Fishing Forum

Took the kayak to Echo today. Air temp at arrival was 43, water 61. 77and 69 respectively when I left at 2 pm.

The morning was memorable. I fished the east side, ramp to dam. A smallie on almost every cast with a Rebel Pop R. All 10" "sandwich" bass. They shut down abruptly just as I was thinking about starting to keep a few (isn't that always the way?) Got a few more on a Ned rig but no takers on a paddletail minnow - even though most of the bass I caught were puking up 3" minnows and the occasional crawdad. It stayed flat calm until lunchtime, when a light ripple began, wafting me gently towards the dock again. Got a keeper bass in 15' of water on the Ned, and decided to keep fishing until I got one more. A few casts later the Ned had hardly started to sink when it grew torpedo power. Five minutes of singing drag later, I thought sure I had hooked a carp, but hadn't seen it yet. Nope, 18" rainbow. Claudia likes trout meat.

There are medium-sized perch everywhere there is flooded brush on the east side. Would make a great outing for kids.

Left the kayak atop my Highlander and plan to hit Willard Wednesday if the weather holds.

Nice report, thanks for the info. Best of luck at Willard, I've yet to pull anything into the kayak this season. I'm thinking of trying again tomorrow or Wednesday.

Rocky, I keep forgetting that Echo is now a state park. I think I need to take a trip up there and try my luck .

Thanks for  the report that reminded me. 

Dang we missed each other. Was headed there this morning and got rerouted. Going to go in the morning, but might swing over to Pineview instead and try some early morning topwater

The main advantage to Echo, as I see it, is that the ramp is pretty small and parking is somewhat limited. So it is much less attractive to the power squadron. I saw only one ski boat (which was pretty courteous in keeping distance) and a handful of jet skis, none of which showed up before noon. During prime fishing hours, there were only a handful of fishing boats.

One divantage is that there is no fish cleaning station. Or none that I could find.