Alder

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Scrminbanshee

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May 28, 2012
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puyallup
Well went out to alder today. I called the hotline before i went and the water level sounded fine. Man i dont know who measures the lake but the sure did have that wrong.Oh well the sun was shining, and the fish were biting, cant ask for much more! I caught 8 or 9 all super thin. Threw em all back and called it a day. Sure was nice to finally get into some fish. Weird though those fish love green wedding bands and my own special, called the alder lake special but all they wanted to day was a pink wedding band from rocky mountain tackle.

Moment of the day...Not a bite for about an hour so i decide to have some lunch as soon as that sandwich is heading for my mouth. Wouldnt you know it, wham fish on. So what do i do, i set my sandwich down and fight the fish get him to the boat released unharmed turn around (am wondering weird my dog isnt fighting to get to the fish before me) look down and low and behold if the last bite of sandwich isnt being eatin by the dog. Oh well, we all get lucky sometime, me with the fish and my dog with a nice sandwich.
 
Scrmin:

I went to Alder on Feb 8, when the phone report said the water was at 1,181 feet. The water was a few feet past the end of the concrete ramp where the old road base levels out and makes it hard to float off the trailer. From my call records of waterlevels, it looks like 1,184 is probably the lowest practical launch level.

Also, have you experienced your fishfinder doing strange things when you get close to the dam? Over the years, I have had 4 different units give strange readings near the dam.
 
kokanee-lou said:
Scrmin:

Also, have you experienced your fishfinder doing strange things when you get close to the dam? Over the years, I have had 4 different units give strange readings near the dam.
Click to expand...


Is it a hydro electric dam? If it is the massive electrical interference that the turbines cause will gernally throw anything off that is electronic releated
 
Steelheadin360 said:
Is it a hydro electric dam? If it is the massive electrical interference that the turbines cause will gernally throw anything off that is electronic releated
Click to expand...
Yes, but I have fished near many hydro dams before and Alder is the first hydro dam to do this. Just wondering if anyone else experienced this here?
 
kokanee-lou said:
Scrmin:

I went to Alder on Feb 8, when the phone report said the water was at 1,181 feet. The water was a few feet past the end of the concrete ramp where the old road base levels out and makes it hard to float off the trailer. From my call records of waterlevels, it looks like 1,184 is probably the lowest practical launch level.

Also, have you experienced your fishfinder doing strange things when you get close to the dam? Over the years, I have had 4 different units give strange readings near the dam.
Click to expand...

I dont think ill be much help here. I rarely fish by the dam and have had no problems when i have(except for catching fish). The phone report on friday said 1,207 feet but it was more of the 1080 foot level. The 1080 foot mark is about as low as i feel comfortable launching out there when im by myself.

The one word of advice when you go to launch and the water level is down launch as far to the right as possible and the launching is a bit easier.

I would also like to note man is that new depth finder awesome and the Down imaging is amazing. I was able to see whole trees on it. I would like to note though it gave me some increased confidence that was short lived when i got my downrigger caught up on a tree down there.
 
Scrmin-
That area to the right was also shallow and muddy. If you were in the bay to the left of the launch, the old Alder Creek came through there as well as a couple of submerged roads to old Alder. Go to WashingtonLakes.com and print out the Alder contour map (free). I marked the old pre-lake roads, railroad and buildings from old maps. That area is riddled with trees. The old photos just prior to submerging the town didn't show trees, but I suspect the ones we are finding were lining the old Alder Creek and weren't cut down. When I get my SI unit I am going to re-map that area and locate all the obstructions. Have added you to my list for a new map distribution.
 
kokanee-lou said:
Scrmin-
That area to the right was also shallow and muddy. If you were in the bay to the left of the launch, the old Alder Creek came through there as well as a couple of submerged roads to old Alder. Go to WashingtonLakes.com and print out the Alder contour map (free). I marked the old pre-lake roads, railroad and buildings from old maps. That area is riddled with trees. The old photos just prior to submerging the town didn't show trees, but I suspect the ones we are finding were lining the old Alder Creek and weren't cut down. When I get my SI unit I am going to re-map that area and locate all the obstructions. Have added you to my list for a new map distribution.
Click to expand...

The map of the north end by the old dnr camp ground is way wrong on the washington lakes map. There is a big hump a couple hundred feet off shore up there. Would be nice to have a decent map of that lake. I have most of it memorized from my old unit and can tell you where abouts my location is just off what the depth finder is telling me. Thanks for including me in the new map now.

Alder is hands down my favorite lake i have ever fished. Good silvers,perch and bass, and coming from Alaska it sure is nice to be able to get away from most people and feel some of that secluded feeling that i long for. My favorite part of that lake is the little nisqually arm and way up in there when you can here the river. I often eat my lunch up here and perch fish in the summer. The coolest part about this section is you can actually see schools of fish moving around underneth you. I want to go out there this summer with my snorkeling gear and swim around up there and check it all out. Haha i fell like a little kid just talking about it.

I plan on trying to catch a mess of crawdads. I am going to invest in about 4 or 5 traps(got to look up the amount allowed) and try to catch enough for dinner a few times. i might even be camping up there on memorial weekend even though i only live bout 45mins away.

I try to get out there about once a week once summer kicks in. I fish american hard in the spring and fall but once you start getting those wahoos out there skiing i give american up and head for either alder of clear. I try to go out twice a week and normally hit clear mid week since its closer to my house and then alder on weekends.

Dont know of another lake like alder around here but like i said i did move down here from alaska bout 5 years ago and am still learning all the bodies of water around here.

The biggest downside to the phone hotline is that if you dont call a lot and track the water level almost every time you go its hard to figure out what height is a good height. I also wish that on the recording they would add the water should be rising/falling/stay the same this week. Just be helpfull so a guy can plan his outing.
 
Well woke up early and decided might as well give it a shot. Man was it cold out there the water temp at one point read 38.5 degrees. Brrrrrrr. Anyways trolled for what felt like ages. Went over all my holes but the wind picked up so i couldn't work my normal spots as much as i like, so i head up the little nisq. Went way up the little nisq and tried for perch for a while and still not a single nibble. I have only caught a few perch and man i thought these were suppose to be easy fish to catch.

Weather was perfect in there, kept out of the wind but still no takers. The odd part is i didn't see one fish hit the surface. The water was super dirty and there are logs and a few stumps floating all over so be carefull if you decide to head out there.

Today was the first time that i have been able to launch on concert all winter, forgot how nice that is. 1st time in a couple years that i managed to not get even the slightest nibble. Headed to chelan tomorrow or potentially merwin it all just depends on the weather. Tight lines to all.
 
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Made it out to alder this afternoon for a few hours. Caught my limit and more however i didn't keep a single one they are still just to small. I did have one decent cutt but once again not worth keeping for one fish that was 12in long. Anyways all and all it was a great afternoon but wish the fish were a bit bigger.
 
Well made it out today talk about a perfect day on alder! The bite was pretty fast as usually.
photo.jpg
Once home the fish were looking pretty good they all came on one of my alder lake specials. They are about 10-12in and nice and fat. Not as nice as other fish but when there is a ten fish limit and it sure makes for a fun time.
photo-5.jpg
photo-7.jpg
It was a good day had to weed thru allot of small trout but sure was fun
Not sure where im heading tomorrow, alder, american, or merwin not sure yet.
 
Last edited:
Well my neighbor and i went to alder yesterday afternoon planing on fishing the evening bite. Well after trolling all my usually spots and putting 10 trout and 5 silvers in the boat. We finally found the silvers and wound up putting 15 in the boat! The big news is they are running close to 12in and with a 10 fish limit ill take it all day everyday.
alder 6:9.jpg
Heres a pic of the ones i kept the rest went to my neighbor.
 

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