Trout fishing Munsel Lake

[PK Yi]

had a great time on the water. never been to munsel before so we decided to check it out. fishing turned out much better than I expected.

water temp (surface) was around 53 degrees. deepest part of the lake was around 70 feet, but we were getting them right at the surface. noticed a lot of hawks/osprey flying around, more than what we encounter at other lakes. one swoop down behind behind us and scared the living shyt out of me.

I think we'll be heading back again soon.

here is a video of our trip. my gopro battery died so I couldn't tape the whole trip. must...get...more...batteries.....

 

[rogerdodger]

excellent, I love Munsel, deep clear water. From what I saw on Tuesday, we appear to have 2 pairs of Osprey and in the far north end a pair of bald eagles I observed might be settling in...

a couple of fun things about Munsel: it gets heavily planted with trout from Feb-early May. Then in June, 10,000 coho fry that STEP is raising nearby get fin clipped and planted in the lake so they can eventually make their way down to the Siuslaw and out to the ocean. There are also coho making it through the lake now and spawning in the inlet creeks, so by mid-summer there will be lots of coho smolt (with and without adipose fins) getting to the 7"-8" range...these can never be retained! so anyone fishing Munsel during the summer should remember: salmon smolt are shiny silver and have forked tails and lakes that connect to the ocean do not have kokanee in them!

also interesting is that Munsel gets back some big, unclipped rainbows that have visited the ocean. goes like this- STEP runs an "eggs-to-fry" program in the elementary school here and ODFW lets the kids plant the steelhead fry in the lake as part of that program. (Munsel doesn't have any appropriate spawning grounds for rainbows or steelhead). Some of the fry make it to the ocean and return to the lake, the ones I have seen were all about 22" long, cookie cutter brats from an elementary school aquarium...these can be retained as the "1 rainbow over 20 inches" per day part of your daily 5 trout limit. I have not talked to anyone that has caught one yet, not even sure how long they stay in the lake before trying to get back to the ocean...

cheers, roger

 

[PK Yi]

good info, roger. and do you know if there are any bass in that lake?

 

[rogerdodger]

good info, roger. and do you know if there are any bass in that lake?

There are some perch for sure and supposed to be bass but I have never hooked any or seen them caught by others. I have been seeing lots of bass boats at Tahkenitch recently, just south of Florence, I think it has been the best for bass recently around here... cheers, roger

 

[troutdude]

Another great video, report, and outing to watch. Well done. The 3rd fish from the bottom, looks like a blue back (but is most likely a bow, I am sure). Pretty color at any rate.

 

[cabinetguy]

Cool video! Just got a silver gopro 4, and climbing the learning curve on the running of it. Never really thought of fishing Munsel Lake, but now you got me fired up on the local close enough to throw a rock to lakes. Looks like the osprey are back early from where ever they go for the winter. A pair come into the hollow and recon from a tall snag above my house. Thanks for the vid..... churn out more.

 

[PK Yi]

Cool video! Just got a silver gopro 4, and climbing the learning curve on the running of it. Never really thought of fishing Munsel Lake, but now you got me fired up on the local close enough to throw a rock to lakes. Looks like the osprey are back early from where ever they go for the winter. A pair come into the hollow and recon from a tall snag above my house. Thanks for the vid..... churn out more.

thanks.

very nice on the gopro 4. I have it in my sight. my videos in 4K would be very sweet indeed.