Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Fishing at the Lakes

A little over a month ago a good friend of mine and her husband, went fishing at the lakes above Dayton, WA. There are 7 lakes up there and are planted regularly. We went to Curl Lake and were catching a few fish when the fish department truck showed up with a load of fish. The guys driving the tuck said they had 500 large trout in addition to the regular planters.
Thinking we are in the right place at the right time for once, we got ready for the fish to be unloaded. The tuck went around to the opposite side of the lake we were on but that was alright, we figured we would just have to wait a little longer for the fish to get over to us. As we waited we could see a few people starting to catch the bigger fish. Well, Dale hooked one of them and landed it, nice fish. Then I hooked one but the fish spit the hook. Next Lucy hooked one and the fish spit that hook too. Well, at the end of the day it seems everyone on the lake caught at leased one of the bigger trout except Lucy and I. Guess that why the call it fishing not catching.
Last year the fish and game department were considering closing the lake and not planting them any longer. They said it was to expensive to maintain and plant the lakes. I don't believe that would be a smart move. To many people depend on the lake for their recreation and take there kids up there fishing. I believe the sport fisherman  pays for themselves by the dollars spent on licenses, gas, food, fishing gear, bait and many other things they but to go fishing. It is, in my opinion, typical for the government to take the easy way out. We tend to gripe and not really do much to stop these thing from happening.
Upon occasion I will fish the Icicle River in Leavenworth, WA. We used to be able to catch 3 fish and then they decided to cut down to 2 fish and finally down to 1 salmon a day. They figured that the river was being poached so bad they had to lower the catch limit. So they made up for the poaching by cutting the fisherman who fishes legal. I don't know why the couldn't catch the poacher and take there equipment and vehicle. After doing that a few time the poaching would stop. Again, that is just in my opinion.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Charter Fishing












Charter fishing is really one of the best ways to go fishing. I have gone on charters in both freshwater and saltwater. Generally fishing this way on freshwater you only have three to five fishermen on a boat. Saltwater fishing is totally different, I've been on boats with thirty fishermen. Now that is a crowded boat.
It is even good to go on a charter the first couple of times when fishing freshwater even if you have a boat. The captain shows you the hot spots on the river. Now there is no guessing where to go on the river that is if you can remember. I personally think charter fishing is the only way to go on saltwater. The weather can turn on you quickly and the big fifty foot boat is more comforting. You can call me a coward been out there when I was very thankful for the large boat and the captain.
One time a friend and I were signed up to go out on a boat in West Port, my favorite place to go. We had to get up early the next morning and the guys in the room next to us were drinking pretty heavily and getting louder and louder as time went on. I was sleeping thru most of it but my friend wasn't. I woke up when one of them fell against the wall. I asked Mark, my friend, if he was asleep and he told me he hadn't gotten any sleep. I told him I would go next door and ask them to tone it down since we had to get up in three hours to go fishing. Mark said they were pretty drunk and didn't think it was safe for me to go over there. I told him if he wanted he could come with me but he that was not safe either since there were six of them and only two of us. So, I went next door and he stayed in the room. Actually the guys were very nice about it and thanked me for letting them know it was so late since they had to get up and go fishing too.
The next morning Mark and I got up and went to breakfast before going to the boat. We didn't see any of the guys from the room next to us. I figured they were still asleep and would miss there boat for fishing. Boy was I wrong. Not only were they up but the boat the were going out on was the same boat Mark and I were on and they were drinking already.
It took about an hour to get out to the fishing grounds and by then a couple of them were
asleep. There was one young man about twenty-one or so from the group that was drinking, who was fishing but not looking to well. His line went tight with a salmon on the hook. He set the hook and started reeling the fish in when I got a salmon on my line too. He started to turn green and then he exploded and started chumming, if you know what I mean. I got my fish landed and the young man was chumming and reeling alternating between each. He kept his rod tip up and line tight. He finally got the fish landed and finally stop chumming. I patted him on the back and told him good job.