For a long time I have thought there must be something wrong with my technique in fishing. For the last four years of buying a annual fishing license, I never once caught a fish worth keeping. In the past I have gone fishing only to catch fish either too small or catch river plants. But that all changed at the beginning of the month when I went on a birthday fishing trip with my dad, and the fish just kept coming.

This time our fishing trip took us to the city of Monroe, at the foothills of the Cascade Mountains on the way to Steven’s Pass. We decided to try again fishing at a local lake within the city after reports of the local rivers running too high to be safe fishing from the shore. Driving over one of the bridges of the Skyhomish River, it looked as the river was moving swiftly and all shoreline was under water.

Normally fisherman/women do not tell where their spots are, but I will let you in on this one. We went to Lake Tyre. The lake is stocked with rainbow trout, and when we went, they had just stocked it a month prior. When we pulled into the parking lot there were already people staked out along the lake shore near where the beach and the picnic area were.

Knowing the unwritten rules of fishing, we found another quieter section of the lake to stake our claim, and set up to case our lines into the quiet lake. Within about an hour, the fish started to bite. Every time we cast our lines it seemed one of the fish took the bait, and was reeled in as a keeper. There was one fish that did get reeled in, but managed to escape when it spit out the hook and flopped back into the water. I think at one point it did come back for round two with one of our worms and did not escape!

Within three hours of fishing we managed to catch five really good sized rainbow trout, and had some of the other people on the other sides of the lake pointing at us in awe at how many we were reeling in. I was going to try to get six fish, but thought it best of leave it at five and keep some for next time.

That night we BBQ’d our catch and it was delicious!

---

Any tips? Why yes!

• One make sure you check reports on the body of water you are going to fish. Just like the weather report, lakes, rivers and other bodies of water change depending on season, and weather conditions.
• Fish are out during the cooler part of the day. When the water starts to heat up, the fish move deeper and closer to the middle of the lake or river.
• Keep distance from other people fishing. This keeps you from tangling with their lines.
• All you need is a fishing pole, bait (worms are the best), bobbles, hooks, bucket for the fish caught, and your fishing license (a must if you are in the USA!).
• Best time to go fishing, during the weekdays or in the early hours of the morning.