1958 Season opener at East Lake

[fineline]

East Lake story and image from 1958.
http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonh...E9D2213B1794DF (http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/historical_records/dspDocument.cfm?doc_ID=88BFAAD0-CBEE-5A55-EDE9D2213B1794DF)
Originally posted on main board.

[Buck]

I was the four year-old in the tent around the corner... Seriously, we were there for the opener that year. My dad's favorite lake. Single eggs 1 1/2 turns off the bottom in hole we lined up between the rock outcrop and the pumice slide across the lake. I've eaten so many East Lake trout that my mercury levels must be high enough to qualify as a human thermometer. Come to think of it, I do turn a little red on top when I'm in the hot sun too long...

[bwild]

I often wondered how much the whole mercury thing is really true? I caught an 8.2 lber a couple years ago and it absolutely engulfed my Rapala, with 1 treble in the back of it's throat and two absolutely embedded into it's gills. It bled like a stuck pig. I felt horrible that this fish was going to die and it was well over the 16 inch mark and I couldn't even eat it. Well, my buddy smoked it up anyway and I ate some of it.

We're all going to die someday, so if it's because of mercury poisoning, well, that's one way to go! As I'm only able to get to the Cascades about half a dozen times a year, I don't think a little mercury here and there will kill me. Now if I have kids in the next couple years and one has a third eye or an extra ear on top of his head, then maybe I'll stop eating the occasional trout out of East. But since I C&R most fish anyway, I think I'll be just fine. :twocents:

And I know exactly where you're talking about with your "Hole". There's actually a couple really good holes in that lake. I love it there!

[boatman]

If it was paved in the middle fifthtys, why was I still driving on gravel in the late 1978 and later. Was and is great place.:meme::twocents: