Nice evening on the local

skyriver

skyriver

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No bobber love, but 9 or 10 them liked this olive marabou thingy stripped on a type 3. On my little 8' 4wt Aetos which makes even the 10 inchers fun.
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This lake is fairly tannic and has lots of veggies so the fish actually feed best when there's some sun, or at least light, on the water. As soon as the sun went off these hills it was game over. The temp dipped about 10 degrees and the wind increased too. It reminded me that I live in the Cascade foothills.
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A cold spring sunset wasn't bad either...besides being cold! 😁

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The first fish caught was a little 9" native cutt that went for a hand twist mid on top. On the 3wt. Pretty little guy. Wished I took a pic. The natives get pretty shy when the planters go in so a fairly rare catch for this lake.
A great couple hours to start out the local planter circuit.
 
mountainlake97 said:
Any theories on why the natives don't bite as well once the stockers are in?
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A few theories:
1. Stocked fish are a lot more aggressive due to the hatchery conditions (conditioned to fight for food)
2. Stocked fish are going to eat more food because they will focus on food over safety (compared to the more cautious wild fish)
3. Stocked fish are going to eat more often because they are used to regular feedings in the hatchery that are designed for rapid growth

The first few days can be an adjustment for both stockers and wild fish. Once the stockers start biting though there will never be an easier time to catch them.
 
Yep, I think @DryFly82 nailed it. WDFW planted over 4k fish in this particular lake. It's not a big lake so that's a LOT of confused and hungry fish compared to the day before. And his point about safety is good. There are always at least 2 adult eagles and 2 or 3 ospreys at this lake. And the lake has some decent sized bass so that native cutt has beat the odds playing it safe.

Similar to the steelhead bite going dead when kings, or even silvers, come into the river. Too much chaos.
 
Yep. I just fished a FF only lake a few weeks ago that had been recently stocked with Jumbos. They were all schooled up and swimming just under the surface. Within 30 minutes I saw an eagle swoop down and grab one that was at least 4lb in the middle of the lake...it then proceeded to flap/swim all the way to shore for almost 5 minutes because it was too heavy to take off with the fish. Later I had the school swim right up next to the boat and I just did a figure-8 with a leech (musky style) and hooked one 5 feet from me on the surface. I think the jumbos probably have the worst safety sense of any stockers since they've been at the top of the food chain a few years at the hatchery.
 
Got out tonight for just a couple hours. Had to get out of the house!
Hey @Bambooflyguy Do you think this is a Puyallup hatchery rainbow?

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It was almost 13" and fat and gave a great fight It's blocky like a hatchery rainbow planter, but it sure looks it like it has some cutt in it.
I didn't inspect the dorsal enough, but the rest of the fins were perfect.
All the others I caught tonight were only 10-11" and looked like rainbows. And fins were definitely not perfect.

I caught some of these little guys too. They are definitely onto the emerging mids just as much as the trout. It was hard to keep them off in a couple spots.

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And these guys were...busy. 😁 There are no less than 10 beavers on this lake. 3 big huts all at the end closest to the launch.

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Hey skyriver, most definitely a Puyallup plant. Full of spots and some actually had a little orange slash that makes me think cuttbows or getting a little strange stuff at the hatchery…….bummer the spiny rays are waking up. Outta all the fish I C&R’d the other day…zero turd fish.
 
FishyJere said:
The planting report said Puyallup.
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Yeah I saw that, but this one looked better than usual. I snapped a quick pic and let it go and then realized I should've inspected it closer. I know a lot of the Puyallup hatchery brats have lots of those big spots, but this one looked too nice to be a brat. And the hues of yellow make me wonder. And that maxillary seems a bit long for a bow as well.
 
Spent a few hours on another local this afternoon. Definitely not hot. Had to stick with it to end up with 9 or 10. They were all quality stockers that all fought very well so that was fun. 2 or 3 on the strip and the others under the bobber. Both methods only caught fish on my flashy olive with white bead.

This one had some great colors.

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All the bobber fish were caught out in front of this place that I've always thought is the nicest place on the lake.

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skyriver said:
Spent a few hours on another local this afternoon. Definitely not hot. Had to stick with it to end up with 9 or 10. They were all quality stockers that all fought very well so that was fun. 2 or 3 on the strip and the others under the bobber. Both methods only caught fish on my flashy olive with white bead.

This one had some great colors.

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All the bobber fish were caught out in front of this place that I've always thought is the nicest place on the lake.

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hmmm, maybe too much green lawn at that nice house? u dont get a nice lawn w/o chemicals.
 
goinoregon said:
hmmm, maybe too much green lawn at that nice house? u dont get a nice lawn w/o chemicals.
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Yeah not sure, but having been in lawn care for a couple years before my eventual telecom career, I would argue that the one place you can get that green of a lawn, at this time of year, is western Washington at a place like that.
It's got southern exposure and was slightly flooded about a quarter way up the lawn. And lots of goose poop. Mallards were feeding in the flooded part. And this is a side view. We can't see all the imperfections from here.

I had a few customers on lakes and we avoided fertilizing the back yards. Many HOAs have that in their covenants.
We didn't provide it, but many would apply steer manure or something even lighter. Have some faith man. 😁

The true test will be in a couple months.
 
Thanks for sharing the pictures skyriver. I have not fished that lake yet this year but your pics brought back some amazing memories from last year.
I hit Battle Ground lake last week for 2 days of crazy stocker fishing. Stocker truck pulled out 45 minutes before I arrived. Geee, I can't imagine why they liked brown flies so much. Tried to make Steve jealous of my c&r reports but he out fished me again. He must have been fishing with you
 
Oh wow, I haven't fished Battle Ground since I was a kid. I lived in Washougal the first 10 years of my life. My dad and his buddy took us kids there a couple times. I remember it being cold and rainy both times, but we caught fish! 😁

I haven't caught up with Steve, or you, yet. Haven't seen Lue either. I think it has something to do with my job. 🤣
 
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