Ever Fished "Stump" Lake Kapowsin

[AL WORRELLS KID]

I never knew about "The Quarry" up on the hill, it's well hidden when fishing at lake level.
"I knew a little bit about Lake Kapowsin’s history from what my Dad told me. He said that at one time, 100 years ago, it had been a booming logging town. The lake now is so quiet and peaceful that it’s hard to imagine how raucous the town must have been with lumber mills and around 900 residents. There are still shanties from the era around Lake Kapowsin, and rumor has it that a train sits at the bottom of the lake, an eerie reminder of the past."
Lake Kapowsin actually came into being about 500 years ago when a mudflow rushed down the slopes of Mt. Rainier. The mudflow dammed a creek, flooded the valley, and drowned the forest in the rising water, creating Lake Kapowsin. When the first settlers arrived, they leveled the trees poking out of the lake and used the lake to float logs. Fires destroyed half the town years later, and eventually local businesses were moved or destroyed. Less than 400 people live in the city of  Kapowsin now.

The Washington State Department of Natural Resources is considering designating Lake Kapowsin as the state’s first freshwater aquatic reserve because of its unique geologic origins, natural habitats, and relatively undeveloped shorelines.

Around 1503, Mt. Rainier unleashed the Electron Mudflow. This lahar, a river of mud, began on the western slopes of the mountain, taking with it trees as big as three meters in diameter, and swept down the Puyallup River to Puget Sound. The process dammed the Kapowsin tributary and created the lake we see today.

Settlers began trickling into the area in the 1880’s. Fred Hilgert and his wife are credited with establishing the first homestead on Lake Kapowsin. This was short-lived, as a railroad was built through their backyard and forced them to move away from the shoreline. Lumber mills popped up along Kapowsin’s shore lands and the Lake was used as a log pond. Employment steadied and expanded, the population grew, and by 1910 the town of Kapowsin was bustling. The lakeshore was home to workers and their families, and supported businesses and schools. Seattle and Tacoma used connecting railways to bring lumber from Kapowsin for building expansion. By the 1920’s and 30’s, however, the timber boom town of Kapowsin gave way to mill fires and Tacoma’s unrealized reservoir plans.
Today the 512-acre Lake Kapowsin preserves the remains of a mature old growth forest, and thus contains evidence for dating the historic lahar.
Kapowsin Lake was surveyed by a crew from September 7-9, 1999. Multiple gear types Electrofishing, Gill nets, and Trap nets.
Largemouth bass and bluegill were the most abundant species sampled both numerically (32.6 and 42.5 percent, respectively) and by biomass (39.4 and 26.3 percent, respectively). Other species sampled during the survey, in order of highest to lowest abundance, include: yellow perch; rock bass; pumpkinseed; black crappie; brown bullhead; and Coho. Few largemouth bass of quality size and greater were encountered during the survey. Similar to bass, few bluegill of quality size and greater were sampled from the lake.

[Alchase]

There sampling seems weird to me. All the years we fished Kapowsin, we were after rainbows only. Always caught fish. Never heard of or seen any Coho?
Lots of perch, crappie, bass though.

[Buckhunter24]

Used to be loaded with them coming up through the Puyallup to kapowsin creek then through the lake. I haven't seen or heard of anyone catching one in the lake in probably 25 years. I'm sure its happened though

[Alchase]

I fished it regularly from 1990 through 2010, then the breakins got to bad. Never saw a silver. Too Many limits of rainbows to count though.

[Bullkllr]

Yeah, not sure why no rainbows were mentioned in that data. State still plants every year. Crappie numbers seem way down recently. Getting hard to find any ime. Crowded there this past spring/summer.

[Buckhunter24]

I fished it regularly from 1990 through 2010, then the breakins got to bad. Never saw a silver. Too Many limits of rainbows to count though.

Yes, lots of rainbows I didn't catch that they didn't list them there. Regarding the coho, loaded may be an exaggeration but there were plenty that came through. A neighbor of mine caught and smoke many of them over the years. Ive seen a few recently within half a mile of the lake in the creek, but not in the amounts I used to see them. Hopefully you didn't lose too much out of your rig, the tweakers suck

[ctwiggs1]

Andy Ericson used to talk about trolling for kings.  Take that with about 40 grains of salt. 

I’ve loaded up a stringer or two of good perch in that lake and certainly many limits of trout.  Kokanee here and there.  Bass are all throughout. 

Fun lake.  I just don’t want to park my truck there anymore 

[highside74]

I remember my mom telling a story about my dad going to get Periwinkles from the creek to fish for kings. Hmmm?

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

They net pen raised coho on the lake for a few years.
We also used to catch chum in the winter while duck hunting..
Been at least 15 years though...

[ctwiggs1]

The creepiest experience I've ever had on a lake was on Kapowsin.  We were out toward the southwest end of the lake when we saw a rope.  I can't remember if it was over a log or if we snagged it with some fishing gear.  All I remember was we discovered a rope.  Like any teenage boy would do, we started pulling on that thing.  It had some weight, but it was coming up.  We pulled and pulled until finally it broke surface - a black trash bag about the size of a human head.  We were so freaked out we threw it back in and motored away.  I'm sure it wasn't that (probably would have heard about some headless body or something) but when two teenage boys are in the boat, it's definitely that.

Looking back, we probably should have figured out what it was. 

[Dhoey07]

I've heard stories of steelhead in there too 

[Skyvalhunter]

And Bigfoot

[257wbymagkiller]

I’ve heard a few story’s of tweakers trying to cook on the island and flipping the boat over and drowning

[Buckhunter24]

And Bigfoot

Batsquatch...

[AL WORRELLS KID]

ctwiggs1,
As Kids our imaginations would run wild as we peered into the Deep Water from our small two man Rowboat.
We could imagine all kinds of creatures lurking in the depths below, just waiting for that small hand or foot to be dangled over the side.
I remember having that creepy feeling when our boat would pass over a huge submerged log. You could see it looming out of the darkness as the sun shone through the water. What was that I saw moving down there?
Yikes!