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That’s really cool. I’ve been thinking about doing this for some years, but haven’t done anything about it. The WDFW bio for King County back in the 80s and 90s went to all the lakes in his area and took soundings with a hand line attached to a weight. He did enough transects of the lakes that way to build contour maps. His map of Blazer had the final contour in the deep part at 55′ so yours at 59′ agrees nicely.
You don’t happen to be the guy I ran into at Blazer back in 2014 are you? I would have been out in a boat.
You would be surprised where fish can live 🙂 I saw some fish survive through the 2015 summer in a little lake that lost so much water I thought it would be impossible. They are really surprisingly resilient.
You should be able to attach photos. There should be a Choose File button below the box where you type your reply. Are you seeing something else?
I talked to one of the WDFW database folks last winter and it sounded like they had plans to update the high lake stocking. But obviously nothing has happened. Unfortunately the data is not tied in to their main stocking database and it has to be updated every year, which they have not done. So I expect it to be updated at some point, but who knows when. I think most of their effort is going into a new regulations app right now.
Don’t forget that the lakes stocked are only a fraction of the high lakes with fish. Lakes with natural reproduction are not generally stocked so they won’t show up on your map.
Talapus Lake is the most obvious choice. The trail is very popular so you won’t be alone. But it is an easy hike to a lake that is open now. Though the water is probably still too cold for decent fishing.
Lodge Lake would be another option. It is also open now, but there is snow on the trail and it will probably be better in two or three weeks.
Snow Lake is a bit more of a hike and not open yet. It is also extremely popular. And for good reason as it is gorgeous. The lake is quite large so it might be a bit intimidating for a brand new angler and the fish can be tough to find at times.
Yes, the Foss Lakes area does get hit pretty hard. But most of the lakes have lots of fish. You’ll have a great time up there.
You don’t really have to worry about whether or not there will be fish. You’d be surprised at where you’ll find fish and you will discover that exploring every single blue dot you can find on the map will generally be worth your while. It doesn’t matter if there are trails or not or how remote the lakes are. The only real exceptions are the national parks where, with the exception of the North Cascades National Park, fish are not stocked.
[quote quote=112561] Maybe a place that has a couple lakes in the area, around 50 acres in size?[/quote]
Why are you looking for such large lakes in particular? Small lakes are often better fishing.
Yeah, if you want to find someplace lonely, Rainbow Lake will fit the bill. 😯
But if you are looking for something a bit easier I’d start with WDFW’s high lakes website. There is a ton of great information about high lake fishing there.
If you are looking for westslope CT or EBs you can’t go wrong with pretty much any large lake. Try the West Fork Foss (Copper, Little Heart, Big Heart, etc) or the Necklace Valley. I wouldn’t dismiss stocked fish. They are stocked as fry so they grow up just as if they were naturally reared in the lake so they aren’t like generic stockers in low lakes.
Pretty much any blue spot on the map will be a fishable spot with only a few caveats. Fish are not stocked in Mount Rainier or Olympic National Parks so you are far more likely to encounter fishless lakes there. Outside of the national parks it is probably easier to list lakes that don’t have fish (Shoe Lake and Gem Lake are examples of large lakes with no fish). Even WDFW’s website doesn’t list all the lakes with fish.
I think a better approach would be to find hikes that would be appropriate for your skill level. If there are lakes on the route then they are almost certain to have fish. It is hard to go wrong!
Yes to all your questions. Nordrum is up the MidFork (Middle Fork Snoqualmie) road. You start from the same TH as you would for Snoqualmie Lake. Yes, I have been to Nordrum. And Carole and Judy. And I knew Con. He was as nice as they come.
Your sentence about the naming of Carole and Judy Lakes might be confusing to some readers so just to clarify: Carole and Judy Lakes were named by Con Mattson for his daughters. After Con died we tried to get a nearby unnamed lake officially named for Con but Cons Lake was a tough sell.
I like the Forest Service maps for seeing the big picture. Stop at any ranger station and you can pick up a paper copy. Or you can download digital version from each forest’s web site. There are some examples here.
Edit: If you are looking for a book the Delorme Atlas is the way to go.
The Middle Fork Snoqualmie Road is only open on weekends. Paving is scheduled to be finished by July 2017. Updates and opening/closing schedules are available here.
The trail to Snoqualmie Lake from that direction was in great shape last time I hiked it. But it has been many years (or decades) so I should pretty much be ignored on that subject.
Talapus and Olallie are some of the most visited lakes in the area but the hordes drop down fairly quickly beyond those two lakes. It is a similar situation with Mason Lake and with Snow Lake. Everybody and their pack of dogs hikes to Mason Lake, but there are plenty of lakes beyond to explore. Snow Lake is always worth the hike, but keep going and you leave the majority of people behind. Early in the season you can go to Pratt Lake instead of Island/Rainbow which will open up a bit later. And once you are at Pratt why not go on to Tuscohatchie or maybe Windy and Kaleetan? So many lakes to explore…
Another good one off I-90 is Granite Mtn. The lookout itself is worth the hike, but there are lakes on the backside you can go fish and you’ll leave most people behind on the mountain.
On busy weekends those trailheads will fill up and overflow well down the road. Don’t leave anything valuable in your car at any trailhead, but especially at the trailheads right off I-90.
Your friend is correct that fishing generally picks up as lakes warm. There are some folks that swear that fishing is best during ice out, but that hasn’t been my experience.
Dorothy should be good now. The upper lakes are probably still a bit cold and I’m guessing still have some snow around. But you don’t really know unless you go up and try :fishing:
The trail to Bear, Deer, and Snoqualmie is a regular trail and easy to follow. Fisherman’s trails are user routes that sometimes arise because people tend to follow the same cross-country route. If you are following a path like that you need to have good cross-country route finding skills. Some lakes in the area like Pugsley have a fisherman’s trail. Some of the other lakes have no trails at all.
