Shootin' Rainbows in a Barrel?

CastIronTrout and I are meeting at Battle Groung Lake at 7:30 AM on Tuesday 11/28 to try for some Rainbows which were planted last week. Don't have the official numbers but rumor is they're average 2 pounders.

It's a small 28 acre lake that's the cone of an extinct volcano north end of Vancouver.

http://www.parks.wa.gov/parks/?selectedpark=Battle%20Ground%20Lake&subject=all

Anyone up for joining us?

iHop

Sounds like fun but I have work   Good luck guys!

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/plants/weekly/search.php?searchby=LakeStocked&search=BATTLE+GROUND+LK+%28CLAR%29&orderby=LakeStocked%20ASC,%20StockDate%20DESC

How was the fishing at Battleground Lake? I almost went to Kress lake (Kalama Wa) for the same reason. I drove up their yesterday and it is even smaller than Battleground lake. There were a few guys bank fishing, but nobody was catching anything.

I saw that report on the WA.gov site, too. Not sure why they haven't updated it. I'll call today to see what's up.

KevBro we are going tomorrow. Want to join us?

iHop


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I will be there!

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/plants/weekly/search.php?searchby=LakeStocked&search=BATTLE+GROUND+LK+%28CLAR%29&orderby=LakeStocked%20ASC,%20StockDate%20DESC

Thanks for the link, Lee. I had been into the Regional office last week and in talking to one of the Fisheries Biologist, was told about the closing of five lakes so they could be stocked with large incentive trout and then re-opened on Black Friday. He told me all five lakes at the time, but by the time I left the office, all I could remember was Battle Ground and Kress. I also found a blog last night that mentioned the WDFW does this every year. The author of the blog said, "I don't know why they put ten pound trout into these lakes every year" So, I think the link is for the regular schedule and not the incentive plant, but due to a starving budget, I would have to guess they only truch them in one trip, either combined or in lieu of the little stockers. Just a hunch

I'm doing a yakless surveillance run to the lake this afternoon. Will report tonight.


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Checked it out at BG Lake. Kinda small with many of anglers but lots of trout being caught. Only one boat on the water, had his limit of five:




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Ihop, did you see what they were catching the trout on?

Everyone I talked to said Power Bate. The float tuber was using a small yellow Power Bait worm on 4 lb test line. The lake is very small and guys on the bank and dock are casting almost to the center of the lake. We'll be dodging sinkers, should be exciting. The park officially opens at 8 AM but I'm still going to try and get there around 7-7:30, that's when others were there today. The bite is max early.

See you there.

iHop

Everyone I talked to said Power Bate. The float tuber was using a small yellow Power Bait worm on 4 lb test line. The lake is very small and guys on the bank and dock are casting almost to the center of the lake. We'll be dodging sinkers, should be exciting. The park officially opens at 8 AM but I'm still going to try and get there around 7-7:30, that's when others were there today. The bite is max early.

See you there.

iHop

Thanks for the intel Aytch and see you in a few hours, Unfortunately, I don't have any flies tied that resemble Power Bait worms, gobs or nuggets. Have to see how I do without, I guess.

When I fished Beaver lake for planted rainbows, EVERYONE, on shore and in boats, except me, was using PowerBait.  The planted bows are accustomed to hatchery feed.  I got skunked.  Most others caught fish.

Yeh, the fresh planters that don't get caught will eventually learn how to eat natural food, but anything resembling a micro cheeseburger should do it for now.

Any fly put in front of 'em and twitched or stripped might get their attention, though. The fresh ones usually hold closer to the surface when first planted in those small lakes. I have found that, when all else fails, a black #10 sparkle bugger trolled fast just under the surface will sucker 'em into biting.

I like to fish for 'em after they learn how to eat natural food forms, though. Then I can almost believe that I am matching my fly to something they are eating.

Well CastIronTrout, KevBro and I made it to Battle Ground Lake today. Got there at 7:30 and found gates locked so we had to chat until the ranger opened up for us at 8:00. Totally foggy and chilly (about 38 degrees). We tried lots of different things with no nibbles (Flatfish with PowerBait, Mepps with PowerBait, worms, wet flies, etc.).

My new buddy Jason was there in his Pontoon rig and again was nailing them. He was very generous in sharing what he was using (Chartreuse PowerBait Worms), how to fish them and even gave KevBro and I some to use. Kev almost immediately nailed two nice trout. I got one, too, but since my net was stowed I lost it when it was right at the boat.

Kev had to take off (I fotgot some folks are still employed). I got my act together and retrieved my net, organized my yak and got back to work. Landed two nice ones, 14 1/2" and 13 1/2".

Dave continued to try with flies but the fish were clueless about real food, he and I continued for a while but by 2 PM we were both pretty numb so we decided to pack it in.

I was a very happy camper to get my first rainbows from the IslandHoppa. Now off to tennis, all in all a pretty great day. I can hardly wait for Thursday to go after some Dungies!

iHop