Hunting Washington Forum

Other Activities => Fishing => Topic started by: bulldogs40 on March 07, 2015, 07:13:15 PM

Title: whidbey island craberry lake
Post by: bulldogs40 on March 07, 2015, 07:13:15 PM: east coast guy used to chasing reds trying to get into some fishing up in the pacnw. thinking of giving some lake trout a go tomorrow in the am. anybody got any reports for cranberry lake? ive never attempted this type of fishing before so im sure tomorrow will be more of a learning experience than anything. any advice that you guys would be willing to throw out there would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance guys
Title: Re: whidbey island craberry lake
Post by: singleshot12 on March 07, 2015, 07:32:13 PM: Well it was stocked with a few thousand of our hatchery stealhead a couple months ago. We gave it a try about a month ago. We fished for 4 hours with bait. No bites or even a sign of a fish. The park ranger said the cormerants came in and feasted on the trout till they were gone :rolleyes: Another example of we us them feeding the preditors :rolleyes: Anyways there still should be some smart german browns left to be had.
Title: Re: whidbey island craberry lake
Post by: bulldogs40 on March 07, 2015, 07:42:18 PM: that makes sense... i used to duck hunt near by and you could set your watch by the flocks of several hundred cormorants that would fly by every morning at 715
Title: Re: whidbey island craberry lake
Post by: hrd2fnd on March 07, 2015, 07:43:45 PM: I wasn't that impressed the last few times I've taken the grandkids there. No bites, but still a great time spent with the kids.
Title: Re: whidbey island craberry lake
Post by: singleshot12 on March 07, 2015, 07:46:22 PM: Yup even the park ranger wished we had a bounty on them ;)
Quote from: bulldogs40 on March 07, 2015, 07:42:18 PM
that makes sense... i used to duck hunt near by and you could set your watch by the flocks of several hundred cormorants that would fly by every morning at 715
Title: Re: whidbey island craberry lake
Post by: Boss .300 winmag on March 07, 2015, 08:05:26 PM: Well everybody I know that have fished that lake for the brown trout used egg slip sinkers with a worm that was inflated with a needle so it floated up off the bottom. ;)

I have never fished it but that has always been the recommended way to get those trout.

Post pics when you catch some please. :tup:
Title: Re: whidbey island craberry lake
Post by: jeepster on March 09, 2015, 01:15:24 AM: I've lived 15 minutes from that lake my entire life, and have never wasted a minute there... good crawfish I hear however

If fly fishing is your thing, try chironomids at pass lake, crawdad patterns where the rocks and trees are, and woolly buggers in the weeds, fly fishing only catch and release, no motors (gas or electric)

Campbel lake (the big one with the island in the middle) has some awesome sized fish, big triploid rainbows, fish them in the deep spot with a fly, or you can do marshmallows and worms off the boat launch at dusk, ask the old man at Lake Erie Grocery how to fish....

Best action is if you pack a boat into whistle lake in anacortes.... It's a mile plus hike, but it has some of the biggest lake fish on the west side, it's a big 400+ foot deep lake, with no motors allowed, an ultra light row boat or canoe is your best bet there

Lake Erie has bass, carp, and trout, and it can be good

Heart lake is a toxic cest pool, it's got it all, but the lake usually gets closed in the mid summer cuz of toxic algae or some gross thing like that

If you wanna try the salt for sea run trout and char, try Ala Spit, but mind the tide

Not much else is really worth while until the salmon show up, and then the beaches are hot hot hot