Fishing
Slow fishing. Omnipresent stringy weeds made everything difficult. Most of the fish I stirred up were very small. This was just too late in the season. Maybe next year...
The channel connecting Hutchinson to Shiner Lake was obstructed by a partial beaver dam. Getting watercraft past this was a major problem that I didn't want to solve.
Fishing
Bass fishing was acceptable, benefiting from circumstances that the smoke was temporarily pushed up and back by an intermittent southerly breeze. Bass generally collected near the steeper cliff faces, around the submerged basalt boulders. I caught two bass running 14 inches, plus a few more in the 10 to 12 inch range. The biggest inconvenience: it was almost impossible to distinguish a subtle pick-up by a hefty bass from hyper-aggressive mass-attacks by tiny bass that were just everywhere in the lake. The up-side, if there is a good survival rate, Lower Goose will be an incredible bass-fishing site in two years.
Hiking
I intended to give myself a little challenge. Well, I tell myself that I could have made it the seven miles over Cathedral Ridge to Spinola Meadow, but there were extenuating circumstances to use as an excuse for laziness. A tough winter dropped some serious wood-pile obstacles in the path, adding a couple hours delay. I stopped at Wince Lake for a late lunch and relaxing afternoon, but just couldn't get myself going again. The night was very quiet and comfortable, as good as it gets.
Never heard of Wince Lake? Obviously, you are not a PCT through-hiker from the 1960's. Check the hiking blog pages to learn about this little-known location and some unfortunate current conditions.
Fishing
There were smallmouth bass everywhere, but most likely to be encountered at depths around 15 feet, particularly below cliff faces and broken rocky slopes. Sizes ran mostly small, but there were enough in the 14" to 15" range to make the day worthwhile. Action started to pick up in the afternoon and accelerated through to early evening. But beware, the launch site is starting to become Little Acapulco. Check the fishing blog pages for more info.
General fishing rumors
Salmon runs are expected to be dismal this year. Maybe no fishing seasons?
There are some big bass in the Columbia... try out the areas above and below Crescent Bar. But you need a big boat to get to them. The currents in the Columbia are powerful and can be dangerous!
Hiking
What's up with the Icicle?
If you have been dismayed by the contradictory information about road and trail closures posted on the USFS Web site and recorded phone status messages, check the hikes blog for a first-hand report on the road and trail status in the Icicle River / Icicle Creek area.
Fishing
Though I caught 4 decent fish, the fishing action is distinctly poor. Visibility is down to about 2 feet (!) and the water, though relatively cool, has a cloudy green algae color.
Fishing
The unfriendly weather conditions didn't make much difference. Crappie were running nonstop almost everywhere, but particularly off the stony shorline of the west side. There were a few aggressive tiger and brown trout, and a few small but hungry pumkinseed sunfish. I used panfish worms exclusively, with very light weight, working slowly. Usually the strike was with the bait motionless but just above the bottom.
Warning: The WDFW has really fumbled the ball (boat?) on maintaining the north end public launch site, which at present is nowhere close to sane and functional. I was prepared to get a little wet and dirty dragging my boat in there, but the muck and thick rushes were much too much for me to penetrate. And that is really bad.
Fishing
The local hispanics were stacked along the shoreline, happily catching hatchery trout on their power-baits. I worked my way between them fishing along the north shore. I found smallmouth sitting just off the reeds in 6 to 10 feet of water, at all of the undisturbed locations. The trout were out deeper, apparently, and I did not bother them. Finesse worms or curly tails in watermelon to brown colors were sufficient for the bass. Though the action was intermittent, whenever I connected, the bass were energetic and the sizes ran good, in the 12" to 15" range.
As an experiment at the end of the day, I tried the shallow bay running NE of the launch site, and was surprised to find bass there too... plus a feisty 12" perch that fought almost as hard as the bass.
Fishing
A slow day, landing fewer than 20 fish through the afternoon. That was partly because I concentrated on jig fishing, hoping to cash in on a rush of eager crappies. Well, I did get a few, but not what I had hoped for. Except for the crappies, most of the fish were running small. For a while, when other activity was slack, I switched to a finesse bass worm, which caught the attention of two minor largemouth bass and an 18-incher. Just to see what would happen, I also played around with a floating micro-minnow lure; it got plenty of attention, particularly near shoreline reeds, but mostly from sunfish too small to actually grab anything.