Rattlesnake Lake
- Thread starter Ceviche
- Start date
Got to R-snake around 7:30, in the water around 8:00. Water temperature felt cool, maybe 65F or slightly warmer.
Started slow. Caught 1st fish not far from the launch around 9:30, after changing to a fast sinking line. 13” rainbow. I let the wind carry me south with no fish taken. Wind really picked up, so it became a workout getting back.
Around 11:45, after the wind let off and I was not far from the launch again, the bite was on. 3 nice and scrappy fish on 3 consecutive casts. All came unpinned. Another hook up after a few more casts, but it came off the hook, too. At least the last three fish were played for a while before losing them. Off the lake around 12:30.
If I go again, I think I’ll stay near the north end and start around 10:30. That wind sure put a damper on the fishing.
Started slow. Caught 1st fish not far from the launch around 9:30, after changing to a fast sinking line. 13” rainbow. I let the wind carry me south with no fish taken. Wind really picked up, so it became a workout getting back.
Around 11:45, after the wind let off and I was not far from the launch again, the bite was on. 3 nice and scrappy fish on 3 consecutive casts. All came unpinned. Another hook up after a few more casts, but it came off the hook, too. At least the last three fish were played for a while before losing them. Off the lake around 12:30.
If I go again, I think I’ll stay near the north end and start around 10:30. That wind sure put a damper on the fishing.
Good to know the surface temp was ok.
Mind if I ask what is the attraction to Rattlesnake Lake? I visited it once decades ago. As I recall, it is a reservoir operated by Seattle Water Dept. The water surface fluctuates up and down, and appeared oligotrophic to me. Snails are the only fish food I recall seeing. Is it productive at all?
It's not a reservoir, but the water level fluctuates dramatically in relation to the level of water in Chester Morse Reservoir and the Masonry Pool part of the Cedar River project. This is because the ridge that separates RSL from the Cedar is a very porous pile of glacial till and outwash, and when they flooded the Cedar River valley, water started leaking through those deposits, flooded the town of Moncton which created RSL, and caused the "Boxley Blowout" amongst other things. RSL does appear to be oligotrophic but there are some midge and caddis hatches and it is in a pretty setting. For us living out here it's kind of no big deal since we are surrounded by spectacular landscapes, but if that park were out East it would be a State Park or a National Monument or something like that. It is a great swimming lake, too. It has gotten way the hell too crowded on weekends, though; people park on the boat ramp to hang out and act like jerks, etc., so about the only way I'd fish it anymore is how @Ceviche did, on a cloudy Tuesday, or in cooler or rainy weather. I used to like to park outside the gate around 5 or 6 pm and walk a floaty thing in and fish up to dark. There could be some decent surface action at dusk.
edit: also, it is better referred to as "Baby Toy Serpent" lake
Lake water level was the highest I’ve ever seen. Maybe two feet higher. Shoreline is several yards inland. Still, those stumps! Fish still like them, but your flies don’t.
Lower to normal water levels make the stumps much easier to see and fished around. There’s a submerged channel at the south end that provides structure for good sized (for Rattlesnake
) trout to hide in. But it’s tough to find with the current levels. I didn’t even bother on Tuesday. With the wind, it was a total nope.
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Somewhat productive but not as much as many other lakes you could otherwise go to. Still, so long as the wind doesn’t get gnarly and only kicks out the occasional moderate to soft gust, you can have fun dry fly fishing terrestrials. A second rod rigged with a floating line comes in handy for that.
Bambooflyguy
Legend
This lake unfortunately isn’t what it was before…..when it turned into a selective fishery, it was awesome! I had some amazing winter days anchored in 40’ and sight casting sipping trout with midge emergers. Some nice size fish…..then wdfw planted hatchery steelhead smolts and changed it to catch and kill. The catch and refrigerate crowd kept the rainbows…..I haven’t been there much since.
Wow. I didn’t know that. What a bummer.
That was pretty crazy, when WDFW had to get rid of hundreds of thousands of steelhead smolts due to a legal settlement, they put tens of thousands of them in RSL, amongst other places, and just opened it up for a free for all. Those little things were roving around in giant schools on the surface. It was kind of a hoot for a little while. I kept some and brined and smoked them. They weren't that good to eat.
The lake is back to year round selective gear regs, daily limit 2 minimum 14" if I'm not mistaken.
The lake is back to year round selective gear regs, daily limit 2 minimum 14" if I'm not mistaken.
How long ago was that steelhead plant?
Pre kids for me, since I remember taking my wife out there in my canoe for the hootenanny. I wanna say 2014 or 2015?
Yeah 2014 was the year they dumped a ton of steelhead into Green Lake.....The next 18 months or so was awesome. So that was probably the same year as RSnake
Bambooflyguy
Legend
We caught a bunch at Fenwick too, 12” skinny cutts that were supposed to be heading to the salt to not eat little bugs and powerbait! The stupid idea behind this was to protect the wild steelhead….instead without the hatchery steelhead now there’s nothing left to catch.
Dominant food source is daphnia. Have noticed better chironomid hatches recently. Usually fish anchored up vertical in 50' and find where they are hanging out. Can get good numbers of fish, a few suckers also. Water stays colder so good bet into July when other lakes are really too warm for optimum release survival rate. Do miss the days when it was C&R; there were some really nice fish that got immediately harvested during the steelhead fiasco.
Have not a single sucker this year (knock on wood). They used to get up to 18”. Have not seen eagles or osprey this year diving for fish either.
Anyone else caught a smallmouth at RSL? I did around 2000. I wonder if it was attempted bucket biology? Decent sized maybe 14-15”.