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The
Crocker Collection
By
Robert L. Crocker
Following is a collection of writings on various Washington
State fishing destinations by Robert L. Crocker. Robert's
writings include detailed information such as location,
directions and species. Robert has extensive personal experience
hiking and exploring many areas that include High Mountain
Lakes and out of the way obscure destinations which he as
also documented in many of his writings.
Lost Lake in the Greenwater watershed NE of Mt. Rainier
This small "sub alpine" lake requires about
a 6 mile hike from the Greenwater Trailhead..... Elevation
gain is modest (less than 1500 feet) and scenery is pleasant,
though not spectacular. Horsers use this trail quite a bit
so one should expect to run into a few of that kind of forest
user. Lake is extremely low.. sort of like an earthquake
caused a fault or something to open and the water is seeping
out faster than normal or something... but this adds an
interesting feature to the lake..... It's about 6 or 7 feet
below it's historical level and the open shoreline that
used to be underwater has bloomed into a nice grassy area
that allows easy access for shore fishing all around the
lake and some great camping spots.... My hiking buddy took
my float tube and fly rod out and proceeded to catch 3 nice
brookies (8.5 to 9.5 inches) while losing several more...
they were bubbled up in tumeric butter (don't forget to
add a little garlic powder) and I must say were very tasty.........
I should be ok on my "omega 3's" for a few days
at least....
Hen Skin Lake
This is one of the small lakes in the crystal mountain basin...
Best way to access it is to park at the lodge and then hike
up toward the "Gold Rush" development just east
and a 500 feet of elevation or so above the lodge... Just
before you get to "Gold Rush" you'll cross a well
defined trail that is officially named the "Silver
Creek Trail"... Follow that up about 3 miles and you'll
arrive at Hen Skin Lake.. Hen Skin (I'm not even going to
conjecture as to where this name came from) is a small mountain
lake with good shore access... I didn't fish it, but there
was a family with 4 or 5 kids camped and fishing along it's
shore. They reported catching a few nice trout. They were,
however, using worms on #8 size hooks or larger below bobbers
and reporting to me that they let the small ones go. We
should all be aware that current game regulations require
the retention of all fish caught on bait.... and, besides,
I've come to the very well researched opinion over the years
that small flies work better than any other bait in these
mountain lakes. If you want to put a small chunk of worm
on the tip or douse them in shrimp oil, they will work a
bit better, but small insects are what these fish eat and
small insects are what the small flies are trying to look
like... If one is intimidated by fly rods and fly line,
then use spinning gear with a small plastic bubble ahead
of the fly for casting weight..... also, most mountain lakes
tend to suffer more from "overpopulation" than
"fish shortages" so it's a good idea to keep and
consume a few (especially the small ones).... this means
there will be more food for the ones still swimming around
in the lake..... another advantage to using the flies (other
than that you will catch more fish) is you will be able
to legally release the fish you don't want to consume....
My wife and I continued around the basin to the top of Crystal
Mountain and enjoyed some rather spectacular views.... It
should also be noted that Crystal Mountain resort runs the
chairlift that goes to the top of Crystal Mountain on weekends
during the summer..... so, one has the option of avoiding
the considerable physical exertion required to climb to
the top of the ridge...
Sunday Lake in King County...
This lake is accessed via the North Fork of the Snoqualmie
River Road and it's about a 3 mile hike.... Elevation gain
is moderate (trailhead is at 1400 feet and lake at 1900)...
One bog and one creek must be crossed though so the feet
will get wet... This is one of the more unique mountain
lakes I've been to. Instead of rock, sand, and a little
mud with steep dropoffs from shore, Sunday Lake has extensive
littoral areas and the lake bottom is rich in plant growth.
Much of the growth clinging to the bottom resembles what
is found in the more productive eastern washington lakes
and the really shallow water (1 foot or less) has a vertical
kind of green grass growing. This environment is rich in
food and I could watch the dragon fly and damsel fly nymphs
swimming around in the shallows.. My hiking buddy pumped
up the float tube and headed out.... In about 3 hours of
fishing I watched him lose three flys to fish that hit so
hard they broke the line.. He had probably 2 dozen hits
where he played the fish for a short time before it got
off and he ultimately brought 5 fish (2 - 10"ers, 2
- 9"ers, and 1 - 8"er) back for lunch..... they
were pretty good after we bubbled them in tumeric butter
for 15 minutes or so........ I have a feeling that there
are probably some larger fish finning around in the depths
of this lake, but there are so many small ones that the
bigs ones can't get to the hook fast enough.... Probably
need to have some sporties go up and "thin" these
things out a bit so the larger fish will be more attainable....
Trout Lake in Snohomish
Trout Lake in snohomish county and on the East Fork
of the Foss River watershed. Turnoff to this lake is on
Hwy 2 just past Skykomish. From the trailhead it's about
1.5 to 2 mile hike with a 500 or so foot elevation gain.
Trail is easy to follow with one set of foot bridges to
cross the East Fork of the Foss River about half way up.
Lake is rather small and shallow. Bottom is mostly sand
and there are some dead trees standing at south end where
the East Fork enters the lake. Water is extremely clear
and I could see some small trout rising and tailing as they
consumed insect life near the surface of the water. We had
been planning to go up to Malachite Lake, but my hiking
buddy started complaining that this is the fourth lake he's
carried his float tube up to this year and he hasn't taken
it out to use it yet, so he proclaimed that he was going
to blow up the tube and go fishing. This turned out to be
a good thing. While he fished, I continued on to complete
the additional 2 miles of steep switchbacks to malachite
only to find that it is still snowed over (Malachite is
at about 4,000 feet, Trout is about 2,000 feet above sea
level). When I returned, my buddy was frying up two 8"
(and skinny) class rainbows and they tasted pretty good.
He said he caught them on a size 14 black fly off a floating
fly line and his best success was when he just moved really
slow with enough tension on the line to minimize slack so
he could feel the strike and set the hook.... said they
hammered the fly pretty hard, so they must be hungry....
Loch Katrine
Loch Katrine is an interesting sub-alpine lake in the
Mt. Si area of the Cascade Mountains... At only 3,000 feet
of elevation it has a longer growing season than the higher
alpine lakes and with no maintained trail to the lake it
doesn't get much traffic.. There is a decent series of logging
roads that take you within 50 yards or so to the lake, so
no serious bushwhacking is required, but none of the roads
are "signed" so one must find them by trial and
error........ However, the lake is only a very short drive
from seattle and enough "explorers" seem to have
figured these roads out that the lake is taking some pressure....
My hiking buddy and myself were the only ones to visit today,
but his many casts resulted in one "sub-6""
rainbow caught and released with several more of the same
"weight class" following, but not biting...
Lake Stuart
Hiked into Lake Stuart (~ 4.5 miles and a moderate 1700
foot elevation gain) and my hiking buddy brought along his
rod and reel because he's read reports of good sized fish
in this alpine lake...... Was a bit disappointed in regard
to the fishin..... Using a dark spinner he was able to get
a few hits and a few follows in an hour or so of casting
to various parts of the lake... The fish he saw following
were of the 4 to 5 inch variety. He also found that the
"inlet stream" to this lake is deep and wide (unusual
for alpine lakes) and that it holds some of these small
and infrequent fish.......... Great scenery though and the
mosquitos are out in force so bring your repellent if you
decide to walk up here sometime in the next month or so
cuz they tend to be a problem until early to mid august....
Lake 22
Lake 22 This alpine lake is tucked into the slopes dropping
from the NE side of Mt. Pichuck. At about 2,400 foot elevation
it's quite a bit lower than most alpine lakes so I decided
to head up there with one of my hiking buddies today. This
being almost the 1st of may we were pretty sure it would
be open, warm and ready to fish so my buddy brought along
his float tube and fly rod. As it turned out the float tube
was totally unnecessary. About a mile or so before the lake
we ran into snow patches and soon the trail was basically
just "deep snow". We pushed on though and finally
reached the lake only to find that it is still completely
frozen over except for one small open area in the shallows
near the outlet. The basin this lake is situated in is rather
spectacular though and we got to listen to and watch a neat
avalanche. My feet got so cold and wet that I had to race
out to a dry spot so I could wring out my socks and warm
up my feet so they didn't become frost bitten and gangue
green set it. For those who start anticipating summer trips
to their favorite alpine lakes about this time every year,
please be advised that the wait is going to be a bit longer
than normal this summer. I suspect that most lakes above
the 4,000 foot elevation won't be fishable until mid july
or later.
Grizzly, Obscurity, and Panhandle Lakes
I've been scouting the access to these mountain lakes
(which are just a bit north of Spirit Lake) off and on for
several years now, but had never taken my rod and reel with....
One of my older nephews had mentioned to me last week that
he thought he was ready for a "real hike" so I
said he could come along...... These Lakes can be accessed
from the boat launch at Coldwater Lake (walk up to the end
of the lake and then continue on for another 5 to 8 miles)
or from the Norway Pass trailhead which is slightly North
and East of Spirit Lake..... We started from Norway Pass
Trailhead and quickly put 3 miles behind us and were standing
on the top of "Bear Pass". The trail traverses
some steep "north slope" terrain just past Bear
Pass and this was covered by a snow field. We were able
to bushwhack above it though and gradually work our way
down a mile or so to Grizzly Lake. Grizzly Lake has a lot
of floating wood on it but seems rich and full of food,
but my nephew couldn't catch anything and there was no sign
of any fish rising.... so we got on the trail again and
walked another mile or so to "obscurity lake"..
Obscurity is a scenic lake with some good camping spots.
I could see some fish rising so I rigged up my nephew with
a small blue/silver castmaster and he was quickly into fish.
They were all "smallish" (6 to 8 inch) brook trout
(but a few may have been dollies). Surprisingly, I didn't
have any problem convincing him to release them all, but
he seemed to get a kick out of all the action.... A small
stream feeds this lake. This stream is large enough and
flat enough (for a couple hundred yards anyways) that the
fish can move easily into it and back to the lake so I suspect
the brookies are able to reproduce and that may be why the
ones he caught were a bit stunted... From here we worked
our way over another pass and down to Panhandle lake, which
is even more scenic than "obscurity" and has an
excellent camping area. Panhandle also has a "flat
section of stream" feeding it. Moving water that the
trout can easily move up into and spawn. This lake was also
full of brook trout with the odd "dollie" thrown
in. ONce again, nothing over 8".. Met a "ranger"
as we walked down into the lake and he was very adamant
that "camping permits" were required if we wanted
to camp... We convinced him that we wouldn't be camping,
so he went on his way...... Nice trip, but my nephew tells
me he's pretty sore today.
Halfmoon Lake
After a long morning of fishing Bobcat and Coyote Creek
ponds with my nephew, we drove into Othello for lunch (the
KFC on the South side of town has a great buffet) and then
headed back for more fishing adventures.... Decided to check
out Halfmoon Lake... The access to this lake is on the North
Side of McMannaman road a half a mile or so West of the
access for Coyote Creek and Bobcat Creek ponds.... You won't
see the lake, but the parking area is just past a small
bridge that crosses "Hayes Creek"... Once parked,
go right (don't head up the gravel road) and you will quickly
cross Hayes Creek and be walking toward the south shore
of Halfmoon Lake... lake seems very shallow and weedy...
(also very narrow)... We walked about 1/4 to 1/3 way down
the lake until we came to a substantial bluff rising from
the south shore and didn't venture further... (it looked
like the bluff could be circumvented to reach more shoreline,
but I wanted to hit some other lakes, so didn't take the
time).... My nephew made a few casts and didn't catch anything,
but we could definitely see a few stunted bluegill in the
shallows... not nearly as many as we saw at Coyote and Bobcat
Creek ponds, but one here and half a dozen there...... this
is not good news, as I believe this lake is being managed
for trout and was rotenoned a couple of years back to kill
all the spinyrays.
Bobcat Creek Ponds and Coyote Creek Ponds
Took my nephew out to look for Bluegill and bass at these
walk in ponds...... The access is off of McMannaman Road
just west of the where you turn up to go to Soda Lake....
It's on the south side of McMannaman road at the top of
a rise and a bit west of where you can see Deadman's lake......
This access is typically littered with garbage..... I will
normally fill my little plastic grocery store bag and still
be looking at a big mess.... today it wasn't to bad, by
the time I filled the bag the access was look'n good......
The trick to getting to Coyote and Bobcat creek ponds is
to understand that one cannot see them from the access..........
There is a trail going directly south of the parking area
and one is tempted to follow it.... I can get you to the
ponds, but the route is "circuitous" at best....
Best option is to travel directly west (across the undisturbed
desert grass) a hundred yards or so until you come to a
gravel road used by WDFW for managing the area (gate is
locked.. we cannot use this road for driving our motorized
vehicles on)... walk down this road for a mile or so and
you will come to a "Y"... bear right at the "Y"
and it's a quarter to half a mile down to where you will
see a small shallow pond on the left.. This is one of the
Coyote Creek ponds and looks too shallow to be productive...
Once you are on the road defining the earthen dam creating
this small shallow pond, you will be able to see a much
larger pond directly west and 50 feet or so lower than this
road.... it's an easy traverse down to this pond and I call
it the "furthest downstream Bobcat Creek Pond",
but it may be the first coyote creek pond downstream of
the last "Bobcat Creek Pond"... (I'm not sure,
but it's a moot point because both sets of ponds have identical
management rules..... Anyways this is a fairly large pond
and it gets pretty deep also.... As soon as I reached the
shoreline my nephew could see a bunch of small bluegill
and largemouth bass milling around.... He cast very quickly
and picked up two or three small bluegill and a small largemouth
right away... After that they became a bit cautious of the
lure he was using (a smallish castmaster spray painted black)....
we moved on to another spot along the shore and he made
a few more casts and had some more hits.... This was repeated
along the shore of this pond and two more ponds upstream...
At about the third spot we tried on this first pond I saw
an extremely large bass (5 or 6 pounds) move up and fin
amongst all the smaller fish (probably checking out the
menu) and then move into deeper water.... My nephew tangled
up his line as he tried to cast to this fish, but he saw
it and was pretty excited about how big it was...... The
next two ponds were smaller, but were also packed with "smallish"
bluegill and bass milling around waiting for someone to
catch them (actually, the were probably on their spawning
beds)..... There is a pretty well defined trail connecting
these ponds and we followed it until we came to a road...
Hanging a left at the road and walking for half a mile or
so we came to the dam forming the "first Coyote Creek
Pond".... there were some small bluegill in the shallows
here also and he caught one..... following this road for
50 or 100 yards we came to the "Y" where we had
originally turned right to go to the first pond.... Not
a bad day for my nephew.. he saw lots of fish, and caught
a few of them to take home to his mother....
Nahwatzel Lake in Mason County
Took my daughter out to see if I could get her into some
fish and was successful in my first such trip of that nature
this year... While I tend to go out on lakes to enjoy the
outdoors and get a little exercise, my daughter is more
"goals oriented" when she goes with... she wants
to catch some fish.... Nahwatzel is a pleasant lowland lake
located not to far from the southern edge of the olympic
mountains. The access area is along the south shore though,
not the NE shore as shown on the Washington Gazetteer. Water
is clear and the firm bottom structure along with a total
lack of lily pads causes me to categorize this lake as mesotrophic
rather the eutrophic even though the lake doesn't get much
deeper than about 25 feet.... Though the entire northern
shore is undeveloped, the rest of the lake is crowded with
waterfront homes (however, the abundance of evergreen trees
makes the shoreline attractive from a distance). I used
my "thermo depth meter" to try and detect a thermocline...
It hasn't set up yet... surface temp was about 52 to 53
degrees F and the temperature gradually dropped to a low
of about 47 degrees F on the bottom.... I started out trolling
a small dark (size 60) hot shot (I didn't fish... just my
daughter) and paddled the entire perimeter of the lake without
a hit... so I tied her on a small dark rapala and trolled
the entire perimeter of the lake once again without success....
then I tied on a white Norman Deep Little N and it barely
got down to working depth before she got a good hit.. she
lost that fish, but soon she was into another one and she
landed a healthy 11" rainbow (ok, ok.. not such a big
deal, but she was excited and that was all that really mattered)....
about half way around the lake she got another hit and landed
a 14" kokanee (beautiful fish.. I think it was a koke,
but it may have been one of those coho WDFW likes to plant
in the fresh water lakes.. apparently this is the only place
they are safe from gill nets... it had bright red flesh
and very white/silver sides) Another trip around the lake
and she landed another rainbow about the same size as the
first.... by this time she was getting a little dizzy from
my paddling her around the lake so many times so we stopped
and she started working a mini-jig on an ultralight spinning
outfit.. I tipped the jig with a small hunk of worm... she
quickly picked up a small bass and another kokanee that
was almost an exact copy of the first one she caught....
after that we decided to call it a day....... It was a beautiful
day though.. lots of sun and not too much wind.... the jet
ski and water ski types are just starting to get active..
I saw one of each, but neither ventured too close to us.
However, I suspect that by the first of June, the lake will
be whipped up into a froth on sunny Sunday afternoons with
all the high speed boat traffic, so I will be avoiding it
for sure for the rest of the summer.. however, come late
October it may be worth another try..... Also saw two salamanders
(water dogs to you southern bass fishing types) and an eagle
was very active in the skys above the lake for most of the
afternoon.
Tatoosh Lake
Another great alpine experience... (emphasis on the Alpine
today)... Tatoosh ridge and tatoosh lake are in the high
country north of Packwood and South of Mount Rainier. Take
the road going north from Hwy 12 at the Texaco (in Packwood)
and go over the cowlitz river and a couple a miles later
there will be a sign saying "turn here and the tatoosh
lake trail is only 7 miles up the dirt road"... doesn't
get any easier than that..... The trail is pretty steep
for the first couple of miles (2,000 feet elevation gain)...
If your heart isn't pumping pretty hard by the time you
hit mile marker 1, it's probably because your "physical
body" died somewhere along the way and isn't with you
anymore...... Tatoosh lake itself is in a pristine alpine
region.. so alpine, the lake (though open) is still surrounded
by snow and the half mile of ridge that must be negotiated
to drop down into the lake is still packed deep... If I
was twenty years younger, I would have simply foot glacaded
down and popped the float tube into the water, but not feeling
like working my way back up all the cold white stuff I just
watched the lake for a while from a distance.... Water is
greenish, but clear and noted a couple of small fish jump.....
This lake is visited more for the exercise and spectacular
vistas, but it looks like there are at least a few small
trout to be had.
Cramer, Dumbbell, Buesch, Sand, and Deer Lakes...Yakima
County
This week should put me over the top in regard to "obscure
lakes no one has ever heard of department".... These
Lakes are all just north of White Pass and accessible from
the Leech Lake parking area or the "Dog Lake Campground"...
I started at the Dog Lake campground and hiked the 14 mile
loop to check out these lakes.... Cramer lake is about 5
miles up the trail and is a big shallow lake with lots of
bugs, but no fish were rising, so I decided to move on...
Another 2 miles of walking brought me to the shores of Dumbbell
lake (just North of Cramer Mountain).. This lake definitely
had some fish jumping (some that looked to be over 10"),
but it also had mosquito counts that may have gone into
the "tons"... it was unbelievable... There were
also some blue dragon flies and a small little "moth
like" aquatic insect I've never seen before. The surface
of the lake was literally "alive" with hatching
bugs (I mean I have never seen a lake surface this active)
and there were a good number of trout partaking of the feast.
I covered myself with DEET, held my breath, and tried to
get psyched to put the float tube in the water, but ultimately,
just ran.... Another mile or so up the trail I ran into
Buesch Lake and it is so shallow it looked like I could
wade the entire lake without gettin my wallet wet... Saw
one fish jump, but it was definitely a "sub 5"
er"....... another 5 or 6 miles along the loop I ran
into Sand lake, which is also real shallow and there was
nothing jumping.... There were still snow fields around
the lake and the melt had the lake up over the trail. I
had to walk in water up to my knees just to get around the
lake, but it didn't look like it got all that much deeper
out in the middle... Another half mile or so down the trail
I ran into Deer Lake (which is only a mile and a half hike
up from Leech lake.. but you gotta go the other way) which
turned out to be the best looking lake of them all. Insects
were hatching and there were some good sized trout (over
10"'s) swirling, but the "skeeter density"
was very tolerable... It was getting late though, so I will
have to save this one for another time.. will definitely
be back though.
Lilly, Leech, and Meta lakes
I seem to recall hearing Bruce say there was going to be
a prize this year for the person who posts the most reports
on strange lakes that no one has ever heard of. Todays report
alone should make me a '00 contender. Lilly Lake is on the
"Clear Fork" trail which is accessed by taking
a right on Forest Road 46 about 4 miles east of packwood
and following the signs to "Clear Fork Trail"
(about 9 miles on a gravel road that gets real marginal
for the last mile or so).... I found out today why no too
many people have heard of this lake... It's shallow, boggy,
full of mosquitos, and there is really no place to even
get your float tube on the water without walking through
20 or 30 yards of knee deep mud and brush.... definitely
a waste of time.. don't bother with this one....... Leech
lake is at the White Pass Summit. There is a road turning
north from Hwy 12 a quarter mile or so east of the summit
and that road accesses the East end of leech lake. There
is a campground there now with a rough boat launch and good
parking... Unfortunately, all this upgraded access has made
it a popular attraction and there were 4 or 5 float tubes
on the water. The lake is a "sort of selective fishery"
kind of lake. That is to say, barbless hooks are required,
but the retention limit is 5 fish. Most the fishermen I
saw on the lake were using fly rods. I saw no fish rising
and had no strikes. After the Leech and Lilly Lake disappointments,
I decided to head up in the Spirit Lake area and "find
new water".... This brought me to the shore of a small
body of water called "Meta Lake". Meta Lake is
accessed from a parking area alongside the "road to
Windy Ridge" just past the turn to Ryan Lake. I think
it's the last parking area on this road where you can legally
park without having a "monument pass", a "Forest
pass" is required however.. It's located NE of Spirit
Lake. A short paved trail connects meta lake with the "meta
Lake" parking area... Meta is shallow and the water
is clear. The bottom (surprise, surprise) is mostly volcanic
ash, but there are numerous blown down trees, branches,
and snags in the water and on the bottom of the lake. It
was getting late and I didn't feel like putting my float
tube together again, so I just fly fished from shore for
a while.. had several good follows and there were fish constantly
swirling all around the lake. Didn't seem to be anything
much larger than 7 or 8 inches though. This could be another
one of those lakes that might be useful for increasing the
"confidence level" of someone who is new to flyfishing....
There are definitely fish in this lake, and I think it takes
virtually no pressure, because all the visitors are "monument
gawkers", not "real people", like us recreational
anglers.
Jug Lake (East Lewis County)
Jug Lake is about a 3.1 mile hike from the Soda Springs
Campground which is accessed from Highway 12 West of White
Pass.. Take the Forest Road exit that's a couple of miles
east of the Highway 123 junction (Hwy 123 is the one that
goes around the east side of Mt. Rainier and goes over Cayuse
Pass).. Soda Springs Campground is at about 3000 feet and
jug lake is at about 4400 feet. The snow line there is at
about 4400 feet now. The trail is easy to follow (though
you have to ford one creek) and only steep in a few places.
Jug lake has some "open canopy" shoreline that
allows for fly fishing from shore. Open shoreline is a bit
rare around the lakes in this area. It was pretty windy
and though the lake was open I decided not to fish. Didn't
see anything rising, but the lake looks fishy and I'll be
back when the weather is nicer and snow level higher to
give it a try.
Echo Lake in King County
(Near the headwaters of the "greenwater river"....
Got a late start (hit the trailhead..~ 2900 foot elevation...
about noon), but made it to the lake after a 3 hour hike.
Echo lake is a 7 mile hike. Trail is very gradual for the
first 4 miles or so. It goes by two small lakes (greenwater
lakes) at the 2 mile point. Greenwater lakes are really
just wide spots in the "greenwater river", but
they look to hold some fish. They were taking quite a bit
of pressure however. After about 4 miles the trail starts
to get steeper and peaks out at about 4400 feet a mile or
so before Echo Lake. From there it is about a 500 decent
to the lake (which is at 3900 feet).... There was still
a little bit of mushy snow at the 4400 foot "trail
high point", but the lake is clear. Echo lake is a
pretty good sized "hike in" lake and it lies in
an attractive "sub alpine" mountain setting. It's
size is perfect for float tubing. I got my float tube out
and fished it with a size 8 "stonefly nymph" for
half an hour to 45 minutes. In that time I landed and released
half a dozen or so small (5" to 6") cutthroat
trout. Many more were rising to feed on aquatic insects.
These fish are definitely hungry. I suspect any small hook
rigged to look dark and furry would have drawn some piscatorial
attention. A long hike back, so was on the trail again by
4PM. Gotta come back some time when I can stay longer....
If you have some kid that's old enough to "make the
trip", this is a good lake to teach flyfishing. Gotta
have a float tube though, brush along the shoreline sort
of prohibits any kind of backcast.. Constant action tends
to make up for the small size of the fish.
Grimes Lake in Douglas County
(I think it's Douglas County... once I'm out of Grant and
Okanogan, I get real disoriented in Eastern WA)... It's
the lake just north of Jameson.... It was a warm day with
variable to strong winds and water surface temp varied from
66F to 69F... There were about a dozen or so vehicles in
the small parking lot. Grimes is accessed by getting to
Mansfield somehow and then turning south on Mansfield Road,
which is on the West Side of town... Road leads down to
the North End of Jameson Lake and there's a "marked"
dirt road leading off to the left about a mile before you
get to the North shore of Jameson that takes you to "Grimes".
The "rough dirt" road runs for about 1/2 mile
before you get to the parking lot. Grimes is a fairly deep
lake (middle is 60 feet or more) with abundant littoral
areas and extensive shallows at the extreme North and South
ends. There are a number of "shelves" reaching
out from shore along the East Side. West side is mostly
"Bluff" with very steep littoral zones. Most pressure
was from float tubers and "pontoon boat" flyfishers
working the East Shore shallows, but there were 2 or 3 small
boats equipped with electric motors working the water also...
Based on "overheard conversations" it seemed that
most had landed and released at least a couple of fish that
were caught in the 20 to 30 foot depth range... Bruce and
I tried trolling crankbaits and a variety of other lures
(which, of course, had been modified to comply with the
"selective fishery" rules applicable to this lake).
But we didn't start getting any action until we switched
to a small gold "fat TBS" spoon that we "paddle
mooched" along the NE littoral area. Fish seemed to
really respond to that particular lure and we had many strikes,
follows, and each managed to land a nice "greater than
one pound" fish that was retained for evening meal
"fresh fish " consumption. Note: "Paddle
Mooching" involves rigging up a small weight 18 to
36 inches above the "Fat TBS" and then using paddle
and wind to drift along the dropoff (10 to 30 feet) as the
terminal gear is worked up and down with the reel. Often
the strike will come as the spoon is dropping... so be attentive
at all times. (The phrase "Paddle Mooch" is "copyrighted"
by Gamefishin.com, and may not be used for any commercial
purposes without the expressed, written consent of "Gamefishin.com"
management). However, the same effect can very likely be
obtained by the use of an electric motor (legal on this
lake). These lahontans are excellent table fare, so practice
catch and release, but be sure to retain one every once
in a while for a very enjoyable meal. A couple of other
tips we picked up from talking to some of the other anglers
who work this lake frequently.... They seem to think that
this is a "morning" lake.... Action can apparently
be "fast and furious" until noon or so and then
it will "shut
down" completely. Brown is the "hot" color.
Apparently casting brown roostertails along the NE shoreline
can really be hot during morning hours... (the "fat,
gold tbs" spooons we used had an oxide coat on them
that made them "almost brown" and that could have
been one of the reasons they worked so well). A couple of
more observations..... Lake was fairly clear. It was easy
to see the plant growth on the bottom in 10 feet of water
or so, but there were "algae globs" floating in
patches throughout the lake, and this made trolling difficult,
because the globs were always working their way down to
the terminal tackle. Mooching works better than trolling
because you are running a shorter line and it's easy to
pull up frequently and check for fouled terminal gear. Lahontan's
seem to like to "play with their food", so if
you aren't getting hits or bumps, whatever it is you have
on your line probably isn't of interest to them.... try
something else. Once you start getting the "bumps",
stick with that lure until you can get a good "hook
set"..
Kress Lake (Cowlitz County)
Put the canoe in the water about 12PM and fished the lake
until about 5PM. Kress has a nice access area and there
are trails all the way around the lake with a variety of
"shore fishing" spots at various spots around
the lake. There were about 2 dozen or more cars in the lot
today with most of the "lakes users" being families
fishing from shore. It was very evident that the hatchery
truck had "dropped the goodies" fairly recently
because there were "legal sized planters" jumping
and rising everywhere on the lake, but most of the surface
activity was close to the ramp. Surface Temp was in the
low 60's.. (Mostly 61 and 61 F) I would classify Kress Lake
as "eutrophic". The deepest spot I could find
was 17 feet deep. The deepest part of the lake is a trench
near the North Shoreline. It is for the most part 14 to
16 feet deep. The South and East shorelines have very gentle
slopes and the bottom is very thick with vegetation. There
is a series of humps just out from the boat ramp where the
depth moves very quickly from 13 feet to 6 feet and then
back. Though the water was fairly clear today (visibility
2 to 4 feet) the little green "globs" of algae
that characterize a "bloom" are already present
and should be "full sized" in less than a month.
Bottom is very soft with very few areas I would classify
as "rocky" or "hard bottomed". These
spots are limited regions in the trench that runs just off
the North Shoreline. Most anglers present today were fishing
with bobber/bait from shore. There were 4 people fly fishing
and the fly fishers were doing rather well. Every time I
looked over their way, one of them would be playing a fish.
I mostly trolled size 60 hot shots rigged with single barbless
hooks and caught and released one nice 13" holdover
(it had real dark spots on it's body and a nice red lateral
line... that tends to suggest it's been in the lake for
a while) along with 3 or 4 newly planted specimens.. Of
the shore fishing crowd the most interesting (to me anyways)
was an older gentleman fishing near the ramp. He was using
small "cocktail shrimp" (the kind that come in
a small tin can) below a bobber. He seemed to never have
to wait more than a few minutes for a strike. It looked
like all he had on the hook was the cocktail shrimp... no
corn, no worm, no powerbait.. just the cocktail shrimp.
Glacier Lake....(Lewis County)
Glacier Lake is a "hike in" lake located in East
Lewis County. It's accessed by turning "right"
a few miles before Packwood. This is the road that goes
to Walupt Lake... The road going to Glacier Lake trailhead
is about 4 or 5 miles up this forest road and the first
"signed" left. Glacier Lake is at about 2900 feet
and even though it is in a pretty steep canyon with minimal
"southern exposure", it seems to always open very
quickly in the spring. Not sure why. But it was open when
I went up there today, and there was no snow visible around
the lake. The lake looked like it had been open for at least
a couple of weeks or maybe more... The trail going up to
this lake only gains a net 1000 feet or so, but has a "rollercoaster
like" relief that makes it seem long and steep. There
is quite a bit of uphill coming back, but not as much as
going in. If you fish this lake in the summer it will look
deep green and "opaque".. This is because it is
fed by one of the glaciers on either "Angry Mountain",
or "Johnson Peak"... However, if you can get up
there before the glacier starts melting (like today for
instance), the water is fairly clear and there seems to
be good bottom vegetation growth in the shallows. This is
probably also true in late october and early November....
There is pretty good shoreline access for launching a float
tube or rubber raft. I didn't take a fishing rod today because
I was just checking to see if the trail was clear of snow.
I didn't see any fish rise while I was there, but the water
looked like it would be tough to troll a black woolly bugger
all the way around the lake on the end of a "sinking
fly line" without getting at least one good stike.
Long Lake
Long Lake from Flow Control dam just below Soda Lake to
"white pipe" barrier several miles downstream
of Crescent Lake. Put in at crescent lake access about 11
Am and trolled small crankbaits (hot shot 30 to 60) down
the lake, into the canal, and made it half way to othello
before noticing that the farther I went down the canal,
the darker and murkier the water was getting. Suspecting
some form of "leakage" from the potato processing
operations this side of Othello, I finally turned around
and headed back. Rowing down this canal brought back a lot
of memories though, so I will include a summary for those
who may want to try working this area in a "fully informed"
manner this summer... Following is a summary of my experiences
fishing this water.. All this experience was in the time
period from about 1983 to 1987 so there will have been some
changes.. Starting from the top... The first wide spot down
from the Soda Lake "flow control" dam is a good
early summer spot for smallmouth bass. It's generally shallow
and weedy with some deeper spots. I had good success on
smallmouth casting floating rapalas and retrieving them
over the weeds in late may and early June. This was before
the aquatic weeds had grown all the way to the surface.
Once they get to the surface they tend to "foul the
lure"... The pool to the left of Pillar Lake is a smallmouth
bass spawning area. We hit them on the beds a couple of
times and action was fast and furious on small spinner baits...
This is all "catch and release" fishing of course.
I never did particularly well in Pillar Lake itself. I can
recall a couple of nice small mouth on floating rapalas
caught when the weeds were still "emerging" but
that was it. I've noted boats anchored and working the deep
hole in the "canal portion" of pillar lake but
I'm not too sure what they were fishing for or what kind
of success they had. I would guess they were after big walleye.
From the way their boats were anchored and rods positioned
it looked like they had bait sitting right at the bottom
of the hole. And the bottom is about 50 feet down at it's
deepest spot there. Below Pillar Lake the canal is steep
and narrow and "fully charged" flows are fast.
I could never figure out a way to fish it effectively. However,
in my humble opinion, the bulk of the large fish in this
system spend the summer hanging around at the bottom or
along the side of the canal just letting the irrigation
water bring food to them. The canal takes a hard right turn
just before entering Long Lake and it widens and slows a
bit there. I had some success working the edges with small
spinnerbaits along this stretch. Once the canal enters Long
Lake there is an "eddy" off to the right. This
has produced a lot of nice bluegill for me. But you have
to get there while the water is in the 65 to 75 degree range
in the spring. Use small jigs tipped with a small hunk of
nightcrawler and a plastic grub (mr twister, tube thing,
or equivalent). A little further down the water slows down
and moves over a shallow flat (to your right as you progress
down the lake). This flat holds a lot of perch in the spring
and early summer. Use same jig/crawler/grub combo but keep
it on the bottom and don't bounce it around too much. Find
the bottom and move it very slowly. Best spots are where
bottom is 10 to 15 feet down. You can pick up some perch
on the other side of the lake also, but there don't seem
to be as many over there. Long Lake is one of the most interesting
lakes I've ever fished. It has a huge variety of structure
and is a great place to test just about any kind of warm
water species "fishing theory". The "huge"
variable that gets thrown in is the canal and it's current.
That current is a big "draw" and must be accounted
for in all strategies. There are weed beds along the shoreline
that hold Largemouth Bass, gravel flats that hold smallmouth
bass, vertical drops that hold crappie, mud flats with emerging
weeds that hold nice bluegill, and you never know when a
big old rainbow trout that found it's way down the canal
from potholes reservoir might hit your spinnerbait or bass
plug. The 5 pound plus largemouth I caught in the bay across
from the boat ramp in 1986 is still my biggest largemouth
to date and my fishing buddy landed a 3 and half pounder
about 10 minutes after I "touched" that one. However,
most of the bass in this water (largemouth and smallmouth)
tend to be more in the 1 to 1 ½ pound range and I
always sized my baits accordingly. The canal flow from Long
Lake down to "Crescent Lake" is a bit slower than
the flow from Pillar to Long and there are several places
where it's fairly easy to work "jigs" along the
bottom. However, I've never had any success in this stretch
of the water. Not sure why. There should be fish holding
in here. I guess someone else is going to have to figure
out how to catch them. Once you get down into Crescent Lake
the terrain becomes a bit more varied. Crescent has a steep
cliff along it's south/west shore and is shallow and muddy
along the north/east shoreline. Just to the right as the
canal enters the lake is a shallow pool that can only be
accessed when the canal is fully charged. This is an interesting
pool to fish. Small spinnerbaits will draw perch and small
mouth bass... nothing too big though. The most interesting
feature about Crescent Lake is the way crappie school and
hold near the "cliff side" of the lake. The cliffs
near the "outlet" are best. Use small jig/grub
combos tipped with a hunk of nightcrawler and work the lure
very slow. Adjust depths until you find the fish. This fishery
tends to get hot the first couple of weeks in June and will
be hot for a couple of weeks before it dies out. I"ve
never been able to catch anything at all along the northern
shore of Crescent Lake. Tried working it a lot. Tried lots
of different baits, but with no success. Not sure what's
going on their, but I'm sure the fish are there. The water
gets real shallow as it leaves Crescent Lake but then drops
off quickly to a canal depth varying from 20 to 30 feet.
The canal run just downstream of Crescent Lake has the most
depth variation of any of the canal sections in this stretch
of water. In several places it moves up from 30 feet to
20 feet or 15 feet and holds for a while and then drops
back down. This depth variation provides good holding areas
for large fish and there used to be a "huge" walleye
hanging around in there.. It followed my jig one spring
and got close enough to the boat for me to make out it's
"silouette"... it was at least 12 pounds.....
I shook for two days after that "follow".... I
hooked into this bruiser (or one about the same size) a
month or so later further down the canal and fought it for
over half an hour before it broke off. It was one of the
more memorable battles I've ever had with a fish. The big
walleye just held me off and never let me pull it more than
about 30 or 40 feet from the spot I first hooked it. It
didn't take any long runs. It seemed to know it was going
to win the battle and didn't want to have to swim too far
back to it's "home" after the "fight was
over". At the end of this "most interesting"
run of canal is the last "wide spot". This wide
spot is extremely shallow, but if you work around to the
left you can pick up smallmouth, crappie, and bluegill.
They will all be pretty small, but it's a fun stretch of
water to fish. As the canal works down from this last "wide
spot" to the "white pipe barrier" the canal
bottom becomes more regular in depth again. For the first
half a mile or so the walls are steep and the flow fast,
but then the walls "mellow out" a bit. The canal
gets a bit wider, the flow slows down and the water gets
a bit shallower. In this last stretch it's possible to bounce
a jig/worm combination along the bottom and pick up walleye
in the 2 to 3 pound range. There are some nice smallmouth
bass in here also. It was working a jig along this stretch
one summer in the mid-80's that I observed a school of smallmouth
bass go into a "feeding frenzy". This "feeding
frenzy" looked very much like the ones I used to watch
in the Neah Bay area back in the 60's. At Neah Bay the performers
were Black Sea Bass working schools of smelt. In the canal
it was 1 pound smallmouth working a school of minnows. When
it happened my fishing partner and I just stood in amazement
watching it. We were too surprised to even flip our lures
over and try to catch one. It only lasted a minute or so
and when it was over and we finally sent our lures flying
in that direction, the "performers" were "long
gone".
Hayes Creek Ponds
Hayes Creek Ponds are accessed via McMannamon road which
provides access to the southern portion of seep lakes area
below Potholes reservoir... Hayes Creek flows from Morgan
Lake into Shiner Lake and roughly follows McMannamon road...
3 of the ponds are located directly south of the road a
couple of miles east of the "hutchinson lake access
road".. one of these ponds is visible from the road
and there is a "wide spot" kind of place to park...
After slipping under a strand of barbed wire you can walk
onto a rock and cast into the lower of the three ponds...
this one is pretty shallow and I didn't get any action there...
If you turn left you can access a larger and deeper pond.
I had been led to believe that these ponds had a good population
of bluegill and so was using a small spinner bait tipped
with a whole night crawler.. I wasn't actually trying to
catch a fish as much as I was trying to see if one or more
of the bluegill might show itself as the 'crawler drifted
to the bottom of the pond... On my second cast I could see
activity around the sinking worm, but they weren't bluegill.
The activity was from a half a dozen or more rainbow trout..
the trout were very dark and had bright red sides suggesting
they were in a spawning phase... they ranged in size from
about 15 to 20 inches and were also rather lethargic, but
the interest in the worm seemed genuine... after several
seconds of working the worm up and down and watching the
fish swim around, attack it, and then pull back I finally
hooked one that would have gone and easy 17 inches.. maybe
20... it took out line and gave a good account of itself,
but it was definitely not at 100%.. It didn't pull free
of the hook until I had it right up to shore and ready to
land.... I tried working the pond with several other lures
but the activity had apparently spooked all the trout and
I couldn't even draw another follow..... There is another
pond directly upstream of the second one, but it is also
small and shallow like the first and I couldn't draw any
action there.. My recommendation for these ponds would be
a long spinning pole, light line and a small bobber with
a worm dangling 1 to 2 feet below for bait.. It could probably
also fished with a fly, but the North side doesn't have
a good clearing for the backcast... there is a flat spot
on the southwest side of the larger pond that looks like
you could work a fly from though.
Coffeepot Lake
It was one of those sunny but windy EW day... Coffeepot
lake is small and narrow, but unfortunately the narrow lies
in a SW to NE path and this is the direction the wind is
usually blowing when it's blowing hard... Waves were under
3 feet high, but the lake was still not inviting.. There
were 4 or 5 motored craft out and they were mostly hiding
in protected areas more than they were fishing.... Coffeepot
has unique regulations in that it is a "selective fishery"
lake that allows combustion motors... it's also managed
for both trout and warmwater species... water had a brownish
color to it which may have been due to the waves stirring
up the bottom... The lake is accessed by driving north on
21 through Odessa... several miles north of Odessa you will
see a road going off to the right named "Coffeepot
Road"... this is a great clue and if you follow "Coffeepot
Road" you soon end up at the access to the lake...
Access has a gate and a nice sign identifying "Coffeepot
Lake" as a "selective fishery"... (great
idea WDFW.... would be nice to see more of the popular lakes
so marked.. even though I know this comes at a cost and
that vandalism tends to make this cost even higher than
it should be) Boat ramp is adequate with a small dock to
making loading in and out easier.
Duck Lake in Grays Harbor County
Hit the ramp on north end of lake about noon and trolled
various small crankbaits up and down the northerly 3 segments
of the lake for about 3 hours without any luck.. Surface
temp was 43F, water was brownish (almost a tannic kind of
brown) and visibility was about a foot. Duck is a long thin
lake (reminiscent of Sacajawea in Longview) in a highly
developed area. It is divided into segments that are bounded
by bridges under which navigation is possible with boats
up into the mid 20's of feet. It is even possible to navigate
into the segment referred to as "North Duck Lake".
Lots of houses and docks along the lakeshore. Primary weed
in the lake is an annoying water weed I refer to as "Hydra"
(not sure if that is the correct name... I'm not a "flora-ologist").
There are also some cattails. Sign at the ramp says that
grass carp are present for "weed control" and
that it is illegal to target them. Sign at the ramp has
some other interesting information... Apparently the "murkiness"
in the water is partially due to "failed septic tanks"
and that a sewer system is being constructed so there are
more reasons than "just conservation" to practice
catch and release in this lake. I worked the "northerly
3 segments" of the lake. The northlymost 2 (to the
right of the ramp) have topographical features that are
very close to the available maps. However the segment directly
left of the ramp is quite a bit deeper than map indicates.
The map says deepest part of this segment is 15 feet, when
much of the segment is over 20 feet and the deepest parts
are over 30 feet deep. All segments I worked have a lot
of depth variation.. (e.g., shallows, bars, steep drop offs,
shallow dropoffs, etc.)... This kind of topography provides
lots of options for the fish and is the most interesting
kind of lake to find fish in... Though I didn't even have
any strikes, I am confident that one will find good action
once surface temps are over 50F and a lot of activity once
temps are above 60F... Water skiiing is apparently a popular
passtime in this lake during the summer because a sign at
the ramp says water skiing is limited to "an hour after
sunrise to an hour before sunset".... However, I've
found that water skiiers aren't too much of a problem until
water temps get up above 70F.. So try to target the time
in the spring when temps are moving from 60 to 70F and if
you fish during the summer simply plan to fish during the
hours of darkness.
Glacier Lake (Lewis County)
This is a hike-in lake (~ 3 miles and 1,000 foot net vertical
gain, but a real roller coaster ride to make it to the top)...
I didn't fish but there was a party of 3 with rods and reels
that I passed on the way up... Lake isn't real large and
access looks difficult.. There is no real defined shoreline,
just lots of trees and brush right to the water line...
Lake has a definite "green" glacier color to it
with a lot of floating deadheads... probably many more that
are waterlogged and sunken... Since the lake isn't real
high (~ 3500 feet) it has a longer growing season and the
water looks to be fairly rich in regard to food content...
It's the kind of lake that might put out a nice cutthroat
or rainbow if you could find a good spot to fish from....
best idea would be to bring a float tube or rubber raft..
Best lures would probably be "noisy" spinners
and/or small ratl traps... visibility is low, so fish will
be more prone to be tricked by "sound" as opposed
to size, color, or smell.
Packwood Lake in Lewis County
Packwood Lake is just south of Packwood Washington. It's
over a mile long and half a mile or so wide... At about
2900 ft., it is amongst those few mountain lakes in this
state between 1500 and 3500 feet in elevation.... (most
probably haven't thought about this, but Washington State
has over 10,000 lakes virtually all of which are lowland
lakes, e.g. lower than 1500 feet, or highland lakes, e.g.
higher than 3500 feet... very, very few sit between these
two elevation boundaries) It also has very unique access
and regulations...... Packwood is one of only two lakes
I know of that sport both motorized and non-motorized trails
(the other being Blue Lake along the south fork of the cispus
river). The non-motorized trail is about 4.5 miles and the
motorized one is half a mile or so shorter due to it's more
direct path and lack of switchbacks. This lake sees a lot
of pressure during the summer from sport fishers who take
rubber rafts and camping gear up on the back of their 4
wheel atv's. The lake is "selective fishery" and
opens on the 4th Saturday in April so this was "opening
day".... These rules are also very unique for a "mountain
lake"... all other mountain lakes I know of have a
year round season..... Anyways, I wasn't fishing, just getting
a little exercise and hoping for some nice weather so I
could enjoy some of the lake's incredible scenery... I got
the exercise, but the windy rainy weather spoiled the views.....
There were probably half a dozen atv's parked at the "atv
parking area" at the end of the motorized trail (atv's
aren't allowed past this point) and 4 or 5 anglers casting
along the shoreline and one out trolling from his rubber
raft.... I saw no evidence of anybody catching anything........
If motoring up to a lake on a 4 wheeler and flopping into
a rubber raft is the kind of fishing you like, this lake
may be of interest... be ready for company though.... I
showed up here in June a couple of years ago and the place
was packed. Lots of campers, lots of atv's, lots of rubber
rafts and float tubes on the lake, lots and lots of everything
(including mosquitoes)... I didn't fish then either, but
did notice a lot of surface activity from feeding trout
and saw a few finning around in the clear water.... The
"sparse" human presence there today was simply
a function of it being a bit too early in the season for
most of this lake's regulars.
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