were you in a boat or from shore? is there a place to put in a small boat to fish?

is this the st. clair somewhere in yelm wa? my in laws have a house next to the lake over there visited it a couple of times but never really got a chance on fishing it.dont know what kind of fish living there.thank for the report.now this got my fishing fingers itchy again.

I do not know if link will work but, yes, there is a launch. Two if you count the one across the road which would be tough to put in at. It is steep like Steilacoom but gravel:(

http://washingtonlakes.com/TopoMaps/6596252_StClairtopoEdited.gif

Link did not work. There is a map to see if you go to the lake info up above.

Hmm, link did work, check that out, it should help.

I have bass fished St. Claire alot. Infact, the second biggest bass I've caught, 8-7, came from there. A couple years ago there was a picture in the Tacoma News Tribune of a gentleman holding a 10-3 caught there. Very good boatlaunch to the left. Only car toppers can be launched at the launch to the right. Fun lake to fish, inthat when the pleasure crafts get bad on the main lake to the left of the launch, you can always fish the fingers to the right which have a 5 mph speed limit. And the home owners in the fingers are more than happy to let you know if you exceed that limit. The lake contains brown and rainbow trout, plus all of the warm water species. I've heard it has cutthroat, but don't know for sure. You can get map directions off this site, which you will need. There is only one sign out on the Old Nisqually Road that points to the lake. The other turns are unmarked.

wdfw.wa.gov/lands/water_access/

Try this site for access to lakes of Wash

Salmonbarry- I was fishing from the shore. I recently moved onto the lake. But yes as the other have said, they is definitely a place to put in your boat.
RickydBasser- I've been reading a lot of your post from this lake. I like catching trout, but bass fishing is definitely my passion. I'm looking forward hitting the lake for some winter largemouth. I'm just waiting for this nasty weather to mellow out. Any advice?

Nice job ! : P

Nice fish! I've been fishin there for almost 40yrs. my folks got property there when I was 4. There are some big trout in there!

Man, fretzca, this early in the year can be tough for largemouth on any lake, St. Claire being no exception. I've pretty much have given up on fishing largemouth from winter through early April. I now really concentrate on smallmouth on other lakes during that time period. But from late April on when the water temp gets up into the 50's fishing a weightless Senco type worm along shorelines can be great right on through summer and fall. I have other tricks I use, but that's a good place to start. Most of the strikes will come on the initial sink. Though I catch smaller bass overall, for shear numbers I like fishing the main lake. But all my big bass and big bass caught by others I know have come from the fingers. Why? I don't have the slightest idea. In the spring concentrate on shallow flats, usually shown by fields of lilly pads and reeds. By July I fish mostly shorelines that have deep water close by. An exception is the big pad field on the end of the main lake. That area seems to kick out bass all summer long. Hope this helps. By the way, congrats on moving to this lake.

Thanks for the advice rickydbasser. Yeah I usually will only target smallmouth this time of year. I actually had my chance at my first winter largemouth about a month back on spanaway lake. Believe it or not it followed the jig i was dragging all the way to the top. I saw the fish before it hit! Unfortunately i wasn't able to get a good enough hook set. I'll give the senko a shot as the weather gets better. I'm a big time drop shot fisherman though. I started about a 2 years ago throwing the dropshot rig and haven't been able to get away from it. haha. It works ill all depths, weather, structure, and seasons! Thanks again for the advice. Maybe ill see you out there one of these days. I'll be in the 12 ft aluminum jon boat with a front mount trolling motor.

At first i was like, a report from St.Clair, I know someone who just got a place there. Clicked the link, wow, good looking girl with a load of trout. Then i clicked on the picture to check out the trout in more detail, hey I know that angler in the photo, then i looked at who posted the report.

Trout fishing now buddy? glad to see your new home is treating you well.

I know what you mean about dropshotting. Was introduced to it smallmouth fishing, but found it worked for largemouth when nothing else did. On St. Claire with all of its logs I use a weedless dropshot hook. Because Sencos are so danged expensive several years ago I tried the Bass Pro Shop Sticko. Love them. Almost half the price and far more durable than the Senco. I onced owned a 16' bassboat, but downsized 12 years ago to something for the smaller lakes I fish. It's a 11-3 BassTender with a 9.9 four stroke Merc and bowmounted MinnKota electric. Perfect boat for me. If I see you out there will say hi.

Read your post and decided to check it out this week. Looked up the special regs, to be safe, and saw that the daily limit is 5 with 2 over 14 inches. Your post shows a total of seven fishing reg violations! Not sure you meant to do that?

Thanks for the heads up Lou. I will be more detailed to clarify that no rules were broken. The six fish were caught over a 24 hour period on the evening of Feb.14th and the morning of Feb.15th. The picture is taken of my fiance. We fished together on both occasions (both of us hold fishing license). The one brown trout and 3 of the Rainbows were caught on the evening of the 14th, the other 2 rainbows were caught on the 15th. I should have been more specific with my original post but wasn't thinking about the special rules for the lake. Thanks again.

Just a heads up, in case Fish and Game ever come by, its legal to only keep up to two over 14".

Oops just saw Lou's post. Guess it doesn't hurt to be said twice. Be careful! Awesome fish though