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So it's taken me a bit of thinking on this trip to put it in perspective, and after you've heard the story I'll let you decide. This was probably the craziest thing I've ever done, probably the most difficult, and I apologize for the level of detail in the report, but it's a story that's gotta be told.

My brother and I had hiked in the 8 or so miles to Wallace lake once before to fish only 15 minutes for extremely good fishing. Wallace lake is a small but extremely deep mountain lake out of Gold Bar in the Skykomish Valley. We had heard rumor of Mackinaw up in the lake, and we wanted to check it out. So the first time we found that shore access to the lake is difficult at best and waders or a float are essential in fishing it. So I came up with the bright idea of hiking our raft into the lake.

Now our raft is the best raft for fishing two people. It's a our man Sea-Hawk with rod holders and a motor mount, perfect for carry-in only lakes and even trolling bug lakes with a small motor. Plus, it was only $80, which in this economy is a great deal for the amount of fishing that I love to do. Alas, the dry weight of the raft is probably about forty or fifty pounds, so it's not exactly tailored to carry in fishing.

But anyways, I've got this huge duffel and a bunch of straps, I figured with enough sinching and padding I could make it up so that the raft wouldn't be that difficult to carry. Which worked out well enough. Of course the duffel looked like some sorta frankenbag, with paddles (as my brother consistently would correct me they are actually OARS) sticking out willy-nilly and my rod and camera in it's impervious Pelican case strapped to it. Even though my brother had the "real" backpack and was carrying the rest of the gear, I imagine that this thing probably weighed in at 100 pounds. It was ridiculous, and ridiculous looking. But I was dead set on getting it to the lake.

So we got to the parking at Wallace Falls state park at about noonish, and Got all set. A couple on the way out warned us of muddy trail conditions. It was true, the gravel trail turns into a creek when the rains leave the mountains. It was a bright sunny day though, so we weren't discouraged.

About a mile and a half down the trail, my frankenpack started to fall apart and I was beat. My brother was like, maybe we should turn back, but I was steadfast in my determination. I rearranged the straps and stuff and put it all back together. IF it weren't for my Merril hiking boots and comfy wool socks, I don't think I'd've made it.

But we did. In record time. It took us two hours and a bunch of jokes about how crazy I was, but we made it to the lake with the raft. I don't think I've ever been so exhausted. I made my brother pump up the raft.

So it was sunny with a light mist when we started fishing. The water was relatively warm and slightly brown, and you could see fish rising all over the lake. Once we got the gear and Jack Bauer into the raft, we set out for the deepest part on the otherside. I made my brother row.

So now about the fishing. This lake is full of fish. Every cast of a spinner will get follows from hungry cutthroat. And when hookedthese fish fight like a nice wild cutthroat should fight. But we wanted to check out the rumors of Mack's in the depths. So my brother trolled a Little Cleo and I trolled a Kastmaster for a bit, but then it started to pour. On of those moments where it's perfectly sunny and then you blink, and you open your eyes and you're knee deep in rainwater in the bottom of your boat type of moments. I started to get cold, and trolling and sitting still just wasn't an option. we decided to fish the far bank for Cutty's instead.

What I found that worked the best was to let the spoon sink deep and then to reel it back medium-medium fast with and erratic retrieve and just as it leveled out near the surface is when they would strike. But they strike very quick and my reactions were a bit slowed, so I was having trouble setting the hook. As soon as I get the chance I'm going to sit down and replace all of the hooks on all of my lures, because they just weren't sharp enough, because I was having so much trouble setting the hook. So frusterating when you can see three fish following and striking your bait but you just can't seem to get the hook set.

So anyways, my brother cast towards the middle of the lake while I was working the logs on the far side when I finally got a fish hooked. And it was in all truth GINOURMOUS. I've done a lot of fishing in my life. I've caught 15 pound steelhead, 20 pound lings from shore, big chinook and rainbows. Giant carp. This was a giant fish. It took the spinner right by the boat and pulled straight down, while my drag screeched and the adrenaline pumped enough so that the rain didn't matter anymore. I got him turned eventually, and for a brief moment I saw him on his side turned by the side of the raft. My rod is a six foot ultra-light ugly stick, and as he was flailing about he paused and I glimpsed him alongside it, and he was damn near half as long as that rod. He was big, with a big fat ugly head, and a long slim speckled body. As I went to try and turn him alas, he did a quick flippflop splash and a jump and self released and swam back into the murky depths.

It all happened so fast that my brother and I were dumbstruck. We sat there in silence and brooded for a second in the rain, before we got back to fishing.

We worked our way back around the lake by some of the entrance streams, and I resumed not being able to set the hook, and I think that they got tired of our lures. Everytime we'd switch up our spinners, they'd come back out curious again, but after several casts they wouldn't take it anymore. If we put a bit of night crawler on the hook to entice them to hold on longer, they wouldn't even touch it.

Long story short, we were burning daylight in the rain and should've set an alarm because before we knew it it the sun was starting to set. We ended up floating out by the logjam at the outlet and in fifteen minutes my brother boated and released over five pretty cutthroat, from 10 to sixteen inches. The bite really started to heat up as the sun set, but I was freezing and wanted to go home.

And of course, to add insult to injury, I hurt my knee on the way down, and it took us twice as long to pack out. We got back to the car about one AM and were exhausted and soaking wet. And I like I told my brother, if we were cubscouts, and there was a badge in cub scouts for being B.A. I would be an eagle cubscout in BAness for carrying that darn raft up 4500 feet to fish a lake for a couple hours.

We've decided that we're not going to do it again until we can spend the weekend up there camping, as for two or three hours of fishing it was a LOT of work. But it was probably one of the most rewarding and exhilarating things I've done in years, and I don't regret it.

snake7676

6/18/2010 8:00:00 PM

SWEET! lol

MotoBoat

6/18/2010 9:47:00 PM

Your Outdoor Adventures score right up there with what the humorous, outdoor writer "Patrick F. McMannus" has experienced, and write's about. Are your outings ever...........outings or boring?. I certainly hope not, to much enjoyment reading about it. Is your brother a member of Wa Lakes? Am I to guesstimate the "big fish" that was as long as your leg, was a laker?

natetreat

6/18/2010 10:43:00 PM

Naw, my brother is new here, he hasn't set up an account yet. I dunno if it was a laker or a cutthroat for sure, but there were some giant cuttys in that lake. He had some cutthroats color to him, and I wasn't fishing very deep at that point. Was one of those Jaws moments, where the fish emerges from the depths and scares the crap at out of you.

Idstud

6/18/2010 11:10:00 PM

Nice report. Makes me want to venture out there and do some fishing. All the maps I look at make it look like theres a road all the way there. Ive had one of those moments being a trout fisherman from Idaho. I had joined the navy and sent to IL to go through basic and schooling. I went to fish at the chain of lakes park bass, catfish, crappy, and walleye. I watched a guy on a small lake catch what I thought was a huge trout using a red looking rapala. I has something simular and thought I would give it a try after he left. On the 3rd cast I hooked into something big real big. Finally I got it too the dock and went to crab the funny looking fish. Until I seen the big a## teeth in its mouth. It was either a musky or a northern pike. I didnt want to touch it so I tryed using a stick until another guy finished laughing at my reaction and had a special tool to spread the mouth and got my lure free...
Sorry for the long story. I like your reports sounds like things I have done. How are the trails up there. Thanks for the report

natetreat

6/18/2010 11:58:00 PM

Yea, there is a DNR road that goes up to it, it's a logging road that is closed to motorized vehicles. The Rangers use it to drive up there and take care of stuff I think, but it's only allowed to bike or hike up. I was wondering about that too, but there is a gate on kellog lake rd where it reaches the main road. Definitely exciting stuff. I think that in my life growing up in the woods with little to no money may have had an impact on the amount of adventures that I've had. So many afternoons have ended in spontaneous back road adventures resulting in wild stories and great fishing, for no other reason that I was bored and looking at google maps. Heheh.

The Quadfather

6/19/2010 12:02:00 AM

Great story! We don't get enough alpine lake reports/stories on this site. I truely appreciated this one.
I read with enthusiasm your last report from this lake... the fall in story.... So what is the true deal? Is there some kind of logging road, or something that takes time off the hike-in trail?

natetreat

6/19/2010 12:15:00 AM

The logging road is a LOT easier than the trail. It is a gradual grade and well maintained. According to google maps if you start from the gate on the road at Kellog Lake Rd. than its only a four mile hike, but it looks like all of the elevation gain is at once and I don't know about that rd. But the DNR road that joins the Wallace Falls trail is very nice, and is so much easier than the Greg Ball Trail. I'm going to take the GPS out there next time and do some more exploring. If I had a mountain bike I think that would be the perfect thing, because several of the trails in the park they let you bike, and DNR roads let you bring non motorized stuff through. I'll be back to find the best way to get to it. It's a cool little lake. So small, but ominous, because you can watch as you drift from shore as the bottom gets deeper and deeper until it falls off into nothingness. And so still. There was a creepy hoot owl too, and I don't think anybody's touched the far side of the lake in twenty years. But it seems so close to town to be such a fish haven. It was a surreal experience.

MotoBoat

6/19/2010 8:37:00 AM

Jack Bauer is quite the little mascot. I bet he is enjoying the outings as much or more as you and your brother!. How does Jack react to when the fish are flopping around outside of the boat? So, your saying the logging road is a more gradual grade but bike able?. Does it look like logging or logging trucks use the gated logging road or just rangers?.

Idstud

6/19/2010 8:42:00 AM

Thats good to know about the road. Ive hiked in to a few lakes in Idaho. One on the middle fork with my Dad. We had calapsable rods and hip boots. Its amazing how close a lake can be but how few will fish it. Its too much work for most I would guess. Its also near some good steelhead fishing on the sky and some that I have talked too in this area dont like to "waste there time with trout". I know theres some good lakes on the MT loop out past Granitfalls that are good fishing as well. Tight lines

natetreat

6/19/2010 2:00:00 PM

Jack Freaks out. He will watch your entire retrieve with perfect concentration, you can see him follow the spinner with his eyes. He gets so excited when there is a fish on! He likes to lick them, haha! But he loves big fish. He wasn't sure about the whole fishing thing at first, waking up at 3 in the morning, hiking and wading through cold water and sitting still for so long. But last winter when he caught his first steelhead at the Elochoman, after seeing the fish flop and jump, he knows exactly what it means when I put his life jacket on. Yea, it looks like logging trucks have gone out on the road, and I'd definitely say it's bikable with a mountain bike. It's a really well maintained road.

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