wdfw down, and in dire need of high lakes stocking info

Forums Forums Public High Lakes Forum High lakes discussion wdfw down, and in dire need of high lakes stocking info

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    • #84344
      shai
      Participant

        I am working on a fathers day surprise present for my hubby and wdfw’s site is down at the most inopportune time. Basically i am trying to compile a list of fishable high mountain lakes all over washington. i have trail and topo maps for the alpine lakes wilderness, gifford pinchot, okanogan, mt. baker-sno, and oly penisula. any help figuring out where to combine hiking and fishing in these areas would be greatly appreciated. I don’t need to know where the biggest and best are, just a basic list of viable lakes.

      • #101038
        Brian Curtis
        Keymaster

          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!

        • #101039
          shai
          Participant

            thanks for the info. any tips on where to find brookies and westslopes, and naturally reproducing lakes are of particular interest, we are usually not much interested in planted generic rainbows or coastal cuts.

          • #101040
            bedawes
            Participant

              How good of shape are you and your husband in? If you want a challenge, Mildred Lakes is (in my opinion) an Alpine Lake Fishing haven.

              Naturally reproducing shrimp feed in the lakes, 3 separate lakes. Protected well by the brute of a hike it takes to get there. Don’t let the distance and elevation gain fool you, it’s a brute of a challenge but the fishing is impeccable. Rainbow plants, Brookies, and Westslope Cutthroat all available. I’ve only caught rainbows in the large lake. There was a 4-5 pounder pulled out of the middle lake two years ago. Anglers I’ve spoken with are convinced there are 5+ lbs. fish in there and I don’t doubt it.

              Check it out on wta.org. I also posted about it on here. It’s trail no.822 in the Olympic National Forest. If you go, please share a trip report and fishing report! Good luck!

            • #101041
              shai
              Participant

                I was definitely looking at that trip. I think he would love it, he’s in great shape me not so much, make up for my physical limitations with sheer determination 🙂 thanks for the tip!

              • #101042
                Brian Curtis
                Keymaster

                  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.

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