Lake Crescent is home to a couple of unicorns. Two subspecies of trout that evolved separately from the rest of the world due to a glacial lake getting damned by a huge land slide.
The two species are a Beardslee Trout and a Crescenti Cutthroat Trout. Both are federally protected, so taking them out of the water is a no-no, so unfortunately my pics are not going to be impressive since they all have to be in the water.
In any case, It was my last full day in Washington and I wanted to do some lake fishing. The National Park is gorgeous there and it would be a great way to end the trip.
Got there early, but up there it doesn't get light until 7:30 am.
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I move spot to spot to try and locate them.
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Well, here's a big Beardslee that I released, but should have gotten him sideways for a better picture.
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I kept picking here and there but enjoying the scenery. I caught both my Beardslee and Crescenti!
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I moved to a bunch of spots and did a short hike on one of the trails.
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I then found them and caught one every other cast! There is not many spots on the rocks to successfully release these guys so I didn't have to move from this spot. I wish it was a better spot so I could get cleaner water shots, but it was sketchy for these old ankles.
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I then get a better model Beardslee!
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75% of my fish were Beardslee's which was different from my last time here when it was 75% Cutthroat,
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Smoke on the water. Old dudes smoking weed like a train that came cruising by.
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I caught quite a few Sculpin... which is what my lure was trying to imitate.
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I hooked a monster on my first cast of the morning, but it cut me off on the rock ledge. Never came close to seeing it.
Well, I got redemption! It's a monster!
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I got it 20' from shore and it's a 14-15 pound Beardslee! It looked like a Steelhead! The damn thing kept running to the rocks and as Steve remembers how deep and ragged this ledge was. I thought I had him sliding up, but he made one last run and I actually stripped my gears in the reel. Ugh.. I bought this reel for this trip to Washington when Steve and I went up here the first time 14 years ago. It's been on a lot of trips, but something happened and I was having trouble trying to reel the handle. Well, it found it's opportunity and gone.
I actually had a second rod/reel with me so I switched the reels, but this reel was smaller. Unfortunately, I also lost my favorite lure and only had 8" tube baits left which was a bear to cast with such a small reel.
Casting stunk with what I had left, but I did catch a few lingcod sized sculpin. LOL
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I ended up with 14 trout and 4 sculpin. Not a bad day at all for this lake according to Karry. I felt a little bummed that I lost two big models, but I really won't complain. It was a fantastic Trip!
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I get back to the house and there is Karry with the new 25th anniversary hats! They only had a limited supply but apparently Bill told Karry to get me a new hat since all my RS hats look too grubby. I just told them I like my lucky hats. LOL
I got to spend some time in the shop on the way home and it was pretty fun hanging out with the RS crew for about an hour before heading back to pack for my flight home.
New 25th anniversary hat!
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Well, it was time to pack and we had some more sports and drinking to do. It was a fantastic day and trip once again!
I can't say enough about these guys.
Oh, and the snow started to arrive as the mountain tops were covered.
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Thanks for reading and until the next trip!
Thought I recognized the view. Congrats.
Beautiful lake! While I don't smoke weed anymore that would be a magical place to do it.
Great fishing too!