I have had Lake Quinault on my bucket list for quite a few years. Always wanted to go over there and fish the Dolly Varden, as they are legit to harvest per the tribal regulations. The lake also has very nice Cutthroat. You will need to get your boat inspected via the tribe, as well as a tribal license. ($10 for 3 day license) I think it was $20 for the inspection. Probably the most convienent place for this is via the
Rain Forest Resort, along South Shore road. The launch we used is the Willaby campground. Launch is in fine shape. Only about 6 trailer parking spots, but this is a low pressure lake.

Got there on a Thur. AM, started about 10:00. The first day we struggled terribly. We marked tons of solid large fish in depths of lake 60-80'. Of course we chased these marks all day. We fished a variety of spoons. It wasn't until the following day and some help from a good guy on here, Thank you Bob. We began to target the upper water column in 15-25' zone. This began to produce some Cutts.

We covered the whole lake a couple times. The Cutthroat were not the largest fish by any means, and they measured in at 14.5-15.5", but they were very thick. I took them to be 16-17", until I actually measured them. We sure were hoping for a nice Dolly, but we only boated one, and it was about 12" Another angler we saw 2 days in a row, had been doing quite well with 8-10 cutts each day. (Cutthroat limit is 16 fish) total bag may be 12 trout and 4 dollys. This guy had released a Sockeye, as well as a Chinook of 8-10 lbs.

The lake can get super choppy with the wind. In fact there were swells of nearly 3' at times. White caps all the time. It was hardly ever mellow. First time out in my new boat, along with new Terrova with I-Pilot (Link) etc. The motor was awesome. Really makes for a different vibe while fishing, kind of lets you move about, not having to have your hand on the tiller/steering.

We stayed on the beach in Moclips, so a couple pics showing red tailed surf perch and a starry flounder. Surf perch fishing is such a great time. I think my partner MotoBoat (Wayne) I think he had released 10-12 perch before I even had one to hand. But after downsizing my sand worm, it was pretty straight forward.

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