First Taste of Steel

Remember your First Steelhead?
A note from the Seabeckhodders


        My Dad asked, "Why is your line going upstream?"  As I snapped out of my day dream, as any 13 year old is prone to do (even while standing in a river with a fishing pole in hand!) and looked out at my line, as it slowed prodded upriver!  I reeled out the slack on my Mitchell 320 until the rod had a peculiar pulsing sensation to it, then I set the hook.

        Yea, my first steelhead was a Wenatchee River summer run (a five pound hen) that picked up my plain 'ol Oakie Drifter and starting swimming upstream with it!  I remember it like it was last week, even though that was in October of 1971!

The Bogachiel River

        The owner of this blog, my oldest son Charlie, was 12, when he caught his first steelie on the Clackamas River in Oregon in December of 1996.  My other son is 19 year old Ben.  You can count the number of times he has been steelheading on one hand during his teen years, until this winter.  I think the 3rd trip this winter was a recent trip to the Bogachiel River on March 23rd, 2012.

        We just went under the Goodman-Mainline bridge in my 14' Clackacraft, avoiding the plunkers on the north side of the river.  We let out the Hotshots and back trolled the plugs along the south bank for a couple hundred yards.  The drift started to "tail out" as we moved out into the middle.  I reached for my rod to start reeling in and Ben did the same, except when he picked up his rod, his rod fought back!  I asked, "Do you got one on?!?"  About then, he struggled to get the word "Yes" out with a doubled rod and a large steelhead boiling downstream!  My squirrely little drift boat did a couple of pirouettes as I reeled in and then I grabbed the oars and pumped us into the shallows of the north bank.  A few minutes later, I slid the net under Ben's first steelhead.  A dandy native buck, 17-1/4 lb and 37" long!  You are allowed one native per fishing license calendar year on some of these coastal rivers and this one was a perfect fish to keep, with no regrets!

Bennie's Buck

        I am pretty sure about 30 years from now, Ben will remember his first steelie like it was last week, too!

Seabeckhodders

Blackman's lake

Blackman's Lake

It’s been many weeks since we’vehad a weekend without typhoons pouring down on us, so we decided to takeadvantage of the first sunny weekend by going to Blackmans Lake out inSnohomish.  We have been searching forplaces closer to home to go fishing. Blackmans Lake is only about a fifteenminute drive from our home in Everett. However, once we arrived at the lake wealso learned that it is very close to about 800 other people that also decidedto go fishing that day.

                Wearrived to the boat launch about noon to be welcomed by a flooded parking lot.The entire lot was flooded with lake water, boat trailers, and several shadyindividuals who seemed just be looking for a place to spend a sunny day withtheir friends Jack Daniels and Anheuser Busch (so lock your car after youlaunch the boat). Being that the regular lake season does not begin until nextmonth, Blackmans Lake is one of a few local lakes that is open all year. Thiscauses for some heavy fishing pressure. I have read reviews about rainbow troutranging in the 15” – 18” range, and I have also heard of largemouth bass beingcaught.

After launching the boat in theparking lot, we decided to start by trolling some flies. We were trollingslowly with green leaches. After covering a good portion of the lake with noluck, we decided to move a bit closer to shore where I would continue to trollflies and Katie could cast a rapala for bass. This too was unsuccessful.

Since I have started to take fly fishing moreseriously, I have grown to greatly dislike the idea of fishing with power bait.  If a six year old girl with a hello kittyfishing pole can do it, then I want nothing to with it. There seems to be nochallenge or skill to fishing this way. However, on days like today, thehypocrites that we are, we decided to stop and flip out some power bait.Apparently, this too takes a skill that we do not possess because we came upempty using power bait as well (maybe it’s the hello kitty pole that I ammissing).

From watching the other boats thatwere on the lake, everyone was coming up empty. We did not get a bite, didn’t seea single fish be caught by any of the other hundred boats out on the lake and muchto our dismay, didn’t even see a fish jump. When it comes down to it, yes, thislake is close to home and readily accessible, but it is fished by an odd crowd,highly overfished, and for us, not very productive. It will likely be some timebefore we head back to Blackmans Lake.

Fragrance Lake in February...

             


                One thing I have been trying to do some research on lately, are hikes that end at lake that I can go fishing at. From what I’ve read there are tons of options, but many are inaccessible during the winter months. So trying to find a place to hike and fish during the middle of February that is not covered in snow and is open to fishing was a little more difficult than I imagined.


                People have told us about Fragrance lake up in Bellingham before, and it was something we had been meaning to do for quite some time. It was the middle of last month when we finally made it up there. It was about an hour drive from Everett out onto Chuckanut drive, which makes for a nice drive in itself.  Once you arrive to the park you’ll quickly learn that this is hike is no secret to the public.

             We arrived to the Clayton Beach lot about 10:00 in the morning where there were already several empty cars from people who had already begun the hike.  There were also several people preparing to head up the hill. One gentleman that looked to be twice my age asked me if I was going to be running in the Chuckanut 50k. First off, I was unaware that a 50k was even a thing. Second, just the thought of a 50k made me start to hyperventilate. But I learned that the Chuckanut 50K is one of the biggest trail running races in the country.  It seemed that at least half of the people we encountered that day were trail running.

                To get to Fragrance Lake there are two different routes. The first route is to the right of the ranger station where you head up Fragrance Lake road. This road is a 2.5 mile winding gravel road up the side of the mountain.  Other than the road being a constant incline, it is a relatively easy walk. About 2.2 miles up the road, you will come to trail signs to Fragrance lake, its another .3 miles off the gravel road on a pretty easy trail to the lake.

                The other route is to the left of the ranger station where it starts out on the interurban trail and converges to the Fragrance Lake trail a few hundred feet on the right. This trail is much more “hike like” than the gravel road. It is a pretty well maintained trail that is full of switchbacks right up the side of the hill. If you are looking for some good leg exercise and a tiring walk up the side of the mountain, this is the way to go. Even though this route is more difficult, it was a bit more enjoyable, because you don’t feel like you are strolling down a logging road. Both routes have about 1000 feet of elevation gain (since they both start and end at the same place). 

                When you get to the lake, the trail continues about .7 miles all the way around the lake. We went up there with fly fishing intentions, however we should have gone with rooster tail and spinning rod intentions. There are a couple small areas with pretty good lake access, but fly fishing is not really an option unless you have a killer roll cast.  The whole lake is pretty well covered with trees and shrubs, and a back cast will not work.  We did not have any luck, and the one other person we spoke to that was fishing also did not have any luck. The lake is open to fishing year round, unless otherwise posted. Make sure to check with the ranger station and the reader boards to make sure it is open to fishing on the day you are there.

                Overall, this was an enjoyable trip. It was a windy and rainy day, but the thick cover of the trees and hills kept up pretty well protected from the elements. The hike was nice, and would be great training ground for trail runners. Even though it was a steep incline with many switch backs, this is probably a hike that a whole family could do since it is relatively short and there are many rest stops along the way. This is also a hike that can be done anytime of the year. Perhaps with the right equipment the fishing would have been better. But, if fishing is not the primary purpose of your trip, then this is a decent one.

Here we are...

             I guess the great philosophers of our time would call an outdoor enthusiast someone who is enthusiastic about being outdoors. People who haven’t spent much time in the woods probably wonder what makes a person enthusiastic about going out to get bit by bugs and crawl around on the slippery river banks. We work all week in an office answering phones and responding to emails, but the whole time we are thinking about what we can do outside this weekend. We would rather spend a day fly fishing and untangling our leaders from the bushes behind us than spend any day working on spread sheets or talking to angry customers. Then when the weekend finally arrives, we are up at five thirty in the morning ready to take on another weekend adventure. And for some reason, these days are always easier to wake up for than a day at work. I guess that makes us enthusiastic about the outdoors and hence, outdoor enthusiasts.

                This blog is a place for us to share some of our weekend adventures and express our enthusiasm for playing outside. Whether it be trying to figure out where the fish are hiding in the shallows of a lake, a frozen steelhead adventure on the coastal rivers, or a 90 degree eastern Washington camping trip, this is the place to see what we found and learn what kind of fiasco occurred that day (because if you have trip without a fiasco, you probably aren’t trying hard enough, or unlike us, you actually know what you are doing and will have no use for this blog).  Check it.

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