Last weekend’s wind storm caused a delay in our plans and we missed the Jameson Lake Resort Fall Derby. But like many things it all turned out for the best as owners Julie and Jerry told us Saturday had been a wet day. So instead we ended up fishing Sunday to Tuesday.

Robbie and I arrived Sunday and took out Julie for a couple hours before the Seahawks game. Fishing from 10:45 to 1pm we faced a bit of wind but nothing too bad. Julie directed us to try the north end of the lake, in front of the resort and farm. This area proved to be very good for us all weekend long. We trolled a variety of lures while Julie used a wedding ring and gang troll with worm. All set ups performed well and we brought several fish back in. The fish ran in distinct size classes of 8” and 12”. Julie told us there are hold-overs running up to 22” and had pics to prove it from her customers.

After an exciting Seahawks game Robbie pan fried some freshly caught trout and covered it with a delicious Thai mix that had everyone, including Jerry’s grandson Christian asking for more.

We fished all day Monday and again Tuesday morning and settled into established trolling patterns that produced fish consistently. Again, the north end of the lake was fishing much better than the rest of the lake. We ran a couple downriggers at 13 to 22 feet and a couple long lines with one ounce of weight at 50 pulls behind the boat. Trolling speed was best between 2.2 and 2.7 mph, and speed up/slow down/turns would almost always produce a vicious rainbow strike. This, by the way, is all this lake has, rainbows and lots of them! Jameson is a split season lake, making the fall season of October 1st to 31st well worth checking out. The scenery is amazing, the fishing even more so, and the crowds are gone. WDFW stocks the lake every year with jumbos, triploids, keepers and fry, and these fish can grow big, not to mention being left alone for the summer gives them a chance to put on some nice weight. Our big fish of the trip was 19”.

The huge numbers of 8” fish made it an easy decision to go no bait or scent, single, barbless hooks. We caught and release fish all day long, keeping an occasional bleeding small fish. Even so, it was easy to bring home a couple days limits of nice 12” rainbow trout. And they do taste good!

Hot lures included an Old Goat Lure 2.44 fluorescent green with orange tail and 2.5 inch generic thin blade spoons in pinks or frog patterns. We caught fish on other gear, but these lures by far caught most of our fish.

If you get a chance yet this year and want to have a fun couple days of catching a lot of trout in a beautiful setting give Jameson Lake Resort a call at 509-683-1929. They have RV spots, mobile homes, and the only restaurant for 30 miles (which has pretty darn good food!)

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