This was my first time to Riffe Lake and I was a bit nervous going there on Memorial Day weekend. Long story short, great fishing but you have to be aware of many particulars, especially the launch.

I have witnessed how terrible lakes can be on the first day of water flea season, and had some trepidation over going to a popular campground when I know the likelihood for recreational boaters was high. For those who are unfamiliar with water fleas, they are those critters on the water that have no concern for fishing nor the safety of others in general.

The weather was terrible for most of the trip, raining the whole time which limited the normal boat traffic substantially. There were many (perhaps 20 vessels) fishing Friday evening and Saturday morning. An important note is that the Mossyrock Campground is the only launch usable on the lake as the dam requires repair that may or may not be done within the next decade. As a Tacoma Power owns both the dam and Mossyrock Campground, they extended the launch to work all the way down to the lowest anticipated water levels. What this means to boaters is that you must back down a good 250 yards before you hit the water. Make sure your mirrors are good, if not have a guide or two and don't be afraid to ask for help, as the launch can get busy and frustrating for all boaters if there is a rookie behind the wheel of a massive party barge (yeah, it happened).

On to the fishing: after all the headache of launching and running down the hill to the single dock to get out of the way for other boaters, we were able to get a double as soon as we dropped both riggers across the lake from the launch. Many boats were clustered on the north shore just a ways from the dam and all having good luck from what I saw, but the fish were very active from 25' down to 50' and stayed that way from 0800 to about 1130, then the bite would turn off until about 1500. Fishing with both hoochies and wedding rings worked great, silver dodgers were most consistent in hook up with pink or green terminal gear. The action was good enough I did not use any corn or bait, just regular scent on the dodgers. We limited out every day for the two kids and I from Friday to Sunday trolling all the way up and down the lake. We saw fish around just about every point where current became stronger, and most fish were in the 15 to 18 inch size. We got very little action on our top line, and the action we did get was all small 10" or less fish.

All in all, a great lake and camp ground, and man, the fish were awesomely pink. Smoked over 20 fillets and they were some of the best I have ever had, can't wait to do it again as long as the pontoon boats don't crowd the dock.

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