Drano Lake ... the place to be this spring?

A record run of 36,800 springers are forecasted to return to Drano ... http://www.theolympian.com/outdoors/story/306213.html

Here's how you fish it ... http://www.steelheaduniversity.com/DranoLake_Springers.html

See you there in April?

-Allen

Very down! Spring fishing sounds great since the weather went nuts on us... speaking of which I need to get snowboarding!!

Z

Any idea if Drano Lake is covered by my OR license?  Either way, I'll see you in the spring, I'll be the little kayak circling around with all the power boats.

Brian

sweet, that's about 10 minutes from the house. lot of power boats, but they were mellow when we fished there a couple summers ago, plus we can hit shallower water than the motors. You can also skip the paid boat launch, and use the gravel pullout on the road leading to the hatchery.

As for license, I believe if you launch from Oregon & paddle over, you do not need a Washington license. if you touch Washington shore, you do need one. Might want to get an official word on that, though.

I'm pretty sure that I read that as long as you are fishing from a boat in a section of the Columbia that is bordered by both Oregon and Washington that either license will work regardless of where you launch, land, or touch shore at some point.  I'll try and find a solid reference for that. 

I guess my question really is whether Drano lake is considered a tributary of the Columbia (i.e. bordered by Washington only) or just a large embayment of some sort on the Columbia that might be legal to fish from with an Oregon license.

I believe Drano Lake is classified as the same waters as the Little White Salmon River and NOT the Columbia. At least in the WA regs, it has the same catch code (618) for punchcards, and that code is different than the main Columbia.

And I believe you are correct regarding fishing from a floating device and either license being valid in the Columbia itself.

Now if you want to fish the mouth of the Wind River in the main Columbia, you should be ok, and that river is supposed to get a decent return as well.

-Allen

I'll probably end up buying a WA license anyway as I plan to visit WA a few times this year to do some fishing.

For what it's worth;

I've caught lots of steelhead on a fly from the kayak at drano in October.  I've caught a fair number of springers from a boat in April/May on plugs.  I've fished plugs and herring maybe 3 times with the kayak at Drano for springers without any luck in the last 2 years.  Because of the great forecast this year I will give it a try in 2008.  I look forward to seeing some other kayak fisherman this year at Drano for springers.  Definitely worth another try!!  See you there in April!!!!!

I'm kayaking for ducks till the end of January and will transition to fish again after some honeydew activities in Feb and Mar.

Mike

I may invest in a WA license this year to fish Drano and other sheltered areas on the WA side of the Columbia.  If I do I'd be up for a group trip.  I've heard of people doing ok fishing for springers there while rowing inflatable pontoon boats.

FishHuntMike, I'm curious about the steelheading you've done there with a fly rod... were you trolling big buggers or something, or kayaking down the river and pulling out to swing?

If I do I'd be up for a group trip.  I've heard of people doing ok fishing for springers there while rowing inflatable pontoon boats.

FishHuntMike, I'm curious about the steelheading you've done there with a fly rod... were you trolling big buggers or something, or kayaking down the river and pulling out to swing?

I'm down for that trip as well. Would love to head out there and make a good road trip. Maybe we can make that an overnighter trip? Sounds fun anyways.

Z

Threeweight,

For steelhead, I actually cast small nymphs (no kidding) with a full sink line in the shallower water in the lake to catch steelhead.  I don't use big stuff or typical steelhead stuff.  There are several retired local guys who fish out of prams this way on weekdays and all you have to do is notice where these guys are doing it when you get there.  September is also a good month.

I finally gave it a try several years ago instead of trying the common bobber and shrimp routine since those local guys were catching and releasing fish on the fly with much better luck than the bait or plug fisherman.  That particular rainy day, however was when I lucked into a 22.4 pound steelhead that I thought was a salmon at first (towed the kayak around for a while).  Just wish I could have caught that fish on a fly though.  Since then I have limited out with hatchery fish on many occasions (from the kayak) with a 5 or 6 wt. flyrod and small nymphs and don't really plan on doing it any other way (for steelhead at least).

Mike

Got Acme Mapper? http://mapper.acme.com/

ummm no, been using  virtual earth and streets and trips, since i own copies of both.. but thanx for the link i'll go check it out

update; uuummm nevr mind!  got a good link via google search [ doh! should'a thot of that long ago] while talking to ex g/f...[ knew there was a reason i like K so much.. one sharp cookie] anyways, here's a link off the gorp site that helps lots....loook familiar to anyone?

 http://gorp.away.com/gorp/publishers/foghorn/fish_wa3.htm

and here's the search results page link/listing.. for the rest of us who didnt kno....

http://www.google.com/search?q=drano+lake%2C+wa.&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Rich

yep, that's Drano Lake. Here's an image I took from Mapquest (search under Drano Lake, WA):



I've fished there once in late summer, first time I used a kayak for fishing. There's a big concrete ramp area with plenty of parking, bathrooms, etc. I think the day use fee is $5. Or you can take the road on the left side of the lake, going toward the hatchery, and use the gravel pullout. That's free. Drano's about 10 minutes from my house, so hoping to be there a good bit later this spring.

I have photos from that trip somewhere. I'll see if I can find them.

Brian

thanx for that color.. makes thing a whole lot more in perspective..add in the noaa chart plots i got last night and i'm starting to have a clear picture of what i'll be in for.. amazing how shallow it is...