North 40 Fly Shop eMagazine December 2016 | Page 36

OMAK’S SERENITY
STORY BY: LUKE MCKEE

The numbers for our steelhead this year are looking
slim. I don’t hold out much hope of having enough
to meet the escapement needs for this year. This
could change at a later date, but for us, it’s a hurry
up and wait situation. That doesn’t mean that there
is no great fishing around here.
A short drive from Omak onto Colville Confederated
Tribal Lands is the 3,244 acre gin-clear, alkali
jewel of Omak Lake. She is a beauty to behold as
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one rounds the turns of the Columbia River Road
above her steep banks. It is amazing to see the size
of such a vast piece of water, compared with the
smallness you feel, looking over the edge into her
light, purging depths. At Omak’s deepest point, she
exceeds 325 feet, which is known as an, “endorheic
basin” body of water. This type of basin has no
outflow and is stable other than evaporation. It has
little seepages from some small porous passages
through the sandstone and the granite. Because