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Backpacking is tough right now. High lakes won’t really start opening until June and July.
Domke Lake off Lake Chelan would be a possibility. That one takes some coordination as you need to take the passenger ferry up Lake Chelan.
Very few goldens are stocked in lakes easily accessible by trail. You might give Big Greider off Hwy 2 a shot. But it is on DNR land and hasn’t been stocked in quite a while. It has some naturally reproducing RB and probably has a few goldens left but you’ll have to work for them.
Welcome to Washington. A canoe trip in the Boundary Waters has been high on my todo list for a couple decades, but so far it is just wishful thinking.
You’ve got a ton of options out of Whidbey. Determining a good location will depend a bit on when you go and how quickly things melt out. Just starting out I’d recommend some short day hikes so you can start to learn what to expect before jumping right in with a 3-day trip.
As far as fishing for trout vs warm water fish goes there are a few things to consider. Most of the time high lake water is gin clear and the fish are often spooky. So you need to go with light line. With a spinning reel I use 4-lb test and I wouldn’t go any higher then 6-lb. I almost exclusively use lures between 3/16 and 1/4 ounce. At that weight they cast well on a light line without overloading your rod and they are the appropriate size for the fish you’ll be catching.
Diet makes a huge difference in the taste of trout. So if you’ve never tried a trout from a high lake then you’ve never really tried a trout. 😀
Animals aren’t a big concern. There are cougar and bear but if you keep a clean camp they won’t bother you.
Stocking has been curtailed on DNR land in recent years. Hopefully that is temporary, but in the meantime it doesn’t leave a lot of lakes left with goldens up the Mtn Loop. Have you been sticking to trails or going cross country? You should be getting some ‘bows in addition to EB and CT.
@Vigilguy wrote:
This may be a silly question, but does anyone know where to buy z-ray lures, now that they are no longer in business? EBay is my first thought, but I just wanted to see if any of you had suggestions.
Hey Charlie, I was just going through a box of lures I got from my dad’s house and I found one slightly used Z-Ray. I think it is the small size. It is 1.5″ long and probably 1/8 oz, or so. Bright red.
If you want it I’d be happy to drop it in the mail. Just send me an email off the link on this post.
There might be some repeats on the bathymetric maps, I didn’t look that closely. They do look like the same style, but I don’t think the high lake ones were in Wolcott.
Thanks for the links. I hadn’t seen those.
You’ve probably seen this Lone Hiker, but for anyone that hasn’t, another great resource is Ernie Wolcott’s Lakes of Washington. You can access a scanned version here:
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/eap/wsb/wsb_Lakes.htmlI’ve never used an anchor, but I know lots of people who have. I’ve always thought a bag attached to a line that could be filled with rocks would work. I’ve considered some sort of sea anchor but never gotten around to playing with it. Generally I deal with being blown aroun too much by trolling instead of trying to stay put.
Your signature reminds me of a lake in the Uintahs where the wind was really blowing but we decided to raft across a narrow spot to avoid a lot of rock hopping and cliffs. So we polled in the rafts packs and all and started across the wave covered lake. Naturally I put my line out. Murphy’s Law kicked in and I tied into a nice fish as we approached the far shore. The wind was forcing me down the lake and into the cliffs. I had to pretty much give up on trying to play it and hope my line would hold as I horsed it in.
He never came to a meeting that I’m aware of, but he came to a Winter Social. He lives in Eastern Washington.
It is very rare to find good fishing in a high lake that is right on the road like Coal Lake. The lakes are too small and the growing seasons too short to support a ton of pressure. And Coal has more of those brookies you are so fond of 😀
But the surrounding lakes are better. Pass and Independence are both very short hikes and small lakes. But neither has brookies so that’s improvement right off the bat. North is a large lake that can be a bit tough to fish so it tends to hold up better. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed exploring that area.
There are lots of trail resources. The MBSNF website recreation page has interactive trail maps. Washington Trails Association has an extensive database of trail descriptions.
You should get comfortable with topographic maps. Ultimately, they are your best resource. I like Hill Map for online interactive topo maps.
For driving to trailheads you should pick up copies of the Forest Service maps available at ranger stations. Unfortunately, they can be a bit spendy these days.
I was up and Deep and Deadmans a couple weeks ago. Deep is surrounded by overhanging brush so it isn’t easy to fish, either. It is about 400 vertical feet below the trail so it isn’t really just off it. A boat is a huge help on Deadmans.
As far as suggestions go, oh man. There are tons of great places. Solitude can be difficult on weekends no matter where you go if you are strictly sticking to trails. But most places have plenty of room to get away. The Necklace Valley makes a great three day trip. Or head up past Trout and Copper Lakes and explore all the lakes beyond. Or head over to the east side and explore all the lakes above Waptus. If you want to put on some trail miles explore the Klonaqua Lakes. You can either go up the Icicle or over Paddy Go Easy Pass. You definitely won’t be alone, but Tuck and Robin are beautiful and you can explore the nearby ridges. Marmot and Clarice would make a nice trip. There are lots of nice possibilities in the Pasayten Wilderness if you want to go north.
There just isn’t enough time to do them all!
Only lakes that have been historically planted will continue to be planted. That means no fish in newly formed lakes.
As you surmised, they would typically be poor for fish anyway. Water in those lakes is typically cold and there is very little organic material to support insect life. It would be fascinating to track invertebrate colonization. I’m guessing they would typically support a small number of fish if they were stocked but growth rates would be slow.
The latest trip reports at WTA are a good resource. So are trip reports and discussions at NWHikers.net.
