Saturday, July 5, 2008

Kress Lake Fishing


I went out again today with my pontoon. I still do not have that down real good. I need an anchor. The wind really blew me around today.
I went out on this small lake called Kress Lake. It was fun, but I do not know how to fish a lake like this. I went all around the shore and fish with my Trout Magnet and caught bluegill and pumpkinseed. The lake is stocked with trout and some steelhead, but I had no luck with them.

The pumpkinseed adds one more to my summer goal of ten species. Now I am up to four...six more to go!

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Contest Over...Quest Continues


The roughfish.com specie contest is over for 2008. I considered filling this entry with my whiny excuses, but it comes down to me not making enough time to fish this month.
The fellow that won, Dr. Flathead, had 42 different species in 30 days...wow!
I was feeling pretty pathetic when he wrote this to me, "One species at a time man! It just flat out takes time and patience to catch some fish. I've sat on the end of a fallen tree for hours trying to float hooks into algae sifting buffalo's mouths many times. But its very rewarding once it finally happens....Good luck with your catches." What an encouragement!
I did get five species (actually only four since the bullhead is a sculpin and does not count as a fish, but is a minnow), my goal was ten and I failed in that, but I will not give up. I have decided that I will make the ten species a goal for the summer for me.

That is my challenge...TEN by September 30!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Maiden Voyage...three specie!




I bought a used pontoon from a guy on craigslist and had it out for the first time today.
Not like the canoe that's for sure. I had a hard time maneuvering at first, but it came quicker than the canoe did last year.
I learned some important lessons today like wear boots, check the time and bring a small cooler. The only thing I lost today was a hand towel I use to dry my hands with...it was in my lap and then it was gone. And the worms all died a horrible death without the cool comfort of an ice chest.
It was a kick in the pants and I caught three specie today. Black Crappie, Yellow Perch and Bluegill. A very colorful catch of the day.


Took my pontoon out for its maiden voyage Saturday...what fun that is. It was not as hard to figure out the maneuvering as the canoe was last year!
Got on the water about 9:00am at the new launch on Lacamas tried fishing the dock with the plane, but since it was the first bit of getting around with the pontoon and the wind was blowing a little I could not stay in position to fish the dock, moved on under the bridge to Round lake. Water was high, barely fit under the bridge.
The air was warm the water was warm also, sorry no thermometer...no temp. I made my way around the lake in a clockwise direction hitting all the usual trees and small docks and was pleased with the action. I used a trout magnet (1/64th oz "shad dart" jig with a split-tail grub) most of the time, starting with char/green and switching to red. Color did not seem to matter. I switching to a worm on the bottom for a while with no success and I tossed a gold kastmaster around a bit with no fruit either. When I got over to the dam I tried a worm under a bobber for a while, but it did me no good.
Caught a bunch of small bluegill and a few pan-sized black crappie. Not knowing how things would go in the pontoon I brought minimal gear and had not figured on keeping any fish so I released all unharmed.
It was a good day, I did not count the fish, but I caught three specie. The last was just as I was leaving Round lake the north corner next to the bridge I tossed my trout magnet right near the bushes and caught a small yellow perch. On the way back to the launch I fished the Moose docks and caught a couple more bluegill. I did not measure any of the fish, but I know I caught my personal best black crappie!

The only real negative on the day, besides not getting a bass or trout at a lake that is suppose to be great for both, was that I was suppose to be home for my kiddos coming back from California by 3:00 and I always lose track of time on the water and did not get off the water until 5:00. Wonder why I had to make my own dinner tonight?

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Roughfish...Peamouth


Just a quick update on the Roughfish.com specie contest.

Went out to Wintler Park on the Mighty Columbia again Wednesday evening and caught a peamouth.

It was kind of hard to find a good spot. There were not too many fishing, but they were spread out pretty good. One guy was using a cresent wrench for a weight!

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Roughfish Contest


The roughfish.com Specie Contest is going on the whole month of June. The point of the contest is to see how many different specie of fish you can catch in the month of June. The winner gets a custom made fishing rod. This is the third day and some of the members already have more than ten specie. Dr Flathead has nineteen...what a fisherman. Last years winner had over forty species caught.

Went down to The Mighty Columbia and the slough I frequent at Catapiller Island was 5 or 6 feet higher than normal. The boat ramp was almost unusable. Fished for a half hour and decided it was fruitless, went to where there is an underground entrance of the river into Vancouver Lake. There is normally pan fish close in and squawfish, suckers and catfish a ways out. It was also higher than I have seen it. fished for an hour or so and only caught a sculpin, which is concidered a minnow by contest rules and is not even qualified as a specie.

Hopefully I will be able to head out some nights this week and get some fish. My goal for the contest is ten species.

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Canoeing On Round Lake

Monday, Memorial Day, I took My pal Shawn and his son, Lance out in the canoe on Round Lake to try for some pan fish. Met at about 8:00am and got out on the water. No thermometer so I do not know the water temp. It has to be a little warmer, but not quite warm enough. We paddled from the City Park to the airplane and fished the shoreline to the bridge with no luck. I was a little concerned, because I always get the first fish of the day there...not this day. We scooted under the bridge and there were the usual spots on the shore taken by trout fishermen. We paddled the shoreline clock-wise hitting all the promising spots and some not so promising with very little action. We were using jigs under floats. I was using Trout Magnets, 1/64th oz jigs with a split-tail grub and they were both using 1/8 oz jigs with tube shaped grubs with skirts. Shawn tried worms for a while , but to no end. We did catch seven fish between us. I caught two crappie and a fair sized bluegill and a bass fry about three inches long. Shawn caught a couple crappie and Lance caught a crappie in the six or seven inch range. We chucked them all back except Lance's. His dad had gone on so much about how good they taste he wanted to take it home. Shawn showed him how to clean it and they took it home to mom for cooking.

Not much action, but all in all a good day. I love to see kids catch fish.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Wintler Park

Went out to Wintler Park about 8:00 this morning and fished until 11:00.
There was a guy who had been there since about 7:30 and he had three or four fish on his stringer but he did not know what they were. Best we could figure they were squawfish. He also had a nice 10" smallmouth bass. He was catching fish with almost every cast and I caught two squaws the whole time. No suckers, dang!
We were both fishing worms on a leader with a weight above. Tossing them out and letting them drift a little.
Oh, well not a complete waste of time since I found a twenty dollar bill in the grass.

Left there and went to Caterpillar Island hoping that the water has warmed enough for the perch to be biting...not yet.
I was fishing a worm under a slip bobber and the water was higher than I have ever seen it. All I caught was three baby steel head between four and six inches.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

No it is NOT!!!

I have heard people say, "A bad day fishing is better than a good day working."
That is just not true. I had a bad day fishing today and would have rather been at work.
I went out to Lacamas Lake and fished on the northeast side where there are turn outs on the road. I tried everything in the box. At one point I lost three rigs in four casts and left. I went down to where the store is and watched a fellow with his brother and his two little boys fish. I am guessing at the relationships, but it is not important. One of the boys caught a fair sized rainbow and the other had one nearly in to shore when it come off. They were having so much fun I could see that he really enjoyed having his boys out there. He was not even fishing himself, just making sure that the boys were OK. It made me sad and I felt a little pathetic there by myself fishing and catching nothing...not even a bite. I could not stay. It made me feel like crap. I will turn fifty-two years old tomorrow.

Monday, May 5, 2008

Bow Killers

Two of the boys, Zach and Brock, who usually attend the Middle-School activities were not there last night for the regular Sunday night devotional. The kids usually meet at the church building and then I take them in the van to devotional, but last night we had our meeting at the church building and afterwards these two show up with Brock's mom. She was dropping off Zach so he could connect with his sister there at the building to get home because it was closer/more convenient. When I asked where they had been I was told they went bow-fishing out at Vancouver Lake.

Brock had killed a hundred carp and Zach had killed about 80 and they did not know how many Brock's dad had killed. They do this every spring when the carp move up into the shallows. They do not "use" the fish for anything. They do not eat them or even use them as fertilizer or dog food. They just kill them and let them sink, deflated to the bottom of the lake. They just kill to be killing.

I understand that people think the carp has no place in the lake. They are an exotic, invasive specie. I just think that killing just to kill and not using what you kill is, well, just not right.

Skunked...

Well I kind of shot myself in the foot Saturday. I got up real early to go fishing and then dinked around and dinked around and decided to go shoot my blackpowder rifle instead up at the english pit shooting range, which is suppose to be under new ownership, but i talked myself out of that too.

Finally went out to the lake about six in the evening. Went to the dock and noone was catching anything, but I hung out and fished until about eight and got nothing, no bites, no fish. I was tssing a kastmaster for a bit then switched to a worm under a slip bobber. It was almost like a set myself up for failure.

This coming week-end is my birthday and Mother's day, so I will be lucky to get out maybe on Saturday. I was thinking I should try and get some time on the water sometime this week after work.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

First Fish 2008 Season


I had a great time Saturday. My wife and the two of our children who still live at home went to visit my daughter and grandson in Tacoma and my buddy Shawn asked if I wanted to go to the lake and go fishing in his boat. I was really excited. I have never been out on a fishing boat in a lake. I went out in the salt a few years back with my brother Bob, but that is another thing altogether.

By the time I got out to Lacamas Lake he already had the boat in the water. The lake was a little low and he asked me, "Where to?" I do not know, but I had read a few reports on www.washingtonlakes.com and they were catching them at the other end of the lake, where the creek enters the lake. We had a little bit of trouble with the water being so low we almost run aground. There were some other boats and we were trying to follow their path to get through. One lady told us there was an island that would "sneak up on your a**" we watched for that!

When we got to the other end of the lake there were so boaters trolling...we did not want to troll. They were not catching anything anyway. There was one boat catching them on worms so we tried that, well I tried that. Shawn wanted to use a spinner, so he tied on a spinner with rainbow colors and he caught the first fish about a 12-13" rainbow. I did not have the color of lure he did so I tied on a small gold color kastmaster. I caught a rainbow that was 13 ounces and 14" long. I used my new digital scale...a fun toy! We both caught one more in the three hours or so we were out. I had two get away one right at the boat due to a lack of net and one that jumped clean out of the water ten feet from the boat and spit the hook. The one I brought home for my delicious dinner was about 11 ounces and 11" long.

I have been growing my beard since I bought my new license on April first and told everyone I would not shave until I caught my first fish of the season. It has been very cold this spring and I was out of commission for two weeks because of cancer surgery, but I am bald faced now (not in the picture, because I had to go home and shave).

Friday, March 21, 2008

More Frustration

Went to Klineline Pond today after work. What a waste of time. The fellow standing next to me was using a fly under a clear bobber filled with water same as me. He caught six or seven trout and I never even got a strike. Nothing. I am suppose to go out tomorrow, but I do not know where to go for my Saturday dose of humiliation.

I wish I was good at fishing.

I wish I was good at something.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Update On Tying

I talked to my brother Larry on the phone and I knew he had tied flies but did not know if he still did. He told me he tied for a few years in the 80s and had just two weeks ago dug out all his tying stuff and gave it to a charity for an auction. He told me he quit tying because he was allergic to the cement and he just found it easier to buy flies.

I ordered a new book called "Ten Easy Ties" on a recommendation from a new tier on www.washingtonlakes.com. He said that he tied all of them and they turned out good looking. I think it would increase my confidence and give me good practice.

I went to the website of Ian Colin James [http://www3.sympatico.ca/ianjames/]. Wow what a cool site. Lots of great information and he has a great sense of humor. He has a step-by-step instruction for a fly called Megan's Minnow and it looks really good and not too difficult to tie. I want to tie this up and send it to Brother Larry since he said he had not made time to fish for a long time. He lives in Montana, only the absolute best fly fishing state in the union! I have uploaded an image of the minnow as tied by Ian and I will upload an image of mine when I get it tied.

No Fishing...yet

Last night I was looking over a couple of books I have on fishing Washington and my Washington State Gazzateer to find some new places to go fishing. I got all excited about going and I might just go this week-end if I can. My in-a=laws will be up from California and my daughter will be down from Tacoma so I probably will not get to go out fishing, but there is a creek that crosses 41st Steet just north of town that used to be stocked and now is not...sounds great. I will at least drive by, maybe stop and take a look.

I was told there were no fish in Burnt Bridge Creek. I was reading last night that there are fish, just not fish that most folks want to catch. Carp and suckers. I would love to add them to my life-list.

This spring is going to be awesome!!

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Cold Fishing

Went out to Klineline Pond Saturday Morning because I read a report of a fish planting and it is a small pond and how hard can it be catch a trout in a small pond when there are so many.

Got there about eight in the morning. Some guy had a fire going in one of the fishing piers...mmm that is weird, did not know that was legal. Fished a Berkley trout worm for a while then tried a spoon. Then my hands were so cold I could not tie on anything else. Wanted to beat up the guy with fire and take it from him. Not having any fun. Dress warmer next time. I was in my Jeep and out of there by eight-forty...I am such a wussy.

Maybe I will wait for spring.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

New Passion

Well, I have not been out fishing since my last post, but I have found a new passion. I am going to learn how to tie jigs for fishing. I went to Sportsman’s and bought a fly tying kit and have been “studying up” on what to tie and how to tie. The wife 'O my life bought me a beginner’s book at B & N and it has a lot of the basics in it, very helpful. My wife is so sweet and very supportive of all my fishing stuff.

Since I have the vice and tools I thought I would go and get the material to try out this whole tying thing...I was so excited I picked one of the Bright Butt Buggers from Hillbilly Geek's posts on Washingtonfishingfools.com and went down to Sportsman's.AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH...they do not have all the right stuff. Oh, well I will improvise and make up my own color scheme. They do not have Kevlar thread in black, they do not have 6/0 thread in black, I got everything else and the worker-bee told me I could go across the parking lot and get some black thread at Joann fabrics. So off I go to get my thread. They have never heard of Kevlar thread, ok, ok, how about your strongest synthetic thread in black. Great I have everything...now I am really getting psyched. When I get home the thread spool will not fit in the bobbin holder I got in my kit...poop. I did hear about a fly shop over by Costco here in Vancouver...I will try there....the adventure continues

one fish at a time...

Lewis

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Catfish at Night

Went out to Lacamas Lake Friday December 28 after work. Did not get out until about 45 minutes after dark. There I sat with my lawn chair and my gas lantern, listening to the unseen water lap up on the rocks. It was nice.
I tried a gang hook with a nice fat crawler Texas rigged with no results for a half hour or so and switched to beef liver. No luck there either. Maybe I am in the wrong spot, maybe I am using the wrong bait? I may never know...how would I know? Who would tell me?

I guess I will go to Klineline Pond and catch trout. It is a small pond and they stock it with pretty good size trout...even a blind squirrel finds a nut in a place like that.

I want so bad to be a good fisherman, but there is no one to mentor me...no one to teach me.