Previous Next

Met friend Pete at Bitter Lake at 5:30 AM for some "hot & heavy" Rainbow fishing. Pete had scouted out the lake earlier this week and had caught a couple of hold-over 'Bows of 15" and 18". This was to be my first trip to the small lake. Temp at arrival was 52 degrees, cloudy with off and on breeze from the south. Water temp at shoreline was 64 degrees. We set up with our standard, Power Bait & Power Eggs, and were fishing by 5:45. Pete was using chartreuse, I was using fl. orange. About 15 minutes in, Pete had a hit and reeled in a nice fat Rainbow of about 11". Action was pretty constant for the first hour and by 7:00 we had 3 fish to the beach (2 Pete, 1 mine), plus many more bites. We fished the southwest shoreline, and discovered that there are many snags lurking in these waters, not to mention the aggressive Lily Pads that were snatching our gear... we both have to retie several times. Action lulled for about an hour from 7:00 to 8:00, then the bite was on again... by 9:00 Pete had reeled in his fifth trout, and I caught my fifth 10 minutes later. We were on our way home with two limits for the smoker, by 9:30. All the Rainbows were in the 11" to 12" range, but were noticeably chunkier than we have been catching in other lakes... and much more feisty too... all put up a real battle to get them to the beach.
Saw quite a few other fishermen through the morning, some with seemingly no success and headed home after an hour or two, some catching fish sporadically. For Pete and me, it didn't seem to matter what color bait we were using, the fishing was wonderful.
Our time on the lake was enhanced by watching an eagle fishing, as well as a large turtle that was diving into the Lily Pads out in front of us. A wonderful time at the lake with my friend! By the way, Pete, many thanks for the breakfast too! Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend, and a thousand thanks to those who serve our country in the military! PTL!

The Quadfather

5/25/2013 5:51:00 PM

Hey Stan, you are breaking into new fishing territory.... beyond Greenlake and Ballinger. Last year they put some triploids into Haller, maybe Pete pulled a few of last years Triploids out on the earlier trip you mentioned. The trout fishing in Bitter is usually "Game-on" when it gets planted, and then between birds and bankers, it goes away by summer. There are tons of rock bass which become active towards dusk. and the large mouth can get fairly good sized, but are better targeted when in a boat.

Do you ever fish the bank at Echo (behind Costco) I am pretty sure that last year they got a few Triploids as well.

Stansjoy

5/26/2013 6:00:00 PM

Hey QF... Pete would have had to cast a lot further to catch a Haller Lake trip while fishing at Bitter Lake... ha,ha. Never have been to Echo... yet. My "bucket list" includes every lake in the beautiful state of Washington... at the rate I,m going, I'll have to live longer than Methuselah (969 years). At least I finally made it to Bitter... my mother used to tell me stories about her trips to the Bitter Lake Amusement park... looked for it yesterday... couldn't see it anywhere...ha,ha. PTL!

Leave a Comment:

Login

Flag

×

Why is this comment inappropriate?

Close Submit

Delete this comment? Provide reason.

No Yes

Edit

×

Cancel Save