Northwest Fishing Reports

Are there any high lakes that are good this time of year? With the rivers closing, I will either have to drive a long ways, which the wife says no, or fish local Lakes, but I like the exercise of tromping through the wilderness. I have a list of lakes that I want to hit up, but is it worth it in January?

are you talking sub-alpine, below the snow line?

Well, a lake in the hills or mountains that you have to hike into that holds trout?

I would guess that any lake over 2000 feet would be too frozen to fish but I'm not an expert on Alpine lakes. The one I frequent in the Leavenworth are are froze pretty good. Take an auger with ya.

natetreat wrote:Are there any high lakes that are good this time of year? With the rivers closing, I will either have to drive a long ways, which the wife says no, or fish local Lakes, but I like the exercise of tromping through the wilderness. I have a list of lakes that I want to hit up, but is it worth it in January?

That is a great idea Nate. I understand your enjoyment of tromping through the woods to a lake.
An area that I like to visit is the area of lakes around the Moutain Loop Highway. This is the road that goes over the Granite falls bridge and continues on out all the way to Darrington. There are SO many lakes out here, some are obviously further and higher hikes that would have ice. I assume that you meant lakes just below the snowline. Or maybe you want to carry an auger into an alpine lake, .... now that is a thought.

Go to Google maps and just start looking at bodies of water within walking distance of the Hwy. Heather lake,, Lake 22 come to mind, Independance lake, Coal lake. (these two I know well.) Easily hiked into.
One issue though is that this Moutain loop Hwy usually closes to autos I think near Silverton, (google maps, Silverton Wa.)
Whooo.. I just had a great lake come to mind. Spada reservior (sp?) up near Reiter is a huge body of water, that surely wouldn't be frozen, right?? Not all that high, but yet high enough to have to experience a little hike. Check the regs. it had been closed the last few years, but I am pretty sure that it opened up this last year to selective gear, no motors, etc.
That could be a great experience. But the whole area around Silverton, Verlot, big four ice caves, etc. tons. of lakes. Just depends on snow level. Let us know what you come up with.

google, "Lost lake, snohomish, WA." Use sattelite image. Mag it up, you can see it's close to the hwy,, lots of trees laying in the water/shoreline. the question lies in if the hwy is closed at what point to traffic, above or below the jump off point to these lakes.

Mt loop is closed I believe from last weeks rain. Call the Verlot Ranger station and ask them. I did the blinds at the station and the Rangers there were awesome and totally helpfull. They have mappings of trails and Lakes. Alll or most lakes on the Mt Loop hwy are stocked according to the ranger we spoke to. Just check mainly to see if the road opened back up.Good call Quad.

The Quadfather wrote:

natetreat wrote:Are there any high lakes that are good this time of year? With the rivers closing, I will either have to drive a long ways, which the wife says no, or fish local Lakes, but I like the exercise of tromping through the wilderness. I have a list of lakes that I want to hit up, but is it worth it in January?

That is a great idea Nate. I understand your enjoyment of tromping through the woods to a lake.
An area that I like to visit is the area of lakes around the Moutain Loop Highway. This is the road that goes over the Granite falls bridge and continues on out all the way to Darrington. There are SO many lakes out here, some are obviously further and higher hikes that would have ice. I assume that you meant lakes just below the snowline. Or maybe you want to carry an auger into an alpine lake, .... now that is a thought.

Go to Google maps and just start looking at bodies of water within walking distance of the Hwy. Heather lake,, Lake 22 come to mind, Independance lake, Coal lake. (these two I know well.) Easily hiked into.
One issue though is that this Moutain loop Hwy usually closes to autos I think near Silverton, (google maps, Silverton Wa.)
Whooo.. I just had a great lake come to mind. Spada reservior (sp?) up near Reiter is a huge body of water, that surely wouldn't be frozen, right?? Not all that high, but yet high enough to have to experience a little hike. Check the regs. it had been closed the last few years, but I am pretty sure that it opened up this last year to selective gear, no motors, etc.
That could be a great experience. But the whole area around Silverton, Verlot, big four ice caves, etc. tons. of lakes. Just depends on snow level. Let us know what you come up with.

google, "Lost lake, snohomish, WA." Use sattelite image. Mag it up, you can see it's close to the hwy,, lots of trees laying in the water/shoreline. the question lies in if the hwy is closed at what point to traffic, above or below the jump off point to these lakes.

Awesome, yea, I've never done ice fishing, and since I'll probably be on my own, ice fishing seems a bit dangerous to me. Personally. I like the outdoors and everything, but I've never been fond of putting my life in needless risk. I don't do snowboarding, skiing rock climbing anymore, cuz I just don't want to be that guy in the paper that drowned because he tried to drill a hole through thin ice ten miles from civilization and couldn't swim on account of hypothermia. So if it's below snow level that'd be great. Are the fish even active this time of year? Spada is awesome, I've nevr fished it, but I've got up there a couple times fishing the awesome lakes in the hills there.

Nate you made me feel better. I thought I was the only one who didnt like risking life for a fish.Hehehe.

On the placing your life in the hands of the ice thought....... I'm all about the same thinking. If you grew up in a part of the country where lakes freeze such that cars drive on them,, then you're all good, that is what you've been used to seeing.
Me, when I see a frozen lake, I see the visions of one of those Damien/Omen movies, where the kids play hockey on the lake and one falls through. That left ice nightmares in me to this day.:batman:

racfish wrote:Nate you made me feel better. I thought I was the only one who didnt like risking life for a fish.Hehehe.

I temper my sense of adventure with a good helping of common sense.

when i lived on the west side we did a cool hike to "lake serene". look for "bridal falls" right off of hwy 2, which wouldn't be too terribly far for you from lynwood. there's a nice hike to the falls, and the trail continues past it to the lake that feeds the falls. it's beautiful. i took the picture below at lake serene. we packed in float tubes & fly rods and caught trout up there. obviously you don't want to float this time of year, and i can't say if it's even open (open water and/or open per fishing regs) right now, but worth a look. or save it for a summer outing.

nate with my experience fishing alpine lakes or "high" lakes in january would be tough to come by. I snowshoe a ton to different lakes around wenatchee and leavenworth and they generally don't thaw till april or may depending on the spring temps. A common one I have fished/or planned on fishing up the icicle near leavenworth wasn't free of ice when i went last year and that was mid may... just something to consider. by all means go explore, take some snowshoes and experience mother nature!

I think I will. I'll post reports and pics for all ya'll to see!

Last year at this time i hiked up to the alpine lakes above north bend.....all frozen but went back a few months later and caught the most beautiful dolly varden, be well prepared (snow shoes and a way to stake your tent in the show if your over nighting it.

You want to do something cool in the outdoors in winter. Find the snowline and just pack in for a night in the woods. Now's the time. That walk into the dark, with the moon on the snow ought to scrub some problems out of your head.. Its an awesome exercise for your ears too. You'll feel like a frickin cave man. February is the Hunger Moon.