The 2012 kayak fishing season is officially underway. Another long, cold, wet spring looks like it’s finally over and the beautiful Pacific Northwest summer has begun. Many of the lakes in the higher elevations are still covered with snow, but we can start in the valley and work our way up as weather permits.
The temperature may reach the high seventies in the late afternoon, but this is the season of the long thermometer around here. When we are first getting out on the water at, or a little before sunrise, the temperature is still in the low forties. Anyway, it’s off to the first kayak fishing trip of the year at Spearfish Lake in Klickitat County.
You can see the mist coming off the water due to the 60°F water temp and the chilly 42°F air temperature.
The May “supermoon” was still pretty bright, even a day or two after the full moon.
Best news of all is that the fish were biting. Caught at least fifteen fish, all released, and lost another ten. Even caught a pikeminnow, which was worth $4.00, but I wasn’t signed up for the rewards program.
Most important, especially in this part of the country, is that there was no wind. Glassy water is something you rarely see around here.
Spearfish Lake is an easy place to go kayak fishing; easy to get to, free parking and launch and easy to get your kayak in the water. It’s a small lake and can get crowded at times, but if you hit it early, it’s a pretty good place for an easy day of fishing. There are actually two lakes at this location; Spearfish Lake, the lake in the photos above, is the larger and deeper of the two. It’s stocked with rainbow trout, check the WDFW trout stocking schedule. If you hit it within a week or two of the lake being stocked, pretty sure you’ll catch plenty of fish. Little Spearfish Lake is smaller and connected to the Columbia River by a culvert, so whatever is in the river will be in the lake, mostly smallmouth bass. A good place to try if the water is over 56° or so.