South Sound Chapter

Offutt Lake outing Nov 4th 2006

This lake is open to the public year around but with a speed limit is 5mph.   Offutt Lake is stocked with fish, and is a quiet, spring-fed lake.  There are a few nice rainbow trout consistently taken here in the 3 to 4# class.  Trolling  Pop Geer, Wedding Rings, Hiedebrandt  double willow leaf spinners behind a rudder using worms or Power-Bait is a proven method.   In the fall many may be caught on the bottom in the deeper west end on worms or Power-Bait under a bobber.

The boat launch is located in a cove on the north shore that protects the ramp from weather.  This ramp is in need of repair as the concrete slabs end about  8" under water & there is a drop off below the last slab.  This hole is enough that it may well damage a trailer just pulling it out, much less if a boat was on it reloading.  There is enough room to the south of the concrete slabs to launch, but depending on the size of the boat, a 4 wheel drive towing vehicle may be required because of the soft gravel.   Permanent rest rooms are in the parking area.  A WDFW Access Steward Decal is required to park in the parking area.   There is no designated disabled parking.

Directions to public WDFW launch
From Olympia, go south on Capitol Blvd. (Old 99) 8 miles (becomes Olympia-Tenino Hwy) to Waldrick Rd., go left (east) 1.2 miles to Walona St. SE; take right and go a short way to end of street, and take left and into parking area.

Normal fishing will be in the yellow shaded areas shown on the map below.  The brown dot indicates weeds & shallow water, (2').

Skipper Bob running LeeRoy's boat	After lunch

We had wind & rain this fine day.   Kind of hard to keep a flat-bottomed boat going the right direction with the wind blowing.  But then they say to zig-zag to locate the fish, well we did just that, however not intentionally.   The fish caught were smallish, like 8"-10" with the big one being lost, (normal).

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We have made arrangements to use the Bronson Community Beach Club for a get together around noonish.  Directions there are, take Offutt Lake Rd SE off Old 99.   Right after the sign for Offutt Lake resort the next road to the left is Bronson.  The next block is Sanford. Take either & when you get to the bottom of the hill the crossroad is 119th Ave SE.   If on Bronson go right or Sanford go left. The fenced lot on the lake side, (North) is the club's location.   There is a community building, outdoor fireplace, beach access & a private gravel boat launch.  You will see many small boats pulled up on the grass & turned upside down (of course you will see this all along the shore this time of the year). There is a round concrete water reservoir about 20' dia & high that can be seen from the lake. Not a lot of parking, but enough for us it appears.   This location is the red dot on the map below.