Northwest Fishing Reports

Hello! Not from Washington and live in Monroe and was hoping to find lakes that get ice. The only one Ive heard is Fish Lake by Leavenworth which I plan on checking out when the ice is there but was hoping to find some others.

Idahoguy9488 wrote:Hello! Not from Washington and live in Monroe and was hoping to find lakes that get ice. The only one Ive heard is Fish Lake by Leavenworth which I plan on checking out when the ice is there but was hoping to find some others.

You can try Roses Lake outside of Manson or Rat Lake North of Brewster, both of which produce winter limits of Rainbows.

Thanks for the tip! Roses lake looks like it would be a blast since it has a good variety.

Roses is nice although you'll never be alone once the ice thickens up enough. Not crowed by any means like Fish Lake is. But it is a popular lake.

I always like meeting fellow fishermen so a little crowd is never a bad thing. How well are the roads maintained leading into the lakes?

The roads are fine. The short little turn off down to the Roses Lake parking lot and the parking lot itself can get a little messy as winter settles it. It's not maintained so 4x4 is always nice.

Is there any regulations in regards to how many poles can be active per fisherman? Back in Idaho they allow us to have three rods active per person for ice fishing but I can't find anything specific on the regs for here in Washington.

Yes, it's in the regs under, muliple rods endorsement.

ONE per angler unless you pay double, then you can use 2. BUT you can only use 2 rods in certain lakes, not all of them.

Lakes with the below icon are excluded from
the Two-Pole Endorsement.

http://www.wdfw.wa.gov/publications/00957/wdfw00957.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

page 26: under ' Special Rules Instructions ' .

Then look at every lake's special regs to see what is there before you go fishing at/in that lake.

page 62;

http://www.wdfw.wa.gov/publications/00957/wdfw00957.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

both rods must be under your control at all times also,so traditional tip-ups fishing is kind of shaddy

Fish Lake is your closest ice fishing lake I know of. I use this link for ice conditions there: http://www.zeitcam.com/webcam/fishlake" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The Cove is where I usually park, I think it's a $5 parking fee now, bring some ones, a spare envelope in case they are out, chains if you don't have 4wd. The fishing is good for perch and trout early, peters out later in the ice fishing season. Be aware, last I checked, there is a 25 perch limit here, 5 on the trout. No limit on the sculpins here though! LOL

I also love Roses, no additional fee with the WDFW access pass. Stocker trout and perch are typical but tiger trout are also present.

Depending on how far you want to drive, E WA has a bunch of lakes to ice fish. Evergreen Reservoir, Patterson, Hatch, Williams(near Colville) Pierre, too many to list. One I've been meaning to try is Bonaparte, higher elevation, should freeze up sooner, pretty thick ice later, the resort up there has very limited hours/days of the week they are open this year.

You can also check some of the past threads on ice fishing lakes, past years' were chocked full of good info and locations. Use the search feature within WA lakes here..... Merry Christmas!

Also going over I-90, Lost lake, off of the Stampede Pass exit is your closest bet.

Thanks you guys so much for the advice! Fish lake is probably going to be a first stop as long as there aren't any more trees falling down. Lost lake sounds like a good choice too. As long as there's ice, beer and fish I'm all good. Merry Christmas to all of you!