coal lake thaw

[rpbfishin]

Has anybody gone up this early in the season? My girlfriend and I really love to go to coal lake and eat those tasty little Brook Trout, and we wanna go camping next week, Monday thru Thursday. The problem is, I don't know if it is going to be thawed out yet. Does anybody know when it usually thaws?

Thanks,
Richard

[rpbfishin]

Nothing, eh? I really didn't want to make the trip if it would be for no reasoon. I guess we could drive up and check it out and stay at another place if its still snowed in. I just figured that somebody would know. This lake is full of EBT, so many that none of them can grow any bigger than 10 inches or so but they are fully mature and taste great. I hope the eating them comment above didn't throw off any potential responses to my original question.

Thanks,
Richard

[The Quadfather]

Richard, I know your lake very well. I would expect there to be snow up there for sure, sorry I can't speak to the ice. To me it would not be a very easy lake to fish with snow on the edges. The entry point from the road side has limited shore access. A couple big rocks you can stand on... The far end of the lake would have the better shore access, but if the snow is as I would expect it still, I think you would be hampered with access issues even on shore.
Ya, it is a great little lake full of EBT, and so crystal clear you can see them come after your fly. On a side note, go check out Independence lake which is right up at the end of that Coal lake dirt road. The trail head is there, and the hike is MAYBE 1/2 mile. In my experience it had 12-14" fish, larger than Coal.
There is another lake that the trail head is just past the bend in the road at Coal lake.. I've not made it into this one, and the signage has been gone for years.
Let us know if you make it up there.

[rpbfishin]

Thank you for the info. I think we are gonna give it a shot. I will post a report if we fish!

[rpbfishin]

As of 4/21, the road was still not clear. Two miles below the trailhead was as far as we could go. Maybe a couple more weeks?

Thought about trying kelcema, but I don't know if it is camper friendly so we decided to camp on the south fork sauk instead, at the mouth of elliot creek. My girlfriend and I went hiking and when we got back to camp, we discovered that our tent's rain flap had come undone on one side and the contents of our tent were sitting in water, including our blankets. So we packed up and cut it short.

[The Quadfather]

Really appreciate the road/trail report, Thanks!