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Merwin

121K views 485 replies 122 participants last post by  Flyingfool 
#1 ·
Is the Merwin ramp still open?
 
#190 ·
Just finished my kokanee sushi dinner.
Was on the water at 7:30 this morning about 15 trailers in the lot when I got
there and 8 or ten at the overflow when I left at 11:30 with my five fish.
Pole 1 long line out 125' with sling blade,1/4 oz weight,cheater,smile blade,2 #4 red hooks tipped with shrimp scented salad shrimp and 1 red salmon egg.
Pole 2 on d/r at 13' and 80' back, sling blade with same set up different color.
Pink and purple seemed to get most of the bites today trolled at 1.3 mph.
 
#189 ·
Me and a couple friends spent the day on the lake today. It was till this afternoon really a beautiful day. We heard some thunder rolling as we were tieing down the boat to leave. There were a few drops but we never really got wet.. We did however bring home limits all around. We caught them long lining at about 100 ft. and at about 13ft. with the downriggers.
Pink hootchies and the dark pinkish firecorn... We spent a long day on the lake to get our limits but. We experimented a lot... Still pink hootchies remain #1 in my boat.

WZ
 
#191 · (Edited)
8:30 to about 5:00 today with my dad and youngest son. We had probably 15 hookups some were doubles, and even one triple. Managed to get 4 in the boat within the first 2 hours but, lost one off the stringer somehow. We ended up only bringing 7 home, biggest was 13". Heres the 5 for us, my dad took 2 home with him. Pretty even hookups between our pink and green hoochies.
 
#198 ·
Ah yes, the forgotten thread. With a gorgeous day forecast I decided to forego the CR and the Willy with their sometimes illusive Springers and sneak off to Merwin...with about 50 other boats. Judging by the posts, I was the only ifisher on the lake. It took most of the day (9 - 5) to scratch out a couple of limits (with my wife's help). The fish were scattered but spent the bulk of the day fishing in the area near the rope swing and connecting. Long lining hootchies (Purple Haze from Rocky Mountain Tackle...thank you Alpha boat for the tip) and pink/clear at 100 feet of line led by a small Sepps chrome dodger. Killer pink corn with super secret scent (krill powder) was part of the magic. See ya' on the Willamette tomorrow.

 
#199 ·
Ah yes, the forgotten thread. With a gorgeous day forecast I decided to forego the CR and the Willy with their sometimes illusive Springers and sneak off to Merwin...with about 50 other boats. Judging by the posts, I was the only ifisher on the lake. It took most of the day (9 - 5) to scratch out a couple of limits (with my wife's help). The fish were scattered but spent the bulk of the day fishing in the area near the rope swing and connecting. Long lining hootchies (Purple Haze from Rocky Mountain Tackle...thank you Alpha boat for the tip) and pink/clear at 100 feet of line led by a small Sepps chrome dodger. Killer pink corn with super secret scent (krill powder) was part of the magic. See ya' on the Willamette tomorrow.

Nice catch! I've been working tons of overtime, and am feeling with drawls.
 
#201 ·
I fished Merwin this morning. I launched in the dark and spent about 45 minutes scouting for fish. I did not find any large group of fish that were not on the bottom. I finally started fishing at 0600 in an area that I have caught fish at this time of the year in the past. By 0650 I had four in the boat. I lost one a few minutes later and finally caught my fifth kokanee at 0730. I fished a red wedding ring and a white wedding ring behind UV sling blades with 1 oz 75-80 feet back. I marked very few fish. I think that the fish were in the top few feet of the surface. Unless you passed directly over them they would not show on the sonar as the cone is very narrow at shallow depths. The sky was really dark. I thought that at any minute there would be a downpour but there was just a fine mist. My fish were a bit smaller than those that I caught the past few weeks. Four of them were 12 to 12 3/4 and one was 13 1/4. When I left Speelyai about 0830 there were only 18 trailers in the lot. I thought that there would be a lot of fisherman since the river is closed. I talked to Perry this morning. He opens the gate. He is now opening the gate at Cresap Bay by 0500. As I left Speelyai Bay around 0515 I saw trailer lights to the east.
 
#206 ·
With the price of gas it would be nice to catch a few more fish. The big drawback that I see is that Speelyai has limited parking.Starting Memorial Day weekend the Host will close the park when it is full. With a ten fish limit people will stay much longer and there will be a greatly reduced turnover in the parking lot. I get there in the dark so it will not affect me but those who arrive after 0800 may not get in.
 
#207 ·
Parking is an issue that needs to be addressed at Speelyai. Seems like there could be a large overflow up on top - who knows what the property issues are. The other option is to go all the way around to Cresap. I know Pacific Power is in charge of these things at Merwin, but I would say that Washington in general doesn't get it when it comes to ramp and parking access for boats. I have fished from Puget Sound to the Columbia and it is obvious Washington just doesn't try that hard. Just compare the facilities on the Oregon side of the Columbia river to Washington. I can't think of a decent facility from Bonneville to Illwaco on the Washington side. Oregon on the other hand has numerous access points. The little town of Rainier has a facility better than anything Washington has produced on the entire lower river - OK rant is over. - RP
 
#208 ·
I can't think of a decent facility from Bonneville to Illwaco on the Washington side.
Washougal?

Marine Park (Portco)?

Willow Grove?

Those are all pretty large facilities with a lot of parking.

But I do agree about Speelyai. It's not a WA state launch though. PPL isn't going to spend money they don't have to, they do the bare minimum required to maintain their license. I'm sure that if they had to clear, grade, and pave another small parking lot it would decimate their profits for decades... :palm:

I guess we should feel fortunate that at least the state negotiated a few meager concessions before they allowed them to kill the river...
 
#210 ·
Rikker99,

No parking issue a Spelyai if you you get your #$% out of bed early and get up there. Get there well before 7 and parking is not an issue. Heck the gate opens at 5:30 or so..:doh:

Then when you leave in the late morning/early afternoon with your limit you can laugh at the pleasure boaters....

Parking issues are only for those who don't plan for parking.

jz
 
#213 ·
"Those are all pretty large facilities with a lot of parking."

When I am talking about adequate access I would start with something like Chinook landing on the Oregon side. Multiple launching lanes and multiple docks. Last time i was at Portco the wind was blowing out of the SW and without any breakwater waves were coming over the transom of our sled. All I am saying is look at what is possible and ask yourself if anyone in the Washington power structure really cares about the boating community. The access areas in the Puget Sound area are even worse.
 
#214 ·
Don't forget Cat Island and Ridgefield for quality launching facilities (tongue in cheek). One of the docks at Portco is still 6 feet or more from dry land due to high water.

The problem with Speelyia is the layout of the lower lot. You can launch and park early, but odds are high that your rig will be boxed in by the rec boater hatch and some numbnut or two always seem to park right at the apex of the far corner because they're too lazy and/or inconsiderate to park in the upper lot and walk down. Navigating that lot, when full, with a crew cab long bed and a 23' boat can be a royal PITA!
 
#216 ·
Actually fishing is quite good. I arrived in the dark as usual. I got my line in the water at 0555 and at 0641 I had my five and a hit that didn't hook. Early this morning I was the only boat on the lake that I could see. While I was cleaning fish, the boat and setting up for my next trip one boat passed me. I arrived back at Speelyai Bay dock at 0730. Besides me there were only six other trailers in the lot. For a moment I thought that it must be mid September! By the time that I left another half dozen or so rigs arrived. Think back to last April when the main lot and upper lot were full and folks were parking out to the highway. I am glad that there were not many people this morning. The lake was down seven feet. The first two dock sections were out of water. If a lot of people had been there loading and launching would have been much slower. I continue to use UV sling blades with white and red wedding rings. I fished one with one ounce back 75 ft. and the other with 1/2 ounce back 90 ft. I got three hits on each. On Tuesday I used the same setup except both had one ounce. I got quick limits both days so I will continue with this setup as long as it works. I like to troll 1.1-1.2 mph.
 
#217 · (Edited)
Got to the lake around 6:40am and there were 8 rigs in the lot.
My plan for the morning was to head down by the dam.
Uv sling blade and a uv clear and pink hoochie tipped with corn and a
Small piece of worm. Flat lined set back at 100ft. The line counter hit
the mark and as I was putting it in the holder it went off. Nice
13" feisty koke. Reset that rig and put a ford fender with a green/red
baby spin glo tipped the same. I went 5 for six on hookups , three on
the fender and two for three on the hoochie.
Great morning with very little wind.
The lot was filling up fast when I left.
 
#219 ·
No. The parks and boat ramps are operated by Pacific Power not the Washington State Parks Dept. There is a three dollar charge on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and all national holidays starting the Friday before Memorial Day. You can buy an annual pass for twenty dollars. The pass is good at Merwin, Yale and Swift for day use. Camping is extra. You do, however, need a Washington fishing license.
 
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