A while back, I read about the possibility of fishing in Lake Temescal.  I need to admit upfront that I am a bit of a fly fishing snob. I should also admit to not being a very successful angler.  Still, when I think fly fishing, I think trout and a cold alpine lake at the end of a hike.  That being the case I don’t often get a chance to wet a line locally.

But having some time in the middle of a scorching day, I grabbed my fly rod and headed up to Lake Temescal. I was inspired by reading an article about fly fishing for warm water catfish, and after learning that they are most active in the bright light of midday, I figured it was an ideal moment to persuade a catfish to nibble on a big old woolly bugger. In the winter, the East Bay Regional Park District stocks the lake with trout. And around this time of year, they start dumping in the catfish.

While whistling, “… the catfish are jumping and the cotton is high…” I tied on my first snot green wet fly and gave it a few casts.  No luck.  I decided my cast was a little rusty, as the woolly bugger wasn’t really going to the places I was trying to send it.  I was also thinking back to the article I had read, which went on at some length about how smart catfish are. They are smarter, it seems, than their cousins the trout.

Standing on the banks of Lake Temescal, trying to devise ways to outthink a catfish, I was pretty stumped.  If I were fully dedicated to the sport, I would have been out in the middle of the lake in a float tube, plying the deep warm water.  Instead I was circumnavigating the edges of the lake and trying different colored buggers.  I noticed that when I was pulling in a light crimson colored fly I had the most interest from a school of small fish. But since they were about the same size as the fly, they may have been just confused.

Even without the knowledge of ichthyology and entomology required of a true fly fisher, it is always just fun to get in a few good casts.  A more devout angler, or at least one with better luck, might find Lake Temescal a good fishing hole.  According to signage and some local knowledge, the lake is stocked with rainbow trout in the cooler months, channel catfish in the warmer months, and occasionally large mouth bass.

Another option, for those of us with out of practice casts, are the Leona casting pools in McCrea Park. Apparently, this is the fly fishing hangout in Oakland.