Have been intrigued by the Fall fishing at Beaver Lake for quite some time. It bothers me a great deal that the WDFW is obviously pandering to the wealthy and the politicians by targeting waters near exclusive housing areas (vis. a vis. Issaquah and Battleground/Vancouver) for their Fall plants. By a huge margin, the WDFW receives its greatest revenue through license fees from the greater Everett/Seattle/Tacoma area, and yet only two lakes north of Tacoma (Goodwin and Beaver) receive Fall plants (out of about 45 lakes). Strange!!! Anyway... had never fished Beaver before. I do recall that as a child my family traveled to Beaver Lake on several occasions to attend church picnics. Last stocking of Beaver occurred on October 20th, and I figured that pressure would be light on a Monday, nearly a month later. Arrived at Beaver Lake Park at about 6:30 AM (after more than an hour on the road) only to discover that the Park was gated and closed. Waited patiently until a park ranger arrived to open the gate at about 7:00 Am... he said they "shoot for 7:00" (I could have stayed in bed for an additional half hour of "beauty sleep"). I unloaded my gear in a torrential downpour and made my way to the lake... lines in the water by 7:20. Temp at the outset was 51 degrees, and water temp was 51 degrees on my thermometer at about ten feet from the shoreline. Gauging by how long it took for my weight to hit the bottom, I would guess I was fishing in about 10' depth at the end of my cast from the shoreline. Having no idea how to target the Rainbows at Beaver, I began with fl. orange Power Eggs on one rig (4' leader) and fished night crawlers under a float on the other. By 8:00 the rain had stopped, and the surface of the lake was a flat calm. Saw no fish activity on the surface... was a bit discouraged when I observed two Cormorants land across the lake from me, spend about twenty minutes fishing, then left the lake. If they could find no reason to fish Beaver today, what did that mean for me? Over the next three hours I tried about everything in my bait box... all colors of PE, some Power Dough, worms on the bottom, shrimp meat under a float, on the bottom... Nada! I tried various leader lengths, nothing worked. About 11:00 I tried fishing with a Power Bait product called "Mice Tails"... have used them before with varying amount of success. I put one on (white head, pink tail) with one fl. orange PE, on a 3' leader. Five minutes after casting the bait out, a tremendous hit, nearly jerked my rod off its support and into the lake. I grabbed the rod, set the hook and began to reel... line peeling off the reel and several long runs and violent headshakes before I was able to make headway and close the distance to the shoreline. Somewhere between twenty and thirty feet out, the line snagged on something and I could not not gain more line, though I could still feel the fish thrashing around on the other end. Somehow the line finally came free, but the fish was gone. Okay, there are still fish to be caught here! During the next hour, the weather became violent. Powerful winds and gusts and intermittent rain squalls... a challenge to keep fishing, but of course I did! By 2:00 the sky had become very dark, so I tried a "Mice Tail" in fl, orange, with a white head... about ten minutes later the "bow" that the wind was placing in my line suddenly straightened out and as I grabbed the rod, the tip bent to the water and I was into a pig of a fish. With the wind gusting over 30 mph, and heavy rain blasting the surface of my glasses, it was all I could do stand upright at the shoreline and try to land this fish. Several long and dogged runs and lot of headshakes, it took me some time to get it to the shore... once its belly scraped the gravel at the beach, the fish was renewed in its energy and headed out with renewed vigor. I finally was able to bring it to the net and was thrilled to find it to be a gorgeous 17" thick bodied Rainbow buck in all its spawning glory. Very happy to have connected with a Beaver Lake beauty! Fought the elements for a couple more hours... how great to have my rain suit and six layers to keep my warm. Left the lake at 4:00 PM, dreading the two and a half hour drive home through Seattle traffic!

Saw one other fisherman during the morning, fished for an hour off the WDFW launch across the lake and left with nothing. About 1:00, a gentleman with two sons began to fish off the point which was on my far right. They had seen me land my fish, so they came over to see what I was doing, shared what I was using, and they returned to the point. About an hour later I saw the fisherman land a Rainbow, somewhat smaller than mine. That was the only other fish taken.
Enjoyed my trip to Beaver Lake today. I gave the outing a "3" even though I spent the entire day fishing but only caught one fish... but it was a "doozy". Beaver is to receive two more Fall plants, I suppose the pressure will be great in and around those plants... but I might be found in the mix trying for more Beaver Lake "doozies". PTL!

P.S. Just a reminder born of personal experience... be sure to protect your fishing gear. I had been in the habit of storing most of my tackle in the rear of my Blazer, since I use that vehicle almost exclusively for my fishing trips. Being an older vehicle, the power lock doesn't always work, especially with the tailgate. A couple of weeks ago someone prowled the Blazer, parked only several feet outside our door, taking a number of things, including my tackle bag holding nearly fifty years' accumulation of lures, tools and so much more. Be safe... there are persons out there who see your sporting gear as only a few bucks to buy a high with.