Favorite Alpine Lake of All Time

[fishnislife]

I have been itching to start a post and get the communication and excitement level back up so I found a nice quit corner of this site to do it in.
I have been fishing alpine lakes ever since I can remember but haven't taken the time in the last year or two to venture out and find new great lakes at great altitutes. I was wondering what Alpine Lake you guys enjoy going to the most and your best experience at that lake.

I can't say that I have had a real memerable time at any certain one, other than each ones own beautiful setting. (actually I can recall a couple memerable times but they don't involve fishing ) I haven't caught any lunkers out of any high lake. Mostly brookies and cuts about 8" or less caught on the fly.

BTW - where is beerman1981? I was hoping to get his input on this too. He always seemed to be venturing up in dem hills. He hasn't logged on since September 12.


alpinefishnislife

[shawn]

Glad to see your here don't leave because of the kid. I enjoy reading your post.

[littleriver]

Yeah, I've had some of those "memorable" times too fish'n, but they're usually near the top of a mountain somewhere. The mountain lakes I visit tend to be too crowded and mosquitoy for that kind of thing.


I think my favorite hike-in lake of all time is Castle. Gotta take a float tube in because it's pretty much unfishable from shore and I've never really caught anything over 14" but there are lots of that size fish to be had. By the way, Castle is the lake in the background of my avatar.

[A9]

Glad you didn't get run completely off the board fishnislife.

From your post, it got me reminding myself of how fun it was to pack a pole on the camping trips and how much fun the fishing was up in those lakes...I think I'll have to try and make a trip back up to one somewhere...

[viet]

we found a new home! haha hope the kid doesn't ruin this too.

anyways i love alpine lakes although i haven't fished many in the last couple years. my favorite lake to fish is Lake Elizabeth up near money creek campground on hwy 2. i cant remember what forest service road its on, but its up by an old mine up there. right next to the road so no hiking. no one ever there. you can park your car on the side of the dirt road and walk your float tube 50 yards to the lake.

i was supposed to go up towards mason lake in the alpine lakes wilderness area a couple weeks back, but my buddies wife eneded up getting sick so we had to cancel the trip, was looking forward to that. Little Kulla Kulla is up that way, but there are not trails. if it had a trail i would say that is my all time favorite alpine lake, but it doesn't so it takes second. lots of shore access though.

Lake Valhalla up towards steven's pass is fun too. though its a long hike in, 4 miles or so and there are sometimes people. its a big lake w/minimal shore access.

I was up at boulder lake north of sultan in the spada lake area. that was an unexpected hard hike. pretty much went from 0 to 3200 ft in just under 4 miles. this lake was fun to fish, nothing over 10 inches though. theres also a primitve camp ground right on the shores. the whole shoreline is pretty much accessable.

my brother-in-law and i are planning a trip next summer up to granite lakes to fish for greyling. i hear that is a hard hike. he's a former marine though and we have gps and everything needed for a hike like that. if anyone wants to do it contact me and we'll formalize everything.

sorry for the novel guys, i'll shut up now

[fishnislife]

You don't have to shut up viet. That's good stuff.
Kind of the purpose of this post.
And to get a bunch of guys together talking about alpine lakes and which ones they recommend. My hope is that this might spur some people on to get out there and post some more reports and stuff on alpine lakes. I know we have the fisherman to do it. We just need to get them to come out of the woodwork (pun intended). Of coarse the season is going to get nasty up in the hills soon, but come next year I am definitely going to be venturing out to uncharted land and water.
An alpine lake that I have always wanted to go to but have never had the chance is Lost Lake. I hear cool things about it all the time but don't ever make it a point to go check it out. Soon I will have to visit it and toss the fly around.

Kafelafish - whats been the nicest one you've been to?


alpinefishnislife

[gpc]

Fish, about Beerman. He is a butcher and he said around hunting season and when everyone is slaughtering their cattle, he probably wont have too much time for the site. Plus he is working on getting a new house. I really want to hear from him soon too. Hopefully he will be back soon.

I really like those hike in lakes, but have only fished a couple and had limited luck. The one I had my best luck at is Dusty. Its not an Alpine lake, its actually in Quincy, but is a hike in selective gear lake. There is Bows, browns and tigers and we have made the hike many times since finding the lake earlier this year. There is some BIG fish in there, probably just the trips. But there is supposedly the state record tiger in there. Then right next door is the tiger muskie lake, a catch and realese only bass lake, and a couple put and take trout lakes. What more could you ask for?

[iPodrodder]

Beerman would have a great time on these mosh pit posts we've been seeing lately.

[zen leecher aka Bill W]

My favorite ones are ones with Twin Lakes cutts in them as they are usually pretty. I'm not sure which lake is my favorite as of the ones I visited I only went twice to the same lake. Some were pretty, some were not, some were easy hikes and some were real slogs.

Joe Lake up north of Snoqualmie Pass had the prettiest trout. One of the Foss River lakes had the prettiest green water. I think it was Otter Lake. It was something to watch those cutts charge a fly. A lake off the north end of Mount Rainier park had the clearest water and was loaded with good sized brook trout. You could drive to it. I'm not sure if the road is open these days.

[A9]

Back when I was in middleschool my godfather, who was an avid hiker and camper, would take me every year for a summer camping trip up to a chain of lakes off I-90 on the way up to Snoqualmie pass. They were past North Bend and you had to exit off I-90, (I couldn't remember where or what exit) and drive up a dirt road for a bit, then you had to park, and then you needed to hike up to the lakes. The first one was about a mile hike, and there were about 10 more lakes maybe that you could hike up further to, which would usually hold better fishing and camping grounds.

Reason for my description is that I couldn't remember what any of the lakes or the area is called, so perhaps someone can recognize these from my description and pitch in with the names of them.

Anyways, fun fishing and good camping memories, hopefully I can get back out there next summer..

[littleriver]

Couple of other good lakes in the alpine lakes wilderness area are Spade and Ivanhoe.

Ivanhoe can be accessed by hiking from the trail head at the end of the road that runs along the north
shore of the middle fork of the snoqualmie but Spade has to be approached from Waptus Lake.

For those with a few days to hike and explore a good option is to hike up to Waptus lake and set up a camp. North shoreline of the lake has quite a few good camping areas and clean water from inlet streams is readily available at all of them.

Set up camp and then hike up to Ivanhoe the next morning (about a 4 mile trek) and bring back a few trout for dinner. Get up the next morning and head up to Spade and do the same. I think spade is only about a 3 mile hike but it's a lot steeper. Both lakes have lots of trout (yeah ok.. they aren't all that big) and they are easy to catch. Water is clear and you can see them swimming around near the surface. Just cast something small and dark and you will have a fish on very quickly.

If you have a day to spare then head up to deep lake which is at the end of the trail going up spinola creek which feeds waptus river from the east. The fish in Deep lake always seemed to be a bit bigger than the ones in the others. Shoreline is much steeper though and it's harder to fish.

[zen leecher aka Bill W]

Don't forget Venus which is past Spade.

[viet]

Back when I was in middleschool my godfather, who was an avid hiker and camper, would take me every year for a summer camping trip up to a chain of lakes off I-90 on the way up to Snoqualmie pass. They were past North Bend and you had to exit off I-90, (I couldn't remember where or what exit) and drive up a dirt road for a bit, then you had to park, and then you needed to hike up to the lakes. The first one was about a mile hike, and there were about 10 more lakes maybe that you could hike up further to, which would usually hold better fishing and camping grounds.

Reason for my description is that I couldn't remember what any of the lakes or the area is called, so perhaps someone can recognize these from my description and pitch in with the names of them.

Anyways, fun fishing and good camping memories, hopefully I can get back out there next summer..

sounds like the alpine lakes wilderness area to me. the first lake up there is Mason lake and there are a bunch more (little mason, kulla kulla, island, ect). its on the ira springs trail. i love these lakes. we go up in the winter also and ice fish on them.

i could be mistaken though cause the hike in is definately longer than a mile.

another good lake is wallace lake up by wallace falls in sultan. its not really an alpine lake though, its under 3000 ft. that hike is only 6miles to the lake and its a well developed trail. on the way up stop at the lower falls and climb down to the pools below the falls. lots of fish in there

[hookorcrook]

I was thinking Mason Lake area too. But I looked in my handy dandy book, and I bet Sam is talking about Talapus Lake, which is off the same I-90 exit and road for Mason Lake, but you go right instead of left.

I don't have a favorite lake. I've hiked a few times in ALW, but haven't fished yet.

Suzanne

[The Quadfather]

Hookemdanno, I love it! You are dating yourself with that one.. You need to go to the "Explain your Avitar" thread under Announcements, etc.
No explanation necessary, but very good just the same.

[bassackwards]

Here you guys are...I was wondering where the "gang" went I've enjoyed reading everyone's comments. Are most of these lakes overnight trips or are there some that can be hiked, fished, hiked (home)?

I'd be totally in for a WL.com hike in trip next season. Who's in?? I'm the newbie to these parts so I'll let someone else take "point" on the hike....I'll bring the comb :thumleft: (am I dating myself on that one?)

Keep up the good posts guys. I enjoy your company and information. That idiot needs to get off the computer and take up an ACTIVITY that requires MOVEMENT....enough said :rambo:

[iPodrodder]

Movement? As in, moving to a place without internet?

[fishnislife]

Great idea on the WL.com alpine trip bassackwards. Will have to plan something like that.


alpinefishnislife

[iPodrodder]

Fishnislife, you need to change your name to something like "The Savior of WL.com" or something. I'd like to thank you for all your contributions to this site.

[fishnislife]

Fishnislife, you need to change your name to something like "The Savior of WL.com" or something. I'd like to thank you for all your contributions to this site.

I appreciate that but I wouldn't go that far. There are a lot of guys on this site that make this place great. I am just another guy who LOVES to fish, learn and talk fishing. Just one small piece of an awesome machine called WL.com.
But I promise you and others that I will continue to try and make things fun and exciting around here.
And an Alpine Lake camping trip with WL.com peeps come this spring or summer would be awesome.

fishnislife