I went to Mt Rainier for a field trip lately and learned from the Rangers that there is some fishing in the park. Can anyone tell me some access points to get started. I am not begging or looking for certain spots, I just wanna get started.
The weather has been relatively warm up there, pushing the 70's, so I figured that if I wanted to fish it, it would be now or never. But you are right though, snow is coming...
Oh, yeah, if you can hit open water now, before it locks up, find hungry fish and nice bug hatches, can be spectacular late season fishing on caddis dries, etc..
Keep in mind, the fish are generally small in the park's waters. The streams are not very fertile.
Oh, yeah, if you can hit open water now, before it locks up, find hungry fish and nice bug hatches, can be spectacular late season fishing on caddis dries, etc..
Mostly deal with rising trout in the 6-8 inch range on dries. A 9 inch fish is a huge one. Mt Rainer fisheries have always been pretty slow, but pretty water is always fun to explore.
There are just a few places that hold fish up in the park.
Ohanapecosh River. I fish it every summer with my kids. Bridge and campground access....
Never seen a fish over 10" out of there.
The info for the two (short hike) lakes with trout is out there on the internet
Fly fished the Ohanapecosh way long ago with a brand new Eagle Claw and Phleuger...Yeah too long ago...My favorite log jams long gone...Yeah it's slow in the park...but boy is it beautiful and really for me the beauty is what calls me anyway...take pictures...the light and weather will be magnificent.
The only reason I can think for fishing in Mt Rainier National Park is if for some reason you cannot go somewhere else to fish. The fishing is generally lousy (unless you like catching oodles of 6" pinhead trout), with a few slightly brighter spots. The NP is about as interested in promoting fishing in the park as they are in promoting big game hunting. Which means they aren't interested.
Park waters have not been stocked since 1973. This means the only lakes and streams with fish are those with naturally self-sustaining populations. For lakes, that mostly means populations of stunted, pin-head, brook trout, and some with cutthroat. Even some of the lakes that the park lists as not having any fish do have populations of small brook trout. 20-some years ago I caught a really nice rainbow trout in Marjorie Lake in the north part of the park. There were very few fish left in the lake, and I wouldn't make the brushy cross-country hike again for the quality of fishing that I found. You can get to Harris Lake on good trail, and it is full of rainbow trout, but they're not very large either, since there is too much good spawning habitat in the creek that runs into it.
Yeah....screw the park!
Nothing pretty to see there this time of year, and less tourists too....
You will be the only one fishing. How boring..
Go where the bigger fish are, please
There's a book on the park up there. I think Shoretts is the author's name. Tim maybe. At any rate it's an accurate and well written book on the subject. It has all the answers you seek and more.
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