Northwest Fishing Reports

Interesting that people are fishing Rattlesnake in floating devices and from the beach.
But very few reports of any kind.
Are people not reporting for a reason? Maybe people are not catching fish. Is the lake a tough fishery? Temps high? No fish? Maybe the rivers or saltwater are better?
I know the rules have changed this year to C&R and selective gear, but that is a good thing.
If the eagles and osprey could access the internet and Washingtonlakes.com they would be writing reports of catching fish.

In reality, not that many people post on WL. I only post a few times a year, and I fish almost every Saturday.

Sometimes it is because some of us have been chidded for talking too much about our favorite lakes and rivers. Sometimes it is because people don't want to have too many people on their "secret" spot, and sometimes it may be because they just don't take the time.

If you see people fishing Rattlesnake, but no reports are coming in, trying inviting a couple of the fishermen to get on WL and post.

Anglinarcher wrote:In reality, not that many people post on WL. I only post a few times a year, and I fish almost every Saturday.

Sometimes it is because some of us have been chidded for talking too much about our favorite lakes and rivers. Sometimes it is because people don't want to have too many people on their "secret" spot, and sometimes it may be because they just don't take the time.

If you see people fishing Rattlesnake, but no reports are coming in, trying inviting a couple of the fishermen to get on WL and post.

+1

Me and Duroboat a couple months ago

Over the years I have noticed an interesting phenomenom of lakes going in "cycles" where they'll get a bunch of reports for awhile and then just taper off or stop. Then start back up again. It's very random. The actual number of reports posted on the site has run in the neighborhood of 5,000 each year.

I'd love to see double that number even though it would mean a bunch more work for us. In any case, 5,000+ reports every year is pretty amazing.

What I do find interesting also is the numbers of people that visit the site continue to grow every year by 15-20%, but the reports have been stable. A lot of people are visiting, but not contributing reports.

"Sometimes it is because people don't want to have too many people on their "secret" spot"
^Well, yes that's oftentimes the case, and you can't really blame em.

There's nothing like the solitude of being the only/last guy out on the lake watching the sun go down... while hooking and releasing fish all around your boat in the middle of a massive hatch... it's almost magical

...then coming back the next evening to find a dozen other boats joining you to batten down the hatches because of a report, it just isn't the same.

This isn't necessarily the case of Rattlesnake, cuz there are always a couple guys fishing it every evening, and it's certainly no secret. But there's a sense of accomplishment that comes with fishing when hit you hard for hours, days or months with limited success, aand then all of the sudden you seem to be in the right place at the right time, and you figure it out and everything just seems to fall into place. It's a lot more rewarding to get out and explore, rather than being spoon fed information and chasing reports. And some spots are just too sensitive to over-pressure, that's why you'll never find me writing reports on my favorite small streams and alpine lakes. I'm not necessarily "anti-reports", the reports on this website are a valuable tool and I use em all the time. But some things are meant to be kept to yourself... well, that's my 2 cents


Anyways, use a fast sinking line right now at RSL, the sun has been driving them deep. The water level is VERY high. The usual wooly buggers, leeches and carey specials (i like the one with the red glass beadhead)have been working during the day. They might come up during the evening, but there are a lot of fry hanging out on the surface. The action is right now is a lot slower than in the spring and fall, as expected. Good luck

Ive been there once and left a report. Fly fishing from the shore wasn't cutting it. Wading waist deep in the water wasn't bad, it was actually quite warm for the 2 hrs I stood there(shorts and flip flops). Been waiting on a family member to do some welding on the aluminum boat so I can get out there again. This was down on the south most part of the lake.