Northwest Fishing Reports

Okay, so I knew that Opening Day was going to be busy, but is it always this busy? I went up to Martha Lake after working in the yard and took my daughter. Ended up there were about 20 people on the doc/pier/whatever and had to cast out to the shallows (Yeah, I know I'm not going to catch anything there). There must have been 20 boats out there, on such a small lake.

Interestingly enough, people were plunking power bait and hitting them. If I were able to get out there, I would have gone surface, since they just planted 8K smallies (makes 10K total). But of course, there was no chance of that happening.

We ended up pulling up our bait and taking off. It was pretty much useless to try to fish from the dock. Only if I had my boat.

Now, the big question is, how long will this be busy like this?

Next weekend there should be a lot less people at your favorite fishing hole.

BTW, I counted 13 boats at Deer Lake for the opener today, just like usual.o:)

If you're stuck on a dock it may be just as good to wait and fish later in the day (future advice) unless you want to get up way early. Rattlesnake was busy this afternoon but very manageble. Great day on the water, one of my more enjoyable Opening Days. =d>

Mikey,
I don't know about Martha Lake, but on the east side of the state those kinds of crowds only last for the first weekend. Personally, I never go fishing on "Opening Day." My dad used to say. "On opening day, you could walk across the lake from boat to boat."
For What it's Worth,
Lotech Joe

I hit Padden here in bellingham, its about 2 minutes from my house so we decided to take the easy day. I expected there to be a lot more boats on the water, but most of the fisherman were plunking from the shore. Boat traffic was not bad, and it made for a good opener of ultralight trolling.

Matt

Lotech Joe wrote:Personally, I never go fishing on "Opening Day." My dad used to say. "On opening day, you could walk across the lake from boat to boat."

I'm with you, unless we head to a year round lake where pressure doesn't usually change on opening day. I can remember fishing Bay Lake on the west side for an opener about 35 years ago, it was literally wall to wall boats when we got there at 3am. I'm too cranky to deal with crowds anymore, especially for hatchery raised trout.

Easy Limits:
I was out there on my red Lund from about 8:30 am to 10:30 am...

You see us? 3 of us in the boat....

What were you fishing from?

I go to a lake that has "selective gear" regs posted. This opening day I went to Medical Lake and the crowds weren't there. However, on the other side of the hill at West Medical (standard regs), parking overflowed out onto the road. If you can comply with the "special regs" of this kind of lake, you will see far fewer people.

i hit ki on the opener like i do every year and had my limit by 4:00 am great opener best to wait later on in the weekdays when all the lakes are pretty quiet

Marc, I hear you we were at Medical today with the special regs and no big deal at all. Then jumped over to West Medical it was if there was a concert in town!

I was out at Medical yesterday, opening day. Didn't make it out today. Glad I didn't go out because the wind was fairly stiff, even in town. All the lakes in the Four Lakes area get heavy pressure (except Medical) the first couple of weeks after opening day. It should settle down as the weather warms up and people start going out on camping trips up north.

Opening day is not always that busy but this year we had record numbers of fishing licenses sold. the department of fish and game siad that there were about 300,000 people fishing on opening day this year compared to about 200,000 people last year.

Sam Kafelafish wrote:Easy Limits:
I was out there on my red Lund from about 8:30 am to 10:30 am...

You see us? 3 of us in the boat....

What were you fishing from?

I probably did see you guys but didn't know. I was fishing off the dock at the bible camp.

I didn't get the chance to go on opening day this year.
But i remember last year at west medical.
There were to many boats to count on the water and
people were trolling inbetween the boats and tanglin lines.
Caught my limit easy but the hard part was leaving
without goin over someones line.

Try going to a year-round lake on opening day, especially if you're not fishing for trout. They're usually empty because all the trout guys are chomping at the bit for those un-pressured lakes that haven't been fished in 6 months. I launched by myself on both Sunday and Monday on Long Lake, and enjoyed 2-3 hours before I saw another boat on the water.

Or go out fishing on a major event day like Bloomsday, Hoopfest. That will remove a few thousand off of the water.

I haven't fished the traditional opening day for years. Since there are a lot of year round lakes open that get planted periodically I concentrate on them. The traditional opener weekend is my weekend to do the heavy lifting portion of my yardwork. Usually 2 weeks after the opener the crowds really thin out. Of course between the fishermen and the fish eating ducks the the dumb planter population thins out in a hurry.

It's fun to go out on Opening Day just to be out for the spirit of "Opening Day." Me, I like crowds sometimes. I love it when all the other guys out on boats or on shore are just the 2 or 3 time a year trout fishermen and get nothing, and I love to just go out and catch a bunch and make them jealous.

I like it when guys are around to keep and eye on my rig too so it doesn't get busted in also..

I agree with the man above. Opening day is a lot of fun. Does not matter how many people are out there. The fish is either gonna bite your line or not. I went to Martha the day after and there were not to many people out there