There are three gillnets out in front of my office. This is the first time in the ten years I've worked here that I've seen them.
Hard to believe.

They must have had a couple extra laying around.

There is another under the Fremont bridge by Getty Images. Crazy!

There are actually several "sites" in the ship canal. These are ancient indian fishing grounds. When I used to moor in Lake Union and go through the locks I would encounter nets all the way across in the middle of the night from time to time making navigation into the lake impossible. I remember calling the coast guard one time and they told me to call the tribes....DUH??? like I could hail them on the VHF at midnight. I had to tie up and wait for the nets to come out before getting back to my slip in the lake....all night. Does anyone have any pictures of what the ship canal looked like in the 1800s?

Aw, man... I was planning on fishing Lake Washington next weekend. Maybe I'll hold off.

The ship canal did not exist in the 1800's it was built in the early 1900's.

In the 1800's there was a small stream that ran along the path of the ship canal from Fremont to Shilshole. Lake Union drained out in a stream thorough Belltown. There as a little log flume that cut between Lake Washington and Lake Union called the "Canoe Pass". Lake Washington drained out to the Green at Renton, through a river called the Black River. The Cedar entered the Black near Renton Airport.

Lake Washington was 7 feet higher, and Lake Union the height it is now. During the construction of the Locks, a coffer dam broke, and Lake Union was tidal for a little more than a day.

For images of this, see: http://content.lib.washington.edu/neighborhoods/more-info.html

And there are now 2 in Lake Washinton, one off Kirkland, the other off Champagne Point.


Rob