4 Day Weekend

Ok, I'm off Friday through Monday.  This is an open invite for anyone that wishes to join us.

Friday I'm heading to American Lake.  I plan on being on the water by 9am (earlier if anyone joins me and wants to go earlier)

Friday afternoon we're heading to Battle Ground Lake (about 2 hours south of Tacoma just off I-5)  We're camping that night and fishing in the morning.  They planted over 35,000 trout there in 2009, including a good amount of triploids and some brood stock.

Edit:  Battle Ground Lake is off limits to internal combustion engines and has a state campground.  Great place for yaks

Sunday and Monday : no plans yet, open for suggestions!

They dropped 35,000 trout in a 28 acre lake?!  Holy crap!  What is your fishing strategy for both lakes?  May I suggest just a net for Battle Ground?

Battle Ground Lake gets a lot of pressure in the warm months. 

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/plants/weekly/

If you click the previous years and look at the December reports, it shows all the fish planted that entire year with a date, amount, and type.

Im down for Battle Ground!  Pm me with the details.  I can carpool if anyone wants to meet me in Lacey for the last leg?
Brian

I would love to fish with you guys, PM me with details as well!!


Thanks

Chuck

Im down for Battle Ground!  Pm me with the details.  I can carpool if anyone wants to meet me in Lacey for the last leg?
Brian

what I meant was; I can take someone and their kayak with me if you want to meet in Lacey..

Sounds like fun to me.  I haven't been to either of those lakes in well over a decade.  I haven't convinced my wife that I need a WA license yet

Update:  We'll be leaving around 1pm today.  Yay! Some daylight to fish in tonight!

Also, they put another 3500 fish in the lake in the last two weeks (but they're fingerlings)


Edit:  The GF and her friend are moving like pond water.  1pm is looking like 3pm.   

Until a year ago, I lived just a few miles from BG Lake. Pressure? Yeah like guys from the former USSR fishing with 3-4 poles each. Oh yeah, 1 for my wife and 2 for my kids who are up in the playground area somewhere.
Green wollybuggers!

Me up with SwiftDraw at the gate at around 745 ish?   we headed down to the pond where the in the park before 800 police came storming down to kick us out  .  After a bit of apologizing and Army-name dropping he let us launch .  "Damn Russians" he said "they come down here and fish all hours of the night and take God knows how many fish"   Ha ha..

I tried all kinds of colors and sizes of spinners and Thomas Buoyants.  I tried some flies ( yep woollybuggers)..nothing...

I had a few potential marks in the deepest part of the pond  (about 40-50').  I dropped down an in line inflated nightcrawler dipped in a garlic oil concoction I made a few years ago and about 2 minutes later WHAMO!   Alright!  (I thought), I might be on a pattern .

Nope  Pure luck I guess.  Did not catch anything else..Mater of fact Between the 25 or so people on the pond I only saw 3 fish caught   I'm sure this lake will pick up in a few months with more regular stocking and its a nice place for a kayak.  

 150 miles for one 13" trout??   Next time I'll go to Lake Safeway

Thanks for the invite lee and thanks for the company Chuck.

Brian

cobra - thanks for the pics.  At least you were able to get out on the water in a nice location.

BTW... I am interested in how you reinforced and added an access hatch to your rod pod.  Any tips for this?

My apologies for getting down to the water so late gentlemen.  Friday night turned into a bit of a high school reunion for my GF and we were up pretty late.  Then I was informed that we could not have the cabin on Saturday night and had to pack up before we went down to the water.


P.S.  Coleman sunshade covers aren't waterproof, but they'll keep you decently dry during torential downpours.  Kept the campfire going!

cobra - thanks for the pics.  At least you were able to get out on the water in a nice location.

BTW... I am interested in how you reinforced and added an access hatch to your rod pod.  Any tips for this?

I used a cutting board from a cheapo Shaespear fillet kit.  I mounted on the rod pod with SS nuts/bolts/washers. Tip for this is make sure your bolts going through don't interfere with the lip of your rod pod.  I did not measure the spacing on the mounting bolts. fortunately I was lucky when I put the lid back on. Also use (more than you need) silicone on each bolt hole and all over them when tightened and let dry for 2 days.

As far as the 6" hatch, I cut out around the cup holder. Use the same marine grade silicone gooped over each tightened bolt.  Make sure the lid will be in an easy to open position once installed (perpendicular to rod pod works best for opening and closing for me). also put a bead of silicone where the tightened down lid makes contact with the inside of the opening.  I had a a few drops of water under there after the water hose test.  But after the layaer of silicone....nothing.
Hope this helps,
Brian