Rattlesnake temps?
- Thread starter Ceviche
- Start date
Not sure but “baby toy serpent” lake is 50+ feet deep; plenty deep to have a thermocline and cool refuge water down there.
Really!!! 
That could be, good point, but tough to say for sure. Lots of variables at play there.
FWIW- the swimming beach at RSL was 68.6 *F on 08/08. https://green2.kingcounty.gov/swimbeach/BeachData.aspx?locator=A999SB&CurrentYear=true
They measure near the edge of the kiddie area at the middle of the swimming beach, according to plan. There's a decent chance it may be warmer there than the rest of the lake. But again, tough to say, without actually measuring. E.g., what time of day was the lake sampled? So many variables but I think it could be worth checking out, especially for dawn patrol.
I'm curious--Are the temperatures in the lake you live on tracking what is shown on the chart for RSL? Elevation, aspect, fetch, etc. can all change things quite a bit from lake to lake.
Try and go on a weekday if you can. Or super early or really late on a weekend. The crowds out there have been insane. Parking backs up half a mile down the road from the main lots there. Although hardly anyone fishing. I drove out there a few weeks ago, saw the chaos and just turned around.
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I was wondering about the upper half layer temps—the zone where I’d be fighting fish.
R-snake is fed off from either Chester Morse or the Cedar River (could be both, right?), so that could help keep overall temps lower than one might think.
Understood. At least you have more data than you did before, I suppose, at this point. It seems like further detail will require field research.
It's fed by seepage from Masonry Pool (mostly) and Chester Morse which is likely going to be cooler than most other surface waters this time of year.
remember this, where's the fish?
Lue, great question, and leads to a really important point about the 'snake.
Sometimes you can just troll all over and find a few fish. A few magic days, especially in the evening they come up for drys and it can be near epic. There a lot of fish in there (to many?). But to slog it it out, and consistently find fish, stay in the footprint of the lake outline from the lowest water level you have seen. And fish deep. That is where there is some bottom food all year. And for some reason where the daphnia always hang out.
I wish there were good 'mid and baetis hatches but they are really few and far between. Sometimes fall caddis. Poor fish just can't find enough to eat and grow there.
But always beautiful and love the sounds of all ages enjoying themselves.
Sometimes you can just troll all over and find a few fish. A few magic days, especially in the evening they come up for drys and it can be near epic. There a lot of fish in there (to many?). But to slog it it out, and consistently find fish, stay in the footprint of the lake outline from the lowest water level you have seen. And fish deep. That is where there is some bottom food all year. And for some reason where the daphnia always hang out.
I wish there were good 'mid and baetis hatches but they are really few and far between. Sometimes fall caddis. Poor fish just can't find enough to eat and grow there.
But always beautiful and love the sounds of all ages enjoying themselves.
Wind gusts can blow terrestrials onto the lake, as well. It happens regularly enough that fish will look up after a gust blows through. Time to fish dries. But the surface feeders tend to be of a smaller class size, younger and less cautious about predators.
But mind the temps.
But mind the temps.
