range. Strangely, we didn't catch any kokanee. Chironomid (midge) pupae fished under indicators in 8-12 feet of water was the most successful tactic. Callibaetis won't make a showing until the water warms up a little more. I would expect these bugs to be going full throttle by June, though. Should be a great year up there!
