western washington lake visits

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DuckDogTitus

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What lakes are suitable for the C-Dorys in western WA? we have done Lake WA and Sammamish. Is American suitable? What launch?

We are planning a brief fresh water trip next weekend and were leaning towards WA and Sammamish due to familiarity but it would be nice to branch out some. American has some good Kokanee reports right now...

On the east side, I've done Chelan, but toying around with Roosevelt (where to launch?) and possibly... Mar Don?
 
East side, consider Banks, perhaps, if Roosevelt does not pan out. I believe Banks is maintained at a constant depth, so its shoreline is always pretty and relatively mud free.

Being an OR guy, you might consider for a future trip: Billy Chinook or Owyhee. The latter is best early, early summer before it gets too hot. Some beautiful shoreline, interesting short hikes, a very accessible hot springs, and a pleasant little state park near the dam. Should be max level in May, maybe through early or mid June. Lotta bass fishing there.
 
AstoriaDave":2wbcfm0z said:
East side, consider Banks, perhaps, if Roosevelt does not pan out. I believe Banks is maintained at a constant depth, so its shoreline is always pretty and relatively mud free.

Being an OR guy, you might consider for a future trip: Billy Chinook or Owyhee. The latter is best early, early summer before it gets too hot. Some beautiful shoreline, interesting short hikes, a very accessible hot springs, and a pleasant little state park near the dam. Should be max level in May, maybe through early or mid June. Lotta bass fishing there.
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After this past winter, I would check water levels at Owyhee. We were there in early May 2013, and it was pretty hot in the PM. Be careful of the rocks. One of the CBrats tore a lower unit off of his Boston Whaler. Also, no gas available at CG until later in the year.
 
Dustin
Consider Riffe lake or Mayfield Lake in Lewis county. Riffe has free launch during the week at either end, has some coves to tie up in on the north shore for overnighters and a lot of Kokanee and trout. Its 10 or 12 miles long and relatively calm. Water levels change a lot sometimes so Mayfield Lake which is just below it is a smaller alternate, and there is also a free launch on the south side, just off Hwy 12.

Rob
 
neblig":29emx4vz said:
Dustin
Consider Riffe lake or Mayfield Lake in Lewis county. Riffe has free launch during the week at either end, has some coves to tie up in on the north shore for overnighters and a lot of Kokanee and trout. Its 10 or 12 miles long and relatively calm. Water levels change a lot sometimes so Mayfield Lake which is just below it is a smaller alternate, and there is also a free launch on the south side, just off Hwy 12.

Rob
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thank you Rob, will do! I have deer hunted that area so I know it fairly well but never was sure if it was reasonable for the boat. with the old Lund we would dunk it just about anywhere with no fear, but with the CD22 I'm always a little more shy of lakes that could have rock issues, and with the cabin I prefer to be in a more open water area. BUT, I do want to get into more lakes. fresh water for the boat and trailer and calmer waters for my less strong swimming guests.
 
Wandering Sagebrush":dzio1k1p said:
After this past winter, I would check water levels at Owyhee. We were there in early May 2013, and it was pretty hot in the PM. Be careful of the rocks. One of the CBrats tore a lower unit off of his Boston Whaler. Also, no gas available at CG until later in the year.
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Agree with cautions about rocks, and low water this year. We used USGS topos on the upper end to keep track of where rocks might be, with good results, but there are isolated rocks lower down, most near shore, some marked with small buoys. I can't recall if the topos show pre-dam topography lower down. The bass boats run hard, center of the lake, with no apparent concern about rocks, FWIW.
 
Lake Cushman is really amazing but its not full enough to launch your boat until a little closer to summer.

We're planing to take the c-dory up to Lake Diablo this year for a weekend. It is gorgeous! We meant to get up there last summer but got distracted with all the saltwater.
 
I don't know if this counts as "western Washington" (because maybe Olympic Peninsula is thought of as a separate area, even though it is west), but I really enjoyed Lake Crescent, which is west of Port Angeles. I used the launch ramp by Storm King ranger station (decent parking lot, nice ramp although there is a gap between ramp and dock), where there is also a small visitor's center (open maybe only sporadically). At the west end of the lake there is another ramp (not as good for our boats by my estimation) attached to a pretty little campground.

1_First_look_at_the_lake.sized.jpg

12_shoreline.sized.jpg

11_lake_and_boat.sized.jpg

There are a few more photos and some info in my album, here:

http://www.c-brats.com/modules.php?set_ ... _album.php
 
I think I will get out and explore more of these lakes this year. Riffe in particular interests me because I have spent some time deer hunting in the area. some boat camping sounds pretty darn good.


Today was our first outting of the year. Took my boy, my brother, and his wife out to lake sammamish. I left them there and drove back to Issaquah for a new battery (lol). then we were underway. didn't catch any fish but the boat ran wonderfully. I'm really looking forward to marina bbq's this year :)

Watching others get into their open bow boats to go fishing sure reaffirmed why I wanted a cabin cruiser, as it was raining pretty good but we did well undercover with the wallas running most of the time :mrgreen:
 
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