Riffe Lake

[Old Man Yager]

Anybody fished Riffe Lake from the bridge this year? I heard it wasn't going to be good this year due to lake water level being low. Just looking to confirm that is the case.

[oyster]

Word is that it's lowered 30 ft indefinitely Old Man. Earthquake paranoia I believe is the cause. Either way, we lose again. What a shame..

[Firedogg]

 Between the far drop to the water and the water running faster under the bridge you better pull out the salmon trolling rod and a 4 oz banana weight to keep anything in the water near the bridge.

[Alchase]

Go down to the Mossyrock end if you are fishing from shore.
They do real well from the rocks on the park side of the dam.

[SkookumHntr]

I was there yesterday, nobody was even fishing off the bridge, Cowlitz river was pretty muddy tho from that rain last week.

[Old Man Yager]

Word is that it's lowered 30 ft indefinitely Old Man. Earthquake paranoia I believe is the cause. Either way, we lose again. What a shame..

We went up there Sunday, nobody cathing a dang thing off the bridge or shore near it. You guys been hitting the Cowltz hard yet? I still gotta hit you up for a trip down there!! Hope you had a good Father's Day buddy.

[Smossy]

Buddy caught this at the dam last weekend I think... Couldn't believe my damn eyes. Also kokanee hitting top 10 ft of water inside the booeys.

[Alchase]

Sweet fish!

I have seen two blackmouth in the twenties caught of the rocks by the dam.
Last one, I put my boat to idle for 15 minutes to watch the kid play the fish.

[Old Man Yager]

Buddy caught this at the dam last weekend I think... Couldn't believe my damn eyes. Also kokanee hitting top 10 ft of water inside the booeys.

Sweet!! Is that the Dam up River from the fishing bridge?

[Alchase]

FYI, there are no Kokanee in Riffe Lake, they are landlocked Silvers, and a few blackmouth can be found as well.

[Old Dog]

 

[Smossy]

Buddy caught this at the dam last weekend I think... Couldn't believe my damn eyes. Also kokanee hitting top 10 ft of water inside the booeys.

Sweet!! Is that the Dam up River from the fishing bridge?

That is the mossyrock dam.

FYI, there are no Kokanee in Riffe Lake, they are landlocked Silvers, and a few blackmouth can be found as well.

My mistake, coho then...

[bullfisher]

Talked to a tacoma water guy today on a job. Said Riffe is permanently lowered due to the Oroville dam break in California. And if someone says it can happen, or it does happen somewhere else, they have to take action everywhere. He said some dams monitor flood zones, some dams monitor power and some such as Riffe, monitor both. Dams that are designed for both are a battle because the flood monitoring side wants the water level low and the power side wants it high. His opinion was that over time, some planning and funding will come up to update what is needed and bring it back to what it was. I thought his point of view was rather interesting.

[Alchase]

Buddy caught this at the dam last weekend I think... Couldn't believe my damn eyes. Also kokanee hitting top 10 ft of water inside the booeys.

Sweet!! Is that the Dam up River from the fishing bridge?

That is the mossyrock dam.

FYI, there are no Kokanee in Riffe Lake, they are landlocked Silvers, and a few blackmouth can be found as well.

My mistake, coho then...

Nice haul, be careful, those silvers will jump out of a bucket if you are not careful, LOL.
Brine them up and smoke them bad boys!
I use to build up about 25 lbs of Kokes from Alder, and Silvers from Riffe, then smoke the lot up.
Then take the skin and bones out, and put all the meat in 1 gallon ziplock bags in the freezer.
We always had one bag in the frig to eat.
I really miss that here in OKC.

[HntnFsh]

Talked to a tacoma water guy today on a job. Said Riffe is permanently lowered due to the Oroville dam break in California. And if someone says it can happen, or it does happen somewhere else, they have to take action everywhere. He said some dams monitor flood zones, some dams monitor power and some such as Riffe, monitor both. Dams that are designed for both are a battle because the flood monitoring side wants the water level low and the power side wants it high. His opinion was that over time, some planning and funding will come up to update what is needed and bring it back to what it was. I thought his point of view was rather interesting.

That mostly true. But the water level has nothing to do with the Oroville disaster. It's all about USGS, FERC,and other regulatory agencies and what would happen to the piers that hang off the back of the dam if a 7.2 quake hit that area.

[Goshawk]

Talked to a tacoma water guy today on a job. Said Riffe is permanently lowered due to the Oroville dam break in California. And if someone says it can happen, or it does happen somewhere else, they have to take action everywhere. He said some dams monitor flood zones, some dams monitor power and some such as Riffe, monitor both. Dams that are designed for both are a battle because the flood monitoring side wants the water level low and the power side wants it high. His opinion was that over time, some planning and funding will come up to update what is needed and bring it back to what it was. I thought his point of view was rather interesting.

Sorry for an old thread, but just in case there are folks here who are not up to speed on Riffe Lake, I wanted to get out real information.
So, regarding a "tacoma water guy" He lied, you misunderstood him.  It's all about new USGS Seismic numbers that suggest a possible failure on the Mossyrock Dam Spillgates should there be a major event with movement in the East / West direction.  It's a long shot anything like that will happen, but until such time the USGS issues new guidelines, the draw down will continue.  The new seismic numbers are overdue by more than a year so far.  Nothing like the slow motion of the US Government when decisions need to be made.

[TeacherMan]

I know this is a really old thread but I drove past the it today, stopped at the dam and there were a TON (hundreds) of fish you could see swimming back and forth in the crazy clear water. Several really good sized.

[MADMAX]

It’s a cool lake always wanted to fish it

[HntnFsh]

Fishing has been good!

[metlhead]

Yep. Big fish are below the 12-15" fish

[TeacherMan]

Saw couple guys using slip bobbers/worms trying for them and they could care less.  I was thinking a small cripple herring to get a little deeper or a Vibrax. Otherwise maybe some pautzke eggs on a slip bobbers.

[Mtnwalker]

Are the coho still loaded with worms? I haven't fished it in 10 years but last time was insane, big bloated bellies with worms pouring out their gill plates and mouths. I'd like to take the kids over one of these days but that was enough to turn me off for a while 

[metlhead]

I didn't see any