Forums Forums Public High Lakes Forum High lakes discussion New to this site and have a few questions

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    • #82912
      JOSHUA BURCK
      Keymaster

        Hello i am new to this site and High lake fishing… I am going to be going on a multi day trip and was thinking of the William O Douglas area, North East of White Pass, has anyone fished these lakes and willing to give some advice? not needing a particularly hot spot just general info. Also what gear might you reccomend, since this is my first camping, hiking, fishing trip it may help me not forget something important.

        If you have suggestion rather than this area to go i am open for advice. i am out of kalama washington and would like to stay within 3-4 hour drive of my home. Thank you very much!

      • #94721
        Brian Curtis
        Keymaster

          You’ll have a great time in that area. There are tons of lakes to explore and lots of fishing to be done. Don’t forget your mosquito repellent and head net. The mosquitos can be brutal in that area. They normally peak in early to mid-July so you should be past the worst of them, but this is such a late year there are no guarantees.

          Make sure you bring the ten essentials and your basic hiking needs will be covered. Keep your pack as light as possible. Make sure you have good topo maps. Raingear should include both a jacket and pants. Don’t wear or bring anything that contains cotton.

          If you are spin fishing carry a fly and bubble setup in addition to lures. No reason to be subtle with your lures, bring something you can cast. For high lakes that normally means 3/16 to 1/4 oz spoons. Use light line: 4-lb test. If you’re not catching anything near the surface fish deep and slow.

        • #94722
          Sandy McKean
          Participant

            Brian just created the best 168 word advise for high lake fishing in the Cascades I’ve ever read! 🙂

            P.S. Many people don’t realize the power of a fly on a bubble……mark my words.

          • #94723
            JOSHUA BURCK
            Keymaster

              Ok great thanks! ill be be bringing the raft and some spinning gear so i should be good for the ability to find the fish. I also have been doing a large quantity of research on what to bring to camp i was going to bring my dads gps, but it is an older more primative model and i am somewhat worried it wont work when i get into all those trees… so maybe i should bring both (gps compass)? One last question does anyone know where i can find good maps that show the trail and everything else? My local fishing hunting store BOBS only has the green maps, and they are hardly better than my dads Washington book that has small pages of all the quadrants that he showed me. Some of the lakes on both these maps actually are untitled while they are named on google maps 😆 .

              Again Thanks for all the help

            • #94724
              Brian Curtis
              Keymaster

                Go to MyTopo. There you can buy custom made topo maps and look at them and print them online. I’m not sure the best place to buy USGS topos in Kalama but there are numerous places like REI in Portland if you are going to make the trek down there.

                Don’t just go to the lakes listed in the guide books or named on the maps. You want to explore as many as you can and lots have fish.

                You definitely want to carry a compass in addition to your GPSr. There aren’t a lot of high ridges in that area so you’ll normally have good access to satellites from that perspective.

              • #94725
                JOSHUA BURCK
                Keymaster

                  Ok well this helps a lot… and the bugs should not be a problem because i got some 98% deet spray. best to be safe cause i am a little allergic to them… i plan to do lots of exploring and get lots of crawdads as well. ill be sure to post back how it goes

                • #94726
                  JOSHUA BURCK
                  Keymaster

                    Well Just got back from the trip had a relatively good time with exception of a few things, it had to be cut short because when we had just arrived i accidentally cut my finger open with a knife, luckily my friend had some supplies and we made our way back down to the ER in Yakima. Got back up and got to enjoy a short time of fishing before i ran out of bandages so we had to bag it early, caught some beautiful cutts though, and lost one that had to be huge… Was trolling a rapala around the lake and hooked him, ran TONS of line and drug me around the lake for a while… was finally getting him in and he ran to me… I was reeling fast trying to keep up then he 180’d and broke the line. Most deffinately biggest trout i ever had on… But the country was beautiful… Things we learned leave the crawdad traps home, they are a pain. That was my mistake along with cutting myself with the knife. My friends things we learned (that i could have told him if id known) Don’t pack any canned food Soda or a case of ammo. lol… Overall a good time though now time to begin thinking of next years vacation 😀

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