Great Fishing Lake

[qwerfdsa12345]

Hi, I live in Issaquah and i was wondering if anyone could tell me what the best lakes in the area are. I would like to target trout, and the only type of fishing I know is powerbaiting and trolling. I don't need any thing too close, I have a boat, and i catch trout. I have not been to pleased with beaver lake and I want something fresh. My son also needs a lake with lots of fast action so he gets hooked if you know what I mean. I don't care if they're tiny stockers, but i think my son would like some excitement in order to get addicted. Anyways, thanks. I am willing to drive pretty far.

[Dave]

Welcome to Wa Lakes.com. I don't live in your area but I can tell you that in April the State and some private clubs will be stocking all if not most lakes in WA. When the opener comes on the last Saturday in April, the trout are easy to catch and your kids will have a blast for sure. As for lakes; I am sure our members will chime in here but you can also go to the home page, click on the county map and have a look at all the lakes in your area, then check out the reports for the lakes you are interested in visiting and you will get a bunch of info in what works in what lakes and when. Sorry I couldn't be more help. Good luck fishin.

[sickbayer]

samamish is my fave lake....although it isnt kid friendly, i do however take mine there but they know you have got to find the schools first. If you do go there just follow the birds and you should find the fish.

[kzoo]

If your looking for a small lake, Pine and Beaver are perfect. Pine is closed right now, they stock the lake in the spring with a crazy amount of trout. Pine doesn't have a launch for trailers, just car toppers. Beaver is another option that is open year round and does have a gravel ramp for a small boat with no gas outboard.

[A9]

You'll have trouble experiencing "great" trout fishing this time of year. The cold weather lowers the water temps and thus reduces the activity/metabolism of the fish, so they are typically inactive and sluggish at this time of the year. Ya might want to hold off until spring to take your little boy out to be honest. Sammamish/Beaver are the two lakes closest to you and they won't be kicking out anything close to limits this time of the year.

When the water temps start climbing in late March/early April and the lakes start getting planted is when I'd start fishing for trout pretty hard if your looking for fast paced action. April/May are phenomenal times to target lakes like Pine as the water temps are ideal for trout and the number of fish in the lakes are astonishing. Pine got 20,000 trout last year, and is definitely a great lake to look into if you can hand launch your boat, or even just fish off the pier. They don't allow boats to be launched via a trailer.

Beaver is a decent trout lake, I think its way overrated, all the trout seem to be mushier then other put and take lakes and smaller fish as well, except for the triploids, which are still pretty overrated in terms of eating quality and fighting ability. But the big advantage over Pine is that Beaver has a gravel launch which is good for smaller boats.

Rattlesnake Lake out east of ya is another great trout lake. It's a selective gear lake, so no bait or treble hook, barbless as well. But it has a good amount of trout in it and many of them are great sized too.

Sammamish is an awesome lake to target Cutthroat trout. It's not a lake your going to land 5-10 fish every time out, sometimes its tough to even get one, it will take a good amount of learning/scouting out there to get it dialed in. There are a few folks from this site who are very knowledgeable on this fishery and sending them a Private Message would be a good idea as they could give you some good pointers....

[qwerfdsa12345]

Thanks. What about some small lakes with boat access? I'm tired of beaver and I don't care if a lake is far away. Probably anywhere around an hour drive is okay for me. A little further could work too.

[tnj8222]

if you dont mind the drive kidney lake in skamania county has excellent trout fishing. i beleive its closed right now though. pretty much all the put and take lakes have great trout fishing in april though.

[Ditch Pickler]

pine and beaver should be your best bet if you dont have access to hit up sammamish!

[qwerfdsa12345]

What do you mean no access to sammamish?

[A9]

What do you mean no access to sammamish?

What kind of boat do you have?

[Ditch Pickler]

What do you mean no access to sammamish?

What kind of boat do you have?

thats what i meant!!!

[p.t.]

Why not Green Lake in Seattle? My son got his first ever fish on that lake, a 14" stock trout. 1.5 eyars later, he is still bragging about that catch! If you listen to him talking to his buddies about how he got that trout, you'd think he caught a whale! Green Lake is easy to access, kids friendly, and they stock a lot of trout there every year. Just make sure don't use gas engine boat on that lake.

[kzoo]

Just make sure don't use gas engine boat on that lake.

or an electric motor, no Motors allowed. Doesn't make any sense to me, the crew club can run around in their outboards, but we have to paddle it up.

[hewesfisher]

Just make sure don't use gas engine boat on that lake.

or an electric motor, no Motors allowed. Doesn't make any sense to me, the crew club can run around in their outboards, but we have to paddle it up.

Which means no motors attached to the boat, whether or not in use.

[qwerfdsa12345]

What about lake shoecraft? I've heard some good stuff about it.

[Gonefishing]

Just make sure don't use gas engine boat on that lake.

or an electric motor, no Motors allowed. Doesn't make any sense to me, the crew club can run around in their outboards, but we have to paddle it up.

Which means no motors attached to the boat, whether or not in use.

And the crew club gets to run over you fishing line. And the rowers get to pass as close to shore as they want (well seems like it anyways).

Yep I'm getting cranky cause I got cabin feaver cause its too blasted cold. :D

[qwerfdsa12345]

I'm thinking about hitting Beaver Lake in sammamish tommorow. My boat's trailer lights are broken right now so I will have to shore fish. Anyone have recommendations? I haven't shore fished there before and was wondering where good places that fish hold are there. I'm planning on just using a sinking powerbait rig.

[wmaxwell48]

Let me offer a good target even in the slow winter months. Black Lake in Olympia. Good Trout but also Bass, Crappie, and even Cats. You said you didn't mind going a far piece. 60 miles on average for your area. Also look at American Lake in Pierce county at Lakewood, that is 25 miles closer than Balck Lake. both have no restrictions on boating or fishing tackle.