Where will the crowds be in Southwest Washington this weekend? I may want to avoid them and find something different, or will I be able to escape them....

Hit your favorite year round lake. Many of them have also been recently planted.

I'm new so I'm trying to avoid the rush!!!

From my expererience, most lakes (even year round) will have higher than normal crowds. Stay away from the heavily stocked lakes that open this weekend (check WDFW website for details), and you'll avoid the zoos. But don't expect to be alone wherever you go...

This is the one day I always plan on staying home for, unless those fish in my head start talking to me.

I'll be in the thick of things with three little boys in a green Jon Boat. You could also go fishing on the sound. fewer people. The circus has always been a part of opening day for me. Kind of like people watching at the fair.

Andy

Depending on the weather and if my son wants to go, I'll either be at Battle Ground, or Lacamas in my Intex Seahawk 500 (wife just got it for me!) or if my son doesn't want to go because of the weather I'll go to Klineline.

I'll be on Pine lake with my boys and one of their friends. Only day of the year I fish that lake. I enjoy the crowds - it's fun watching all the people out fishing, seeing all the different types of watercraft. Just trying to make a family tradition.

I will be at Deer Lake on Whidbey Is. No crowds there and the fishing is spectacular. :p

Hey Mike - any idea what time they open the gates at Pine? We're thinking of doing a midnight run ourselves. We'll either be there or rattlesnake. Keep your eyes out for a green oldtown canoe with trolling motor (probably me, my buddy from work, and my 'little brother').

Oh yeah, we'll be the ones catching all the BIG fish :p :p

There are guys that will camp outside the gate at Steele Lake tonight. What a joke! Steele Lake gets hammered on opening day. I did not know fishing could be a spectator sport, fun to watch.

Good luck to you all. Not that you really need it...

Had a blast fishing Pine lake last night just after midnight. We were the second boat in the water as far as we could tell. Ended up with several nice triploids and one hog carry-over. Too bad it had to rain hard on us just as things were really heating up. Got home at 5am ready for a warm dry bed (about the time many were just arriving or probably just getting up ).

We caught them on rapalas, spinners, tried some glow in the dark 'power bait' type stuff, and the hottest ticked for the night - slow trolling 'johns jigs' tiped with night crawler tails. Don't know how the fish found them in the dark so fast, but man was that the ticket.

Drove past Rattlesnake about noon and the crowds were way down. Several float tubes, small boats, canoes, and pontoon boats were about, but plenty of room. I may have to hit it for a few hours tomorrow.

Hope you all had fun too!

i fished pine too. we didnt get there til about 10:00am tho but we absolutley SLAYED them on a #70 chrome hotshot. we got some nice trips too.

Tyler

Ditto. Pine Lake never lets me down. We started with spoons and plugs and when that slowed down switched to power bait trolled with small spin n glows or just yarn balls. Caught the usual assortment of fish from small plants to nice holdovers. No tripoids though. The kids (Matt , James, and friend Joesph) had a great time. Off the water at 10am. I'll post the above reports to the site later.

phishphreak

hey what's a johns jig, color, and where did you get them?

John's Jigs are a locally created salmon/steelhead jig with 'barbell' type 'eyes', sparse marabou, on gami hooks. I found mine at Sportco in Fife.

Made the trip to Deer Lake twice this weekend, Saturday and Sunday. It was good but not as good as in past years. I think water temp had a lot to do with a bunch of lock jaw. The temp was at 53 both days.
Also note, I fished Lake Meridian (water temp also 53 degrees) early Sunday morning in addition to Deer Lake in the afternoon and had the same problem......fish all over the place but very few on my hook.

Next weekend should be better after having several sunny days in a row to bring the water temp up a little.

Carl, which Deer lake? I'd like to get this report posted on site. Thanks.

Mike, Deer Lake on Whidbey Is. I will send you a real (more detail) report sometime today.