Our first time on this lake and arrived at the boat ramp to find only 2 cars in the parking lot, their owners were fishing from the 2 nice piers that the city maintains at the north park. Nearby, 2 deer were grazing. With the kayak in the water by 7am, we paddled south. I spent the first hour or two looking for bass. With no bites from a mile of shoreline reeds and several colors of worms, I gave up. If I had read the reports for this lake before fishing it, I wouldn't have wasted so much time plunking the shoreline. Very disappointing. Meanwhile geojay caught a few small perch, but generally, nothing else wanted his worm.

It was time to look for trout. Continuing south, thru Friendship Passage, we rounded the south point of the long island and paddled west. Now the finder marked a few fish. The water contained suspended algae so visibility was about 18". I trolled an orange spoon with a single hook, covered by a small curly-tail in brown with black specks. I didn't expect anything so I wasn't watching my rod as I paddled. Suddenly I heard the sound of my rod jumping in the holder. I grabbed the rod and set the hook. The trout was big enough to peel off almost as much line as I was reeling in. I reached up to tighten the drag a little. Then the fish was gone. It felt like a good 2 or 3 pounds! Dang! I reeled in my lure and checked the hook. It was barbless! I hadn't used that particular spoon in quite a long time and must have pinched the barb at some point. Lesson learned - check your hooks now and then. I would have handled the fish differently if I had known what I was using. I switched it out for a barbed hook, but never had another bite. The sounder marked lots of fish, some big ones, in a deeper area ringed with dropoffs, but we couldn't find anything they would bite on.

On our way back to the ramp we stopped under the bridge at the north end of Friendship Passage, where geojay had a bite. Casting back under the bridge, a fish took the lure and he reeled in a 7 inch crappie. For the next hour we pulled crappie one after another from the shadow of the bridge and a fat 12" rainbow trout that finally decided to take his worm. Releasing the smaller crappie, we kept 11, with 7 1/2 inches the biggest - would have preferred bigger. Not a bad lake if you don't mind algae, pea soup in some places.

While we were busy with the crappie, a mama raccoon came around the shore under the bridge with her 3 babies. We watched her lead her young ones to the bridge supports and climb the crosspieces all the way to the top. By that time the swallows, with nests under the bridge deck, were in a tizzy. Diving and chirping, they tried to protect their nests. Then we heard a big splash. I turned and saw a baby raccoon swimming in the water. He made his way back to the bridge and climbed back on. Dripping wet, he chattered is discontentment, making his way back up to his family. They all came down the other side and disappeared into the brush. I can't help but wonder if a swallow or two could have knocked him off.

It was time to go, so we made our way back to the ramp by mid-afternoon. Now there were 3 deer grazing, a doe with her 2 yearlings, one a spike buck. A lady at the park said they have a problem with deer overpopulation in Ocean Shores. No hunting in the city, so the deer aren't even afraid of people. Tight lines.

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