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Quinault Lake Report
Grays Harbor County, WA

Details

05/06/2011
Trolling
Dolly Varden
Spoons
Morning
05/07/2011
4
2394

First time at Lake Quinalt this year, Fishing was good 'till the rain drove us out. Melanie limited on Dollies (4 fish, biggest at about 3 lbs.,nice red meat!) and I took two cuthrouts, about 12 inches or so, one sea-run and one resident. No photos as it was really wet out there.Sea-run was really red inside, resident less so, both firm and tasty! Bad news is that the Lion's Club prob. will not have a derby this year due to limited volunteers and sponsers. We live over an hour away so we're not exactly locals, but with my Mom not in the best of health time this year is tough for us on such short notice. But next year, look out! We'll be looking to get this derby back on track, and we hope we can get some new sponsers and some WA. Lakes south sound anglers involved! Bob R


Comments

8Fish_box
5/7/2011 11:04:00 PM
Hey have you looked at latest fishing regs!!! All dollies are to be released. they are endangered. Dollies & bull trout !!!
8Fish_box
5/7/2011 11:12:00 PM
Page 17 of 2011 / 2012 fishing regs.
natetreat
5/8/2011 12:32:00 AM
Regs on this lake are set by the tribe, not the state. There are plenty of dollies in the lake, if you look at Bob R. past reports you'll see that much. There are plenty of places to catch-n-keep your dollies in WA where they are plentiful, like in the Sky Snoho or Skagit. If they're open in the special regs than it's fine.
'OL GREY DOG
5/8/2011 6:18:00 AM
wtg guys ..sry to hear about the derby and mom....DOG
The Quadfather
5/8/2011 10:07:00 AM
Ditto what Nate said.
Tribal lakes have their own set of rules, the same goes for lakes within the Olympic National park system. Bob R is a standup angler and is on top of the rules stuff. (but that would be an easy one to misunderstand for sure)
Matt
5/8/2011 2:08:00 PM
Fish_Box maybe you oughta know what your talking about before calling out others. Dollies can be kept in several areas statewide, they are not endangered as a species whole, only certain stocks.

Great report, thank you! Sounds like a fun day!
Bob R
5/8/2011 10:03:00 PM
The Dollies can crossbreed with Bull Trout when they occur in the same river systems and when they do the dolly genetics tend to take over. The rules are set up on that basis, the bull trout being the more endangered.The quinalt systems fish are pretty much just Dollies at this point ,at least in the lake. You can tell why the Quinalt tribe is anxious to have the dollies controlled, the 3 lb.er that Melanie caught was full of salmon fry, prob. 6 to 12- 3 inchers. There isn't that much pressure on them, we specialize in targeting them as they are a great fish to catch and eat. They also will wait behind steelhead and salmon when they are spawning and suck up the eggs as fast as they can.You cannot keep them in the upper river , though. There are two sections of that , the state section just above the lake and the upper above that which is national park and no license is required in the park, just read regs for state and national park carefully. Thanks for comments, I've been known to question a few posts myself as far as legalities, reading regs. before fishing or commenting on posts serves us all well.Bob R
bigyfish
5/9/2011 1:13:00 AM
I was a biologist on Lake Quinault for many years. The dollies were found mostly between the lake and the ocean with the bull trout in the upper river. Note that I said mostly found as both were found in all areas. Lake Quinault sockeye are the most prized fish in the state as far as I am concerned so catch and keep as many of those dollies as you care to eat because the salmon you found in the bellies were most likely sockeye. I found deep frying the dollies was excellent. If you get a chance drive to Taholah and get some of those sockeye (they are running right now) and you will not be disappointed.

By the way I found fishing 0-30 feet in depth produced more cutthroat than dollies and fishing 30 - 60 along the shore line particularly near the river inlet near the Rain forest Resort produced more dollies.
8Fish_box
5/9/2011 11:28:00 PM
Bob R ....... I apologize for my rude misunderstanding every where i fish in wa if find they are protected, but the fish are swimming disaster to salmon & steelhead spawning in our rivers...
Bob R
5/10/2011 5:43:00 AM
That's O. K., 8fishbox,I've not quite understood a few regs. myself from time to time, in this case I don't think that the Dollies are a disaster to our spawning fish, the runs there suffered more from the slide event 3 or 4 years ago when a whole cliffside fell into the upper river and cahnged the entire flow pattern, lake was unfishable for most of the season due to clouded water. The runs seem to be doing O.K. there, most of the river systems that the tribes have most control of have most of the healthier runs . State does not have a fraction of the motivation for healthy runs that the Native peoples have. We will be back there on Friday, will post results. Bob R
8Fish_box
5/10/2011 11:37:00 AM
Thanks for understanding & look forward to post next week.
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Available Guide

Available Fishing Guide:
Website: Northwest Fishing Expeditions

Phone: (208) 880-2994