[Greg Price]

I could not believe it was opening day on rattlesnake.

There were less than 4 cars with trailers in the parking lot in the early evening when we arrived.

I heard the weather was lousey in the morning, heavy wind and rain.

My boys fished rooster tails and were into fish within 3 min of trolling.

The fishing was good, but the fish finder did not report large numbers of fish as it has on past opening days.

Landed 4 and hooked 3x that many in the 2 hours we fished. But the wind blew, it rained and hailed sideways. Both my boys pants were soaked within 2 min of the first storm, so by the 4 th fish landed they were ready to head back to the mini van's most excellent heaters.

As a side note, the game warden gave a ticket to 3 bank fishers who were fishing with bait. We saw them while I was unloading the contents in the boat. Yea for our officers, it does my heart good to see the rule breakers get busted.:thumb:

I spoke with the game warden afterward, and he said he had seen me out on the lake with my boys during the storms. Glad my boys readily agree to put the life jackets on whenever they are on the boat, it saved us a ticket today.

On a sad note (for parents who like to take kids to rattlesnake on opening day to harvest a few trout) the lake will turn into a year round, catch and release lake starting May 1, 2010. bawling:

I understand the need to protect wild fish in our streams, but come on people, this is a man made lake with hatchery fish. Seems kind of selfish of the fly fishing fraternity to take this away from the families with kids who like to bring home a fish or two. Just my .02.

 

[jeff bandy]

On a sad note (for parents who like to take kids to rattlesnake on opening day to harvest a few trout) the lake will turn into a year round, catch and release lake starting May 1, 2010. bawling:

I understand the need to protect wild fish in our streams, but come on people, this is a man made lake with hatchery fish. Seems kind of selfish of the fly fishing fraternity to take this away from the families with kids who like to bring home a fish or two. Just my .02.

Lots of "Put & Take" lakes out there.
How many year round, C&R lakes are there?
Seems kind of selfish of who?

 

[sroffe]

I think it's nice to have a CNR lake with in King County. I don't know why Rattle Snake was chosen or if there are other suitable lakes. I do know there are many other lakes in King County that still will be catch and keep. Still a lot of choices to take our children. Since my son doesn't like to eat fish, he's happy to release them anyway....

 

[Krystoff]

I fished RF from 6:30 to 10 AM on Saturday. There were approximately 25 "boats" on the water when I got on the lake and I believe it spiked to somewhere around 35 while I was there.

It rained cats and dogs and I need to invest in some decent fishing gloves as my hands were frozen by the time I got off the water. I had 9 fish to the tube and had quite a few SDR's as well. I used an olive carey special all day as I really didn't want to tie anything else on in the rain and cold.

I had most of my luck near the creek with several more taken about half way between the launch and the creek.

The falcon was out and there was a bald eagle down at the far end of the lake just surveying things.

I left my net on the ground near the car as I went out in the lake and sure enough it was gone by the time I returned.

All in all a pretty good day although if I had known it was going to be sunny down here I would have stayed a little closer to home.

 

[Matt Smith]

I'm glad it's going to be C&R, it will be nice to have one so much closer than Pass.

 

[yellowlab]

I don't think it has the invertebrate biomass to keep the fish sustained. At least there is a good Chironomid bomber, Callibaetis, and even leeches at Pass Lake. I've pulled lots of Daphnia, and small Chironomids from throat samples of Rattlesnake fish. Hopefully the fish will winter and summer over well and grow to decent sizes. I don't know that I'd fish it year around, but its nice to have the resource nearby when you've got the itch to get out and fish.

 

[Scott Salzer]

I, for one, welcome another C & R lake on the wet side, and I can get there in 45 minutes compared to the 2.5 hour trek to Pass.

I have found that WB's and chronies work just fine there. There is decent "later in the day" action on dries.

MB

 

[Kent Lufkin]

I don't think it has the invertebrate biomass to keep the fish sustained.

I had similar concerns before supporting the conversion to C&R. Here are two things to keep in mind:

First, I've been assured that the decision to convert the lake to C&R wasn't made in an administrative vacuum. Input from field biologists was indeed solicited (and which presumably included de facto measurements and analysis of the biomass' ability to support a target population) and factored into the decision. In other words, the folks whose job it is to actually manage the fishery think that, based on their measurements and observations, the existing biomass is sufficient to support a year 'round fishery.

Second, and most critical, the target density for the fishery will be a LOT lower than it has been in years past. At <100 fish/acre, there will be a lot fewer fish in RSL than any of us has previously experienced. If memory serves correctly, in recent years as many as 13,000 fish have been planted in March and April in order to provide opening day anglers the opportunity to bring home fish to eat. Once converted to a C&R fishery, fish morbidity will result almost exclusively from post-release stress, aerial predation, and from natural causes (ie. old age). In effect, fish caught will be 'recycled', eliminating the need for such huge plants every year and thus reducing considerably the pressure on the biomass to support the resident population.

K

 

[Patrick Allen]

I am stocked about the year round catch and release fishery on Rattlesnake. One of the most beautiful lakes around King County hands down. The fall fishery should be fantastic with some quality fish to be had.

SCARBOO

 

[Scott Salzer]

Shocked / stoked / socked?

 

[Patrick Allen]

I think I will go with Stoked! (note to self, check what you write before submitting)

SCARBOO

 

[13223]

I have searched the WDFW site for ANY info regarding this lake changing to CNR. I could not find anything.

Can anyone provide a link from the WDFW that confirms this?

 

[Kent Lufkin]

Once the commission adopted the proposed changes, they all got buried in the WDFW site while the new regs pamphlet is being printed. Here's the language on the rule changes for RSL from page 72 of http://wdfw.wa.gov/about/regulations/2010/wsr_10-07-105.pdf which is listed as 'CR-103P - filed as WSR 10-07-105 on March 19, 2010 Notice of rule changes as adopted' on their site

Rattlesnake Lake (King County): ((Last Saturday in April through October 31 season.)) Selective gear rules and catch and release. Unlawful to fish from a floating device equipped with an internal combustion motor.​

In the actual PDF from the URL above, the sentence inside the double parenthesis is indicated with a strikethrough which I'm unable to do on this post.

K

 

[13223]

Thank you Kent

 

[nb_ken]

Went up to Rattlesnake for a walk with the family Sunday afternoon. Beautiful day. Sun was out, nice little breeze, temps in the low 70s ... and no one there.

I think there were, maybe, three fishing craft on the water. No bank fishermen. Very quiet, even at the ramp end. I guess that's what we had in mind when we lobbied for C&R, right? As my neighborhood lake, though, I thought it was kinda sad. Before C&R there would have been dozens of people fishing, including many families and kids.

Not on Sunday. Probably not ever again.

 

[Kent Lufkin]

Went up to Rattlesnake for a walk with the family Sunday afternoon. Beautiful day. Sun was out, nice little breeze, temps in the low 70s ... and no one there. . . .I guess that's what we had in mind when we lobbied for C&R, right? As my neighborhood lake, though, I thought it was kinda sad. Before C&R there would have been dozens of people fishing, including many families and kids.

Not on Sunday. Probably not ever again.

I'd be cautious about drawing a conclusion about the effects of the C&R designation on RSL based on one day's observation. Sunday was indeed a fine day, and an ideal one for fishing. But it was also Mothers' Day so I'd guess a lot of folks who might normally have gone fishing were doing family things instead.

As it was also the nicest weekend weather of the year so far, so I also suspect that a large number of folks also took advantage of the warm weather to take care of long-neglected yard work and other honeydo tasks. The sound of lawn mower engines was a constant soundtrack in my neighborhood last weekend.

K

 

[Richard Olmstead]

I suspect there is an element of cause and effect in nb_Ken's analysis. There are, no doubt, some who will not return to RSL, because you no longer can kill fish there. However, since it is only a week since it became C&R, the new clientele that will, in my opinion, replace the former C&K fisherman has not yet developed. It is a rare nice day when Pass Lake is not covered with fishercraft of all shapes and sizes, and Pass Lake is much farther from the largest metropolitan area in the PNW than RSL is. Also, if RSL has the capacity to sustain fish for multiple years, it will be a year or two before fish size reaches the level that will attract many of the C&R fisherman who, for now, will continue to drive to Pass Lake, or the Yakima, or elsewhere.

I also think there are plenty of C&R fishermen who have families, too. I think it is a good thing to have another venue closer to Seattle, where that ethic can be passed on to the next generation.

D

 

[4357]

I also think there are plenty of C&R fishermen who have families, too. I think it is a good thing to have another venue closer to Seattle, where that ethic can be passed on to the next generation.

D

Well put Richard.

I also believe that there are potentially those in the "catch and keep" crowd that will also begin to experience a C & R lake where they'll have a chance to catch larger fish throughout the year and begin to see the value in this type of fishery - and pass it on to others as well. I know I was one of them in the 1950's through early '70's as a kid growing up here. Many of us had the goal of "limiting out", but have since grown to value releasing our catch so that someone else will have the chance to do the same. The more folks that are exposed to this mindset, the greater the value to our resource in all of our remaining fisheries.

 

[Greg Price]

I took my 9 yr old son and a school buddy to RL last Friday.

The fishing for what appears to be triploids was excellent.

Each kid hooked and played approx 3 fish, most of which had a long distance release.

If RF continues to fish this well into the future I support the C&R.

The fish were more fun to catch than the smaller fish planted for the opener day.

 

[Be Jofus G]

RSL will grow nice fish. It already grows some very nice cutthroat from fingerlings that are stocked every year.