An Aussie in WA

[chevin]

Hi Guys, I wonder if some of you would be kind enough to give me a bit of help. I aam going to be visiting Rochester in WA for two weks in August and being a very keen angler I want to get into some fishing while I am there. Would any of you be prepared to give me any information on what species I might encounter and where I might fish for them with in a reasonable distance of Rochester? It is over 30 years since I last cast a fly so I think that it would be a waste of precious time going fly fishing, but I love working lures and bar spoons and I am happy fishing baits on the bottom of a lake or rolling them on the bottom of a river.

I really would be very grateful for any help you can give me, though I am afraid that there will be little input I can give in return. I live in Western Australia (that's WA too) and all of my fishing is done in the Indian Ocean.

Thank you. aussie.angler@hushmail.com

[GJorgy]

You will be visiting a very nice part of the state. LOTS of fishing around there. Silver Lake for largemouth bass, Mayfield Lake for Tiger Muskies, the Cowlitz and the Columbia Rivers for salmon, steelhead, walleye and bass. Tons of small lakes with rainbow trout and bass. Will you have a boat? Anyway August around here is typically pretty warm upper 70's to upper 90's. Hope you have a pleasant visit and I'll apologize in advance for our lousy beer!

[Marc Martyn]

You can further research these lakes and rivers by going to the "Reports" at the top of the page. Mike Carey also did a video on Silver Lake to give you a better idea of the lake. Good luck.

http://www.washingtonlakes.com/WatchVideo.aspx?id=25

http://www.washingtonlakes.com/CountyLakeList.aspx?id=8

[bob johansen]

[quote="GJorgy"] I'll apologize in advance for our lousy beer!
Lousy Beer? The northwest has some great micro beers including Red Hook.

[chevin]

Hi guys, that is the kind of information that will be very useful to me. I don't know about a boat as yet, I am hoping that it will be possible to hire one on a daily basis. I believe that on a number of the lakes in the area it is very difficult to get near the water from the bank - is that right? Do I need baits or is lure fishing and spinning better? ( I have not viewed the videos yet).

I have passed through WA on my way to Everett in the past and saw some beautiful countryside, I am looking forward to spending some time in the thick of it this time. I will have two weeks to explore a bit of the country and, I hope, a lot of the fishing.

As far as beer is concerned I have tried some of the micro-brews and quite a bit of Bud - was it Bud Ice? I thoroughly enjoyed it, but then beer has to be pretty bloody awful to be undrinkable! *LOL* However, one brewery did manage to make one in that class, I don't know who it was but I bought it at the ski lodge on Mount Hood!

Thanks again and if I think of any further questions between now and my departure I will post again. If any of you have any questions about fishing in my WA, please don't hesitate to contact me.

[gpc]

I really dont know where Rochester is, but the lakes that were mentioned above are very popular and kick out more than decent catches every year. I have never been to silver buts its up there for lakes that I have to fish this year. August is probally my favorite month to fish. You start getting the salmon running and then all the warm water fish are still alive and kickin. So with the right planning you can catch everything from King salmon to tiger muskie and everything in between. A couple really good trout lakes in that part of the state are mineral, offut and I have heard good things about battle ground. I will try to find more on the location of Rochester and then Im sure I can help you out more.

The ice in Bud Ice means more alcohol than regular Bud. Got ta love Bud Ice lol

[chevin]

I really dont know where Rochester is
The ice in Bud Ice means more alcohol than regular Bud. Got ta love Bud Ice lol

Hi Mate,

Thanks for that, I believe Rochester is close to both Centralia and Olympia. The fish you mention sound interesting and I will be doing some research on them.

Perhaps that is why I like Bud Ice - Aussie beers do tend to be fairly powerful- too powerful at times! :pale:

Thanks again to you and the others who have helped.

[gpc]

Oh olympia ok now I know abouts where you will be staying. The other lakes that I mentioned arent too far. Offut is acctually right by olympia and mineral isnt too far. One of the 1st lakes that comes to mind when you mentioned olympia is Capitol lake. Another lake that I HAVE to fish this year. The fishing there is for king salmon, and they do pretty well there. I cant rember what river leads to the lake for the kings to get there but they seem pretty plentiful.

You will be a short drive away from the ocean as well. Westport is great. You can go out on a charter boat for a little over $100 and get salmon and bottom fish. They also have a HUGE fishing dock, miles and miles of jetty fishing and quite a few piers to crab from.

Not to far Westport is Ocean shores (ocean shores is more of the family friendly town and westport is the sportsmans town.) But Duck lake in ocean shores is another good lake. I went there last year and limited out on crappie 2 days in a row, caught some HUGE perch and some nice bass. If you arnt familiar w/ perch and crappie they some of the best eating fish.

But there are a bunch of lakes in that area I just havnt spent much time fishing them. Not to mention some great rivers as well. In that general area there is almost every species of fish in WA state

[gpc]

Oh olympia ok now I know abouts where you will be staying. The other lakes that I mentioned arent too far. Offut is acctually right by olympia and mineral isnt too far. One of the 1st lakes that comes to mind when you mentioned olympia is Capitol lake. Another lake that I HAVE to fish this year. The fishing there is for king salmon, and they do pretty well there. I cant rember what river leads to the lake for the kings to get there but they seem pretty plentiful.

You will be a short drive away from the ocean as well. Westport is great. You can go out on a charter boat for a little over $100 and get salmon and bottom fish. They also have a HUGE fishing dock, miles and miles of jetty fishing and quite a few piers to crab from.

Not to far Westport is Ocean shores (ocean shores is more of the family friendly town and westport is the sportsmans town.) But Duck lake in ocean shores is another good lake. I went there last year and limited out on crappie 2 days in a row, caught some HUGE perch and some nice bass. If you arnt familiar w/ perch and crappie they some of the best eating fish.

But there are a bunch of lakes in that area I just havnt spent much time fishing them. Not to mention some great rivers as well. In that general area there is almost every species of fish in WA state

[racfish]

G'day mate!!In the Oly area there are plenty of very good fishing lakes.Alder Lake,Mineral Lake,Tanwax,Kapowsin just to name a few.The rivers will be trickier.Id say the Nisqually should be showing good Chinook action in August.Maybe the Skocumchuck(sp)if its open.Always check the regs book or online at WDFW.Good luck when you get here.There is also good crabbing and clamming round and about the south sound.My .02 cents worth.

[chevin]

G'Day rac and gpc. Thanks for your notes - again plenty of interest there for me. I quite enjoy crabbing and I have dug for clams in Puget Sound and found them to be very tasty. Are the crabs there Dungeness crabs? I am quite partial to a feed of them too. Are the chinook fresh run from the ocean at that time? I caught one in Michigan and was a little disappointed in its flavour, I wondered if it had been in freshwater too long.

I do have a friend in Rochester who is keen to get me fishing for some triploid trout. They sound interesting too. However, I will have a week left to my own devices which is why I have contacted you guys and appreciate your help so much. Thank you.