[uscg]

:?: :?: :?: Greetings all! I was wondering if Hanson Reservoir is open to fishing, and if it is, has anyone every given it a try? I suspect it's closed to the public, but I was just curious. I Googled the heck out of it and had no luck. Thanks for the info, Steve

 

[Clockwork]

it is a watershed res so no you cant LEGALLY fish it. i have sure talked to alot of people who said they have though and knew others that did and speak of great fishing. however anyone who wants to poach it will have to put in some serious leg work.

 

[Theking]

Its open but the ground around it is closed. Its also an open hunting area but the ground is closed. A little loop hole that benefits those with access. I have hunted the entire border of the watershed since the early 1970's. There are some big blacktail, Cougars, Bear and Elk in there. I would hear shots from time to timefrom inside the water shed and was told that the loggers with access would hunt inside with a blind eye. Technically no one is to hunt and the various agencies with access have written policies against it. I always looked a the lake and wondered what was swimming in but have yet to talk with anyone that has ver fished. it. I bet the trout are long and skinney with big heads.

 

[Clockwork]

how do you figure it's open? the res itself is protected as a water supply.

 

[Moosestock1]

The "ground" is not open for hunting unless you draw a special permit for either the deer or elk hunt as it is unit 485 and is a closed area. I worked many years in the shed as a logger before and after it became a closed area for hunting when it became its own game management unit. I did know of people that fished the lake (I never did) over the years(illegally) and actually saw some of the fish taken there and they were not long and skinny....they were actually trophy trout for anything you would find in western washington. They were up to 5 lbs that I saw and I have heard of trout in the 10 lb class taken there. It would be trespassing in any type of access so I'm sure the lake, river and creeks in the shed are closed......Les

 

[sturgeongeneral]

I've done a lot of work in the watershed for BNSF railroad and drawn 2 hunting permits for that area. Don't fool yourself with these so-called "loopholes". Yes there some unauthorized ways to access the area, but I wouldn't recomend it unless you don't mind explaining your cicumstances to a judge and owning up to the consequences. I would recomend just driving up to the headworks gate and talking to some of the employees working there. They can satisfy your curiosity a lot more accurately than anyone else that I know of.

 

[uscg]

Thanks for all the input. I suspected it was closed, but I have seen it from the air, in a helo, and it looked sweet. Ah well, so much for that. I will resume my quest to find an access point for Gravelly Lk. I know there are biggies in there.

P.S. Walked the Carbon today with the bugrod and a few leech patterns. Saw two fish holding in the tailout of the swing hole, but they just moved out of the way every time my fly swung by. Sure looks good right now. Saw several others, but no chrome. Thanks again and have a great weekend.

 

[Jake Dogfish]

This is a good topic that I have been curious about. I have done many searches but I have not come up with anything definitive. If the water is closed, then why would they not list it closed waters in the reg pamphlet? Perhaps the water is not closed, but since the "area" is closed you can't fish it anyway. I am also wondering about Chester Morse Res, Cedar lake, Mud Mountain Lake, Lake Youngs etc.
Also, there is an open Whitefish season on the upper White River till the end of this month. The regs say "from Weyerhaeuser 6000 rd bridge (bridge camp) upstream" I have searched but I cannot find any idea of where this is located. I am guessing it is above the reservoir somewhere? Anybody been there or know where that is? Thanks

 

[Theking]

It's not closed if it was it would be listed in the regs. It sis covered by the staewide general seasons. It is also an open hunting area Just draw for Elk . If you could get trespass permission you could fish the lake, hunt bear, Grouse, Cougar etc. under the general seasons.

 

[Moosestock1]

You are totally WRONG on the hunting. Look in the regs...it is unit 485 and Closed unless you draw either a deer or elk permit. In fact it has special regs that allow the deer or elk permit holders to take ONE bear and a cougar when their season is open only. They can't even take a grouse or any other game. It is totally closed otherwise. I used to hunt the areas within the watershed that were open as did others and that is why they made it their own game management unit so they could control the access......The Seattle watershed is closed for everything with exception to the muckleshoot tribe and they have access because they won a Lawsuit against the city of seattle. I don't know for sure about the fishing but unless you have a helocopter you would be trespassing to gain entry and even if you did they would be on you like white on rice thinking you could be some kind of terrorist trying to contaminate the water supply. In that regard even air access is probably illegal.............Les

 

[Theking]

Les,

You are correct they changed the regs since I last looked at them it's been a few years. Both the Green river and the Cedar River used to be open units but closed to tresspass. Some wise guys hired a helicopter and landed on DNR land with in the water sheds and hunted. They closed that loop hole and the hunting as well. I hear the Mucks wiped out the big bulls and Blacktail in the Cedar have you heard anything about the Greenriver?

 

[stamtma]

Very interesting, both those watersheds are cool, the cedar is much more natural...less logging, (none in the last 15 or 20 years) especially in the lowlands, the taylor creek drainage is all huge second growth and there are still some very impressive bulls that live there and are rarely seen, but judging from some of the cast antlers myself and others have found there is a 400 point bull in there somewhere. The lake has trout and bull trout, I never fished the lake but the river above it used to hold some nice fish, theking is right, most are real skinny.. especially the dollies, but I heard of some studies quite a while ago where they shocked to fish to stun them and came up with 20lb bulls that live on the bottom gorgeing on pygmy whitefish, I think the mucks gained access not through the courts but through an agreement that also involved the city of tacoma and the crossover waterline that was built several years ago....they would love to get in there and kill elk but so far the city has held them at bay, they'll eventually get in, but even when they do get access the hunting would not be easy, those elk live in the second growth and the reprod and they would actually have to get out and hunt them, not like the green where they can roadhunt the endless clearcuts.

The Howard hanson res has some huge FAT trout in it, years ago we had a little boat up there that we drug up the railroad tracks from the headworks and would row around in the evening or morning and pull a little flatfish along...the biggest I ever saw was 24" 4 or 5 lb rainbow....the river around mt humphry was the best though, the trout were like little steelhead, (they may have been) they could get up to 20" and were chrome bright and tough, I never got caught in there and just quit going as I got older and grew up a little, but I'm glad I did what I did when I did it, one evening in october when the res was drained and the upper fields were exposed I fished the river from the south side catching one after another that were from 14 to 20" while a huge herd bull was running about 30 cows less than 100 yards away, I gave him a coupl;e of whistles and he raged over and bellered at us from the opposite shore less than 40 yards away.....it would have been worth a tresspass ticket that evening.

Both those drainages are special and it is good to protect them, it's a little late for the green as the timber has been decimated, I supect that plum creek ( or whoever bought there land in there) will be selling the empty land soon and the mucks have enough money to buy it, ending any hope of the herds ever totally recovering in there.

thanks for bringing it up, that was kinda fun.

tully

 

[Moosestock1]

I too don't believe the mucks are hunting in the seattle shed yet but they do have access for fishing. The Tacoma shed that at one time had to be 1000 elk dropped to a population of close to 100. This was from the permit hunts of the 70's, indians screaming for equal hunt amounts and finally from so many Cats killing the calves. I remember talking with the shed guys at one time and 26 of 29 collared calves were cougar killed in one year. The heard was dying. They actually planted some elk from another area in there 10 or so years ago and alot of them left and went into the White river, Stampede or Issaquah units...they didn't like those big cats!! The good news is that they have with the cooperation of the mucks taken some cats out and the herd is starting to get healthy again. There are only 3 Bull permits each for us and 3 for the indians or at least there were last year. There are 15 each for the Deer and that herd is doing well...especially with all the clearcuts. It was an amazingly special area back in the 70's and 80's. I hauled many loads of Logs out of there and the sights we saw and the animals were incredible. I cherish those memories and felt Lucky to live them.......Les

 

[stamtma]

I liked the truck drivers in there, did you ever give a worn out lookin' dude a ride out? wink:

 

[Theking]

Do you guys remeber going into lester and the Elk would just lay on the roads? The old lady was the only person left in Lester a tthe time and the whole area was thick with big bulls. My Grandpa was an engineer for the RR and I would ride with him as a kid and see all of the elk. I started hunting the fringes of it and would see Elk rubs higher than I could reach. They were smart animlas and would head to the shed just before daylight. I was able to stop a few of them but never the biggest. The the Mucks wiped them out and all you would see where raghorns. I saw the biggest BT of my life walking away in the Cedar just past the boundary markers in 1983. Maybe I saw you guys? I used to hunt in chest waders to kep dry in the reprod and only ran into two other guys up there in 20 years of hunting the area.

 

[stamtma]

Never messed around in Lester much, though I did run against the track team back in the late 70's (all three of them), I think they closed the town down in about 78 or 79...except for the drn firecrew party cabin and that old gal (Gert?) that summered up there, I spent most of my time on the ridges between the white and green or the cedar and green and down low around pages flats and taylor creek, never hunted the green itself but the mid eighties east of grass mountain in the white river unit (bone lake) was world class elk hunting with a bow and arrow, I kid you not when I say an average day you would have encounters with up to a dozen mature bulls, if I only knew what I was doing back then... clown:

I hunted the cedar quite a bit before it was closed, I even associated with the game dept in doing so, it seems they were trying to put pressure on the city of seattle to open it for hunting in the late eighties and figured that if enough people were sneaking around in there they could use that as a bargaining chip for enforcement by having limited access hunts, the old days at the top of seattle creek and the rex river were very difficult to get to but worth the walk, if your into that kind of thing Some big old bulls were dealt their death up there by bent sticks and zwickeys.