Pass Lake Situation...
- Thread starter SARG950
- Start date
Open, clear, and cccccoooolllld as of a few days ago.
Did they happen to install any parking meters on the launch when they fixed the sinkhole?
That might help solve the problem with the guys who like to back down and park right in the middle of the launch area while assembling every piece of equipment they brought with them.
SF
That might help solve the problem with the guys who like to back down and park right in the middle of the launch area while assembling every piece of equipment they brought with them.
SF
Chris Johnson
Steelhead
Because there is a large chunk of society that is woefully unaware of how their action affect those around them.
Fished pretty well for me a couple of weeks ago. Balanced leeches and bloodworms under the indi did the trick for bows, also had a nice brown on a minnow streamer casting to risers.
Use to love going there as the leaves started to turn in the fall. Nice 60-65 degree weekday late September early October. My most success came from throwing olive and black leeches towards the west bank Shoreline and stripping back to deeper waters. There were some hefty trout that could take your 5 weight rod tip and bend it in to the drink. It’s been a good 10+ years since I fished that lake. I don’t ever remember it having all the algae issues back then. I remember being entertained watching a couple times one or two wade the lake near the Highway and time they’re casting to traffic….just sitting in my tube and waiting and imagining what would happen if their fly line got wrapped around a side mirror of some moving big pick-uo truck…. 40mph or so…Watching the fly rod launch 
I'm thinking our paths crossed once or twiceUse to love going there as the leaves started to turn in the fall. Nice 60-65 degree weekday late September early October. My most success came from throwing olive and black leeches towards the west bank Shoreline and stripping back to deeper waters. There were some hefty trout that could take your 5 weight rod tip and bend it in to the drink. It’s been a good 10+ years since I fished that lake. I don’t ever remember it having all the algae issues back then. I remember being entertained watching a couple times one or two wade the lake near the Highway and time they’re casting to traffic….just sitting in my tube and waiting and imagining what would happen if their fly line got wrapped around a side mirror of some moving big pick-uo truck…. 40mph or so…Watching the fly rod launch
kerrys
Ignored Member
Takes some stout tippet to hold on to a box truck doing 45mph.Use to love going there as the leaves started to turn in the fall. Nice 60-65 degree weekday late September early October. My most success came from throwing olive and black leeches towards the west bank Shoreline and stripping back to deeper waters. There were some hefty trout that could take your 5 weight rod tip and bend it in to the drink. It’s been a good 10+ years since I fished that lake. I don’t ever remember it having all the algae issues back then. I remember being entertained watching a couple times one or two wade the lake near the Highway and time they’re casting to traffic….just sitting in my tube and waiting and imagining what would happen if their fly line got wrapped around a side mirror of some moving big pick-uo truck…. 40mph or so…Watching the fly rod launch
just takes a tug for something to fly off sometimes.
I used to fish it 20 years ago. I lived in Monroe so it wasn't too bad of a drive. I loved fishing the west shoreline along the rocks. Some very aggressive fish along there. In fact, I once saw a 2 foot rainbow take a swipe at a dipper. Not sure if they were just playing or what, but it definitely made me reevaluate my fly size.Use to love going there as the leaves started to turn in the fall. Nice 60-65 degree weekday late September early October. My most success came from throwing olive and black leeches towards the west bank Shoreline and stripping back to deeper waters. There were some hefty trout that could take your 5 weight rod tip and bend it in to the drink. It’s been a good 10+ years since I fished that lake. I don’t ever remember it having all the algae issues back then. I remember being entertained watching a couple times one or two wade the lake near the Highway and time they’re casting to traffic….just sitting in my tube and waiting and imagining what would happen if their fly line got wrapped around a side mirror of some moving big pick-uo truck…. 40mph or so…Watching the fly rod launch
Some good browns over there too. Closer to reeds. Had a few break off 6lb Max.
Curious to know your thoughts on how and why. Is it a pressure thing, an environmental thing, a management thing, or…?
For Pass, the stocking changes, and that alone changes the fishing. Pressure since I have been fishing it has increased, but not by as much as the population/popularity of the sport.
The biggest change I’ve seen has been the lake itself. Right now the aquatic vegetation has increased quite a bit from when I first fished it in the early 90s. As such the where to find fish has also changed, but that I don’t believe is a bad thing, more just a thing. I’ve also seen multiple changes through the years in the available food sources. Right now for example, the lake is seeing a boom in fathead minnows, but a decline in calibaetis. I don’t believe that will always be the case, but one should fish accordingly.
aaronj
Just Hatched
I agree with Irafly on the increase in vegetation. Seems the weedbed off the point on the NW side has gotten progressively larger, as well as at the far end. Increased algae blooms add to the organic content of the water too, which has to affect the lake in multiple ways. Pass may be slowly moving into another stage in its life cycle...
For Pass, the stocking changes, and that alone changes the fishing. Pressure since I have been fishing it has increased, but not by as much as the population/popularity of the sport.
The biggest change I’ve seen has been the lake itself. Right now the aquatic vegetation has increased quite a bit from when I first fished it in the early 90s. As such the where to find fish has also changed, but that I don’t believe is a bad thing, more just a thing. I’ve also seen multiple changes through the years in the available food sources. Right now for example, the lake is seeing a boom in fathead minnows, but a decline in calibaetis. I don’t believe that will always be the case, but one should fish accordingly.
Thank you for the reply. I’m new to the whole lake fishing thing, so it’s interesting to hear insights like yours.
Irafly has it right, both the stocking and the conditions in the lake have changed. In addition to the physical changes, he referred there has been a significant change in the fish community in the lake. There now in addition to the trout there are fathead minnows, two species of sunfish and yellow perch. With these changes in the lake WDFW has frankly been "chasing their tails" in an attempt to continue to produce at least some sort of a quality experience.
Up until a decade or so ago the Pass was planted with 50,000 rainbow fry (fish of 100/# or about 2.5 inches long) in the spring and 5,000 browns in the fall (fish about 15/# or about 4-to-5-inch fish). With the expanding populations of the sunfish and yellow perch the survival of those fry plant fish declined, and the condition of the carry-over trout declined. WDFW's response was to decrease the planting levels in an effort to maintain the quality/condition of the trout available which worked in a fashion (nice but fewer fish). The 2022 trout planting plan for Pass Lake called for a release of 500 catchable spring rainbows, 7,000 rainbow fry, and 3,000 brown trout. For most the Pass Lake fishing is now a shallow of its former self.
What can be done? I believe looking at the WDFW's trout releases in 3 lakes will give us some insight into that Question. Pass (98 acres), lone (92 acres) and Lenice (94 acres) are productive lakes of a similar size, plagued with populations of competing species and a history of once producing quality fishing. In recent years Lone Lake has been planted with 3,000 catchable trout (a stocking level of 33 fish/acre). On Lenice there are a spring release of 2,250 catchables and a fall release of 3,000 catchables (a total stocking level 5,250 or 56 fish/acre).
Historically the preferred planting strategy relied on fry plants to support the fishery. A strategy that produces a quality fish at a low cost. Unfortunately, as competing species take hold the survival of those drop eventually reaching a point where the survival is so low a decent fishery cannot be supported. The planting of the larger catchable trout bypasses the first year of rearing in the lake providing a high density of fish to support the fishery. The downside such approach is the first-year fish are typically smaller; the hatchery cannot grow the fish as rapidly as a rich productive water and catchable trout are more expensive. Planting a lake with 50,000 fry requires only about 500# of trout. To plant 5,000 catchable trout at 2.5/# requires 2,000#s of trout.
Adopting the Lone or Lenice stocking model for Pass of planting 30 to 50 catchable size per acre (3,000 to 5,000 fish) could be expected to produce fisheries similar to those two lakes. While the fishing on both Lone and Lenice have their critic without question the fishing on Pass would be better than currently. Unfortunately, WDFW in Region do not have the trout to accomplish that stocking regime without taking fish from another lake. Another management strategy that has worked, at least in the short term has been lake rehabilitation with rotenone which also seems unlikely. Not sure how WDFW adjust to the current situation in Pass.
Curt
