Northwest Fishing Reports

I just talked by phone with my friend Mike who lives near Lake Merwin, and he says Speelyai is closed because crews are removing trees along the access road to the boat launch. There's another boat launch at the Cresap campground, but he says it's restricted to use by campers, and will close for the season on Sept. 30. Mike says there are no boats on the lake and the only person fishing is a guy who launches his kayak at the hatchery.

I note that Chapter 57 has scheduled a tournament at Merwin on Oct. 6. Hopefully Speelyai will reopen by then, but I think it might be a good idea for someone from the Chapter to contact Pacific Power's recreation department (not the easiest thing to do, because you only get recordings) to check on Speelyai's status and verify that anglers will have launch access on that date.

Ramp will be open next week on the 26th according to Pacific Power web site

Mike and I have been launching at Cresap, which closes Sept. 30. I don't know if Speelyai has reopened. We didn't see any vehicles in the Speelyai parking lot yesterday when we passed it in the boat. I'm in Seattle today, going back to Merwin tomorrow. I caught a 42-inch, 20 pounder yesterday. Nice fish hiding in a sunken tree, hit a bucktail, came up like a sack of cement, jumped once, and after unhooking him I tripped and fell in the boat and gashed my hand on the hooks. Who says musky fishing isn't dangerous?

Congrats on the big fish, sorry you fell and got hurt Don. Hope you have good luck when you go back to Merwin tomorrow.