A Handy Guide to Fishing the Snoqualmie Area...

North Bend, Snoqualmie Pass
Alpine Lakes Wilderness & Cle Elum
By Dave Shorett

I have TWO copies of this slim little nugget. One of them is dog-eared and following apart. It has accompanied me on many trips, but its also been my companion late at night when I can't sleep and I start day-dreaming about where to go in the summer. My friend the Alpine Lakes Super Ninja, Vlad Karpinsky, gave me the other copy a few years ago.

If you open it to a random page in the middle of the book, you'll be treated to maps, pictures and short descriptions of Alpine Lakes and the possible of quality fishing therein. A closer look at the book yields a logical division of lands from roughly my Neighborhood, East.

Three main sections define the book, starting with North Bend. This includes the Hancock Timber region that I've written about over the years, including Calligan Lake, Hancock Lake, and others.

The second section is the true gem, Snoqualmie Pass and the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. There are so many lake descriptions in this section that you get dizzy just thinking about them all.

The last section, East of Snoqualmie Pass, includes the Yakima River system and other places of interest.

Why am I telling you this? I thought long and hard about whether or not I was going to be ruining anything by promoting a guidebook to the very places that I go to get away. But you know what? The book can't give anyway any real secrets, because fishing conditions change year to year in any given lake. So even when the author says "contains small rainbows" you might get there and catch a hog; that something that has happened to me a few times, and its delightful.

So buy this book -- right now is a good time, it being the beginning of the fishing season, and you can start making your plans. Maybe we'll bump into each other on the trail!

The Glamour of Fin Clipping

Its easy to see why people have trouble picturing Amy as the tomboy that she really is. She can glam it up with the best of them! Some have trouble believing she that loves to fly fish. She recently took a temporary job at the hatchery, not that she needs the money; she loves working with her hands, she loves fish and she likes getting dirty!

Fish Hatcheries raise Salmon (and some trout) from eggs and then they let them go as babies into the river. Those baby fish go out to sea for a couple of years and then return as adults. The hatcheries "mark" the babies by clipping off their adipose fin so that when those fish return they can be distinguished from wild fish (who weren't raised in hatchery). The hatchery fish (or marked fish) can be kept by those who catch them.

Here Come the Fish

So who "marks" these fish? And how is it done? Well, its not a very glamorous job! For two and half weeks, Amy and about a dozen other paid temps occupied a specially built trailer where they clipped the fins from hundreds of thousands of baby fish. It was during this time that she took these photos and videos (with the old Nikon, by the way).

The fish come sluicing into the trailer where they swim through a solution that anaesthetizes them, making them easier to handle and in theory they'll feel less pain when their adipose fin is clipped.

After the fluid they get on to the "table" where the fin-clippers have at them. Amy says that as the fins are clipped off, like fingernails, some of them go flying into your hair or on to your coat.

These particular fish are Coho if I remember right. The clipper scissors are specially made. One day she came home in one of my coats - it was covered in little black fins. Later I put it on before it had been washed and I freaked out when all these fins can falling off of me.

Amy clipping some fins

In the video immediate above, you can see the Glamorous Amy clipping the fins from a couple of Coho while wearing one of my shirts (hey!). She says the hardest part about the job is the all the standing. But she's excited to do it again the next time they need some serious fin clipping!

In 2013, if you catch a salmon out of a Washington river and its adipose fin is missing, you may have Amy to thank. And the missing fin from your fish could be one of the ones in my coat.

First Fish of 2010

Haven't been fishing for like 5 months. But today is Valentine's day, and both of us love fishing and the weather was nice. Fished a nearby lake from 3-5pm and caught this beauty on a gold-ribbed hare's ear that I received as part of a fly swap from washingtonflyfishing.com. The fish was SO NICE (probably 15-16" and fat) that I am declining on mentioning the name of the lake just yet!

Here's to a happy Valentine's day.

Three Point and Shoot Cameras

500 different visitors were reading this blog each month during this summer. It's definitely not me they were here to look at, so I figure it had to be all the pictures of the beautiful alpine lakes I visted this year. That gives some meaning to the choice of camera I've been using.

I use point and shoot cameras for a simple reason; weight. My friend Vlad Karpinsky, the uber-alpine-lake-ninja, will lug around ten pounds of camera equipment when hiking for hours to alpine lakes, but I won't. Also, I am incredibly hard on electronic equipment since I tend to fall into rivers and lakes quite often, so that's another reason to avoid the $600 digital SLR cameras.

This year I used three different point and shoot cameras with varying results.

5 Megapixel Nikon Coolpix L10 ($150 in 2007)

10 Megapixel Fujifilm FinePix J20 ($120)

10 Megapixel Canon Powershot SD1200 IS ($180)

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Taken with Nikon L10 - A good camera at a good price.

The Nikon is actually several years old and it has been a trooper. Its maximum resolution is 5M. Without getting too technical, I found the colors to be deep and pleasing. I've always been satisfied with the pictures that it takes. It has survived at least two complete submergings but it is starting to feel its age, and its 5-second delay between pictures seems like AGES. I would buy the Nikon L10 again. A good camera at a good price.

Fujifilm FinePix J20: Terrible Pictures!

The Fujifilm Finepix J20 had a pleasing set of chassis and the price was certainly right -- $120 for a 10 Megapixel camera. The camera seemed to be half the size the Nikon, was more responsive and had a faster in-between-picture metric. I liked everything about this camera... except I hated the pictures. They always looked washed out and the colors were muddy. I tried and tried messing with the settings but honestly 9 out of 10 pictures looked awful.

Canon Powershot SD1200 IS - Good little camera, I'd buy again!

I returned the FujiFilm and, after reading many online reviews, bought the Canon Powershot SD1200 IS. I was a little concerned about getting a camera with a built-in battery, but I ultimately couldn't resist the camera's compact size. I loved the Canon -- it took great pictures and was easy to work with. Sadly, perhaps because it was so small, I lost it a few months after the purchase. I'm hoping its still around the house somewhere, perhaps in the pocket of a jacket I haven't worn since summer.

iPhone 3Gs Image -- Eh, Its Okay

So until I find the Canon again, I use the Nikon or in a pinch, my iPhone 3Gs. The iPhone has no focus feature, has poor colors and is slow. But on the other hand, I always have it.

But when summer comes around again, I think those 500 visitors are going to want to see pictures taken from the Canon, so here's to hoping I find it!

The 2009 Snoqualmie Pink Run

This year, like just about every other running body of water in the Northwest, the Snoqualmie had a fantastic run of Pink Salmon (also called Humpies). No one knows why the Pinks are doing so well when all the other colors are in decline, but we'll take it. By Indian Treaty, the Pinks are allowed to vote in Federal elections so they return every odd-numbered year to cast their house ballots.

In 2007, there were pinks in the Snoqualmie, but not so many that you could legally target them. In fact, prior to this year, to my knowledge, the Snoqualmie was closed to all Salmon fishing.

But all that has changed, baby. Here are the regs for salmon as of 11/16/2009.

SALMON Sept. 1-Dec. 31 Min. size 12". Daily limit 2. Release CHINOOK and PINK.

I interpret that to mean you can fish for any Salmon, but you must release Chinook (King) and Pink (Humpy). Thus, if you fished with a single barbless hook (as fly fishers usually do) and caught a fish over 12" you could keep it if it were a Silver (Coho), Chum (Dog, Green) or Sockeye (Red). If you can't tell them apart, I suggest you put them back anyway, because if you can't tell them apart, you can't tell when they are good to eat and when they are "overripe."

I myself have not been fishing since September. But Amy has been out on the river alot by herself. It is interesting in this day and age the reactions she gets: you would think, from people's expressions, that they were seeing a Giraffe standing in the river and not a woman. Amy says its quite annoying. People literally stopping, getting out of their cars and pointing at her.

On the other hand, several of the ladies from Church, upon finding out that Amy fishes by herself, have asked her to take them. Perhaps Amy could build a bridge between women and water in Snoqualmie.

Defeated at Cottonwood Lake

I passed by Cottonwood lake about a month ago and saw, in the water, that someone had gutted a fish and left its head in the water. The head looked like it would match a trout of 14-16" so I was interested to return.

Last Friday, I talked poor Amy into giving the Float Tube another try and joining me to re-visit Cottonwood Lake. She had only been on one other float-tubing adventure before and it had been a long slog and she didn't like it. I promised her that this would be an easy trip that was a sure-fire easy hike where nothing could go wrong.

I had no way of knowing it would end with sobbing. And vomit.

Sunny at Cottonwood Lake

Everything was going great. Easy drive to Lost Lake. Used the F-150 to get up that last little bit to get to the upper trailhead for Mirror Lake. 10 minute walk with tube and trailboat to Cottonwood. Got us inflated and in the water. No noise except birds every now and then.

Great weather -- probably 70 degrees out. Sunny. The lake was full of water though -- not down at all, and that should have been a clue for me. Small fish were rising, but we couldn't entice them. The lake was MUCH larger than I thought it was from shore. There's some kind of optical illusion going on there.

After about 2 hours, Amy announced she wasn't feeling well and she paddled herself to shore. When she got there she said she felt so sick. She had the worst headache of her life she thought she was going to throw up. I told her that she was probably just too cold from the water (she had been wearing thin, breathable summer waders) and that she should try to get warm.

She curled up in a ball, clutching her head and weeping (I have that effect on many women so I was not too surprised). I hurriedly packed our stuff and we started stumbling down the trail. We got about halfway down when she announced that she wanted to sit down but I wouldn't let her.

She then vomitted on my sandaled feet.

After that she slowly got better. Later, at home, she was back to normal, and decided against ever float-tubing again.

Here's what I think happened. The warm, sunny weather kept the top half of her nice and toasty and giving her the impression that she wasn't slowly freezing. But because she was wearing uninsulated waders in cold water (is Cottonwood spring-fed?) her core temperature slowly dropped until her body started taking drastic measures to keep her warm, including giving her the worst brain-freeze ever and removing all the blood from her stomach, causing her to get nauseous...

It goes without saying that I was skunked once again. These alpine lake fish are too smart for me. I was even tring 6x tippet. Maybe I need to go flourocarbon or something.

Okanogan Fishing Report

Ready to Go

Amy and I both love the Okanogan region; its that upper-right-hand quadrant of the state right up near Canada but not quite into Idaho. We've been looking forward to this trip all summer (we knew Casey would be in Disneyland with his Grandparents). I bought a new camera and Amy got all pretty (see above), though as she points out, by the end of the trip you can't tell the two of us apart.

Calligan

Before leaving, we fished a local favorite in the tree farm, Calligan lake, just to warm up. Fishing was slow but we did manage to get a few cutthroat on dry flies. The fall sun looks golden on Amy's skin as she casts to some fish rising in a pocket.

Snake Eating a Fish

The next day we drove as far as the Methow river before we had to stop and release the fishing pressure. The river was crawling with other fly-fishermen and the water was very low. In a strange coincidence, Amy found a snake eating a fish in the river. I think this is a bull snake and a sculpin. And, unlike earlier this summer the snake looked like he could complete the deal.

Steer on the road

The Okanogan countryside reminds us of Colorado where we both grew up. But the region is definitely remote -- a town of 1000 is a metropolis. Often on these trips we'd stay in sketchy 2-star roadside motels with bad beds and funny smells. This time we decided to try to stay in cabins and resorts. Some friends recommended Eden Valley Ranch as accomodations.

Staying in a cabin

Our cabin was cute and cozy -- a great wood burning stove kept the interior toasty against the cold air coming down from Canada. We watched movies on our laptops and surfed the net on the Ranch's wireless network -- all the comforts of home, really!

2 Laptops, 1 iPhone, 2 coffees, 3 Netflix = Party Time

If you are in the area, I HIGHLY recommend that you stay there -- Robin will take care of you and tell her that David Holmes sent you.

Panorama from our door at Eden Valley Ranch

The Ranch is fairly close to the quirky little "town" of Chesaw, where our friends from church, Gordon and Kelly Kyle, have a cabin. They were nice enough to invite us up to their property (only one mile south of the Canadian border) and feed us lunch. It was so nice to see them.

Blue Lake

If you are a fisherman, by now you are thinking ENOUGH ALREADY, how was the fishing? The lowlights were Sidley Lake, Big Twin, Blue Lake and Beth Lake, where we skunked. The weather at Sidley and Big Twin was cold and very windy so we were unable to fish them long. We pounded Blue Lake for 7 hours, searching for those big Lahontan trout, but, aside from Amy landing one small 12" juvenile, we left disappointed. We also stopped by several lakes which were WAY lower than they usually are even in October, rendering them unfishable. For example, both Conconully Lakes were ridiculously dry, though the other Blue Lake in the gorgeous Sinlahekin valley looked good.

Morning on Spectacle Lake

The only bright spot as far as fishing the Okanogan region was Spectacle Lake. Terri, who runs the Spectacle Lake Resort told us that it was slow at her side of the lake but good at the other side. We had good success, finding fish all over the west side the 300-acre lake. The Cuda 242 fish finder came in very, very handy, as the fish were definitely schooling at specific depths. Amy caught 13 fish there, and she lost a big one before we could get a good look at it.

Spectacle

Speaking of Spectacle Lake Resort, we did indeed stay there for a night. We literally almost blew ourselves up working the natural gas appliances to heat pork and beans that night for dinner. This is when Amy told me that maybe this trip had gotten a little too rustic for her. The resort also appeared to have wireless, but I forgot to ask for the WEP key.

Video of Amy catching a one-eyed-jack

Even though we fished identical equipment, Amy caught the last nine fish in row on Spectacle Lake. Literally the last three hours she caught fish after fish while I had nothing. Just goes to show you, a woman can outfish a man sometimes.

The Ford

On our way back home, Amy steered us to one of her favorite fishing spots, Rocky Ford. There, she continued putting on a clinic, catching four respectable trout on dries, including a monster fish that she swears was over two feet long. I was in the truck at the time having a soda and I didn't hear her yelling for the camera. So there is no picture of the fish of the trip and for that I am to blame.

Columbia River

The most exciting part of our trip was when we stopped at the Columbia river just south of I-90 to look out over the smooth, lake-like water. It was so enticing that we launched our little 12' craft and headed north toward the freeway, paralleling the shore. There was feeling of intense anticipation because there are all kinds of crazy beasts in that water, from 3' Chinook Salmon to 8' Sturgeon. Who knew what we'd catch????

Columbia River Northern Pike Minnow

I caught three fish: all were Northern Pike Minnows. The water was alive with Salmon smolt and these ugly predators were probably gorging themselves on the poor little guys who were just trying to get 500 miles downstream to the ocean.

Look closely for the Demon Eye

As we neared a large island in the river, we spooked a couple of big fish were were hanging out at the surface. Amy thought they must be salmon. We continued North and saw a few more. We cast to them and they spooked again. But this time when they swirled about 50 other swirls happened all around us! We were frantic to figure out what the fish were. Finally we got a good look at them -- they were carp and some of them looked to be 15-20lbs. We fished to them for hours but they were very shy, fleeing at our every approach. Though we didn't catch one, pursuing them was exhilirating.

Placid Columbia

It was a five day trip which is one of our longer trips. The extremes were freezing our buns off in Sidley Lake to getting sunburned in the Columbia River. For the most part, the weather was good -- too good. You see, we usually do this trip in October, but I was getting tired of the short days and cold weather during our trips. But now I realize that you have to have those short days and cold weather in order to get the excellent fishing. If you go too early, like we did, you get the nice weather, but often the trout will still be in summer mode. We'll see we what happens next year.