Description

There is a bit of folklore surrounding the Wooly Worm. Fly fisherpersons know it catches fish. After Diamond Lake was poisoned the first time to eliminate the Tui Chub, introduced by the willfully ignorant. Prior to that my mother held the 3rd place in the largest rainbow ever caught, “12# 8 oz.”  Uncle Elmer Childers owned a cabin at the lake. Mom and a sorority sister, Jan Smith, from Medford, were out in the rowboat sunbathing. Uncle Elmer’s rules, you have to be fishing. I’ve heard to story so many times, but a good one to summarize. There were two gentlemen that flew in with an amphibious plane, to fish. According to the stories the men had to help get the fish in rowboat, with sunbathing 20 year old girls. Calamity in the telling!!

How does this tale relate? After the first poisoning of the lake, Kamloop trout were introduced, from Canada, lake by the same name. These were fast growing trout that reached 20″ pretty quickly. Mom, Dad, and I like to drift flies to catch them. Spruce and wooly worm were excellent.

I remember a sign posted with the 3 largest trout listed in the lodge that burned down. I don’t have any pictures. I doubt a wood sign would survive. It’s the Memories!