Spring is finally here on the Oregon coast, we are getting some beautiful weather. The lakes have warmed slightly, and all the fish are becoming more active.  I had an afternoon/evening free from work and school so I grabbed my fishing buddy and we set out to go hunt down some wild trout.   Normally the lake we go to requires about a half mile hike through a mix of coastal rain forest and sand. When we arrived we found that the forest service had not opened the access road yet. So that added another 1/2 mile or so to the hike.

It was a great afternoon, the sun was shinning and in the woods there wasn’t very much wind. here is a shot of the lake through the trees.

 

We hiked along through a mix of lush green vegetation and found many downed trees and still boggy areas from our wet and windy winter.

Eventually we came to one of my favorite sights in the sand dunes! It is really unique to find a waterfall out here in this border area between the dunes and the forest.

We continued along the trail, and we broke out into more dense, but dry, brush along the base of a giant sand dune!

We got to our spot and I put on a night crawler and did a slow retrieve with a little hop to it. Hooked a fish right away, but it fell off, eh that happens sometimes with barbless hooks.  A few casts later I banked the first fish of the evening. A small large mouth. Largemouth are an invasive species in this lake, so I kill a limits worth whenever I can, but at least they taste good.

Next up was the osprey flying around, I watched it dive down and grab a decent looking fish, then fly away.  I had my son and I switch over to spinners. I chose a 1/8oz brass blade, black body with yellow spots, panther martin and my son chose a all silver blue fox. He nailed a small cut throat right off the bat.  After a quick pic, with wet hands, we let it go.

Next up was dad, my fish was around 12″ and a nice fat specimen, your allowed to retain two fish per day, so with a healthy lake population I decided to bonk it for dinner. We had a camera malfunction and this ones picture didn’t get saved. Next up was my son, he caught a decent cut. The fish looked a little to close to post spawn so we snapped a quick pic and sent it back to gain some weight.

We hiked around, caught a few more fish, and decided to keep one last cut throat that I caught so that my wife could have a fish for dinner as well.

Here is a nice dinner! Had some brown rice and broccoli, yum! The trout cut as red as any salmon I have ever caught, and tasted just as good.

 

We hiked out as the sun was setting. It was almost like paradise. We didn’t see a single person or hear a single vehicle.  It was an awesome day of fishing with my son!