If the traditional opening day outing is still a distant target on your fishing schedule, there is still plenty of opportunity on the year-around lakes in our area. Between now and the April 24 opener, fishing should continue to improve on smaller ponds and the big impounds.
Last week, the first plant of the season occurred on Swofford Pond, where about 3,350 catchable rainbows were released. Those fish have had time to acclimate to Swofford and spread out along the shoreline. That will translate to much better fishing from the bank over the next couple of weeks. The "No Camping" signs are now up at Swofford, so access should be greatly improved as the weather produces more comfortable — and productive — fishing.
On that subject, the current signs are just temporary. The permanent rules will be posted as soon as the signs arrive. One reader complained because the current rules seem to prohibit him and his young son from doing some night catfishing and then catching a nap before heading home in the morning.
Actually, the adopted rules will limit the length of time a person can park along the bank at Swofford, probably to eight hours. It will not prohibit overnight parking within those time constraints, so it will still be possible to do some night fishing and hang around until morning.
The purpose of the new rules was simply to keep people from camping or squatting on the shoreline and denying access to others. That and preventing the widespread deposit of garbage and other wastes along the shore.
The newly-planted rainbows in Swofford began feeding actively this week, and their action should trigger resident and carryover fish to begin biting well. Best bets from the shoreline will be scented baits fished under a bobber or through a slip sinker on the bottom. Worms have usually worked better than shrimp or eggs on Swofford, but everything should work for a while.
Riffe Lake coho have apparently responded to better light and some improvement in water clarity. Anglers on both ends of Mossyrock Dam are getting stronger bites and more fish as the fish begin feeding aggressively. It hasn't been as good as expected at the upper end, but fishing has improved at the fishing bridge adjacent to Taidnapam Park and in the old river channel.
I stand corrected on the spawning activity in the old channel near Goat Creek. It is probably some rainbow that are trying to spawn in the current, while the resident brown trout are there to scarf up some of the eggs, rather than the reverse.
Anglers down at the dam, especially on the U.S. Highway 12 side, are finding success with baits fished about 6 feet under a bobber. For the first time in several weeks, I was able to actually see the fish cruising along the shoreline at both ends of the dam.
Those were perhaps only 3 feet down, so it would seem that small spoons will work, and it may be even time to start tossing some wet flies. That depends in part on the insect activity in the lake, but once a few emergent nymphs show up the fish begin looking for them and the bite is underway.
It remains slower than usual on Mayfield Lake this week, at least from the bank. Effort has been light at the hatchery beach, although there were more anglers spread along the shoreline of Ike Kinswa Park and adjacent to the Kinswa boat launch.
Trollers on Mayfield are beginning to score well on small schools of rainbow that are spread all over the lake. Good fishing was reported up by the Harmony Bridge, off the Ike Kinswa point and in front of the Mayfield Lake Park frontage. A few local boaters are working the shores west of the Highway 12 bridge with apparently enough success to keep them interested.
I can't confirm that there was a plant at South County Pond, but there seem to be much larger numbers of fish rising in the early morning and late evening when an insect hatch takes place. By next week, we hope to have the approximate timing and numbers of fish that will be planted in local waters — both seasonal and all-year lakes — in advance of the April 24 opening day soiree.
Meanwhile, fishing at South County is spotty, with some periods of good bites, although they are still kind of tentative, and a few periods when the bite is really off. The fine weather predicted for the weekend may put the bite on and provide some excellent trout fishing.
