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I know it's not known as a fly fishing destination, but for the past few years on the first weekend in June, my wife and I have headed down to Fish Lake to drown some wet flies. It has always been a very productive weekend and this time was no different.
What's fun about Fish Lake is you never know what will come to the net -- rainbow, brook, brown, splake, mackinaw, and even small kokanee (we've caught all of these on a fly).
We like to rent a boat because it's a big lake and often windy, which can be a bit much for our pontoon and electric motor.
We averaged around two dozen fish per day. This time, most were bows, but a few splake made an appearance. We even caught some on dries. Water temp varied from 46 to 53 around the lake, and action was better in the afternoon than the morning.
If you're looking for new water to explore with your fly rod, don't forget Fish Lake.
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Great Mack and brown. You have caught brook trout in Fish Lake? How big may I ask.
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Awesome motivational post here... thank you for sharing! [cool]
Shore fishing possible there... or is a boat more/less mandatory?
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I've been thinking of trying fish lake but have yet to do it. Thanks for the info!
Also--great profile picture. That is my most favorite mailbox.
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Forgot to mention that we also caught a 10” Kokanee that was planted in 2015. Won’t be long before big Koks will be on the radar for Fish Lake (see [url "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YfL3Avr7S0"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YfL3Avr7S0[/url] )
The brookie was small – maybe 10”, but it took a fly close to shore. I think they mostly hang out around and in the small feeder streams.
You could do a float tube around the Twin Creek area and most of the launch areas along the road that follows the northeast shore line. Must float tubers hang around Twin Creeks. The problem is that the lake gets deep very fast (it can go from 10’ to 75’ in just a few seconds of trolling) so you may not be able to anchor and if the wind is blowing the wrong direction, it could put you out to the sea (so to speak). There are no roads on the southwest shore and it is very remote and rugged. If you stayed close to shore, you could certainly fish all the depths, but you couldn’t cover much ground, which is the second problem.
It’s a big lake and the fish move around a lot. Once you find them, it’s game on but I would mark hot spots on the fish finder and we’d go back the next day and not see a one. A boat with a gas motor lets you search the lake and find the fish. Boat rental is reasonable about $50 half day and $75 for full day.
It’s a fun lake for a fish finder. Because it’s so deep (100’ in most areas), the sonar cone covers a wide area and you will see some monster sonar signatures, especially on the deep bottoms. You know it’s a giant Mac or Tiger Muskie – if you could just get a sinking line that would go that deep.
We also saw two beavers swimming across the lake (we didn’t notice them ‘till they smacked their tails at us) and we regularly saw ospreys snatching small trout from the surface. We even caught some trout that had talon scars on their back – they were the lucky ones.
A fun place with lots wild things going on.
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The biggest brown trout I've ever seen in person was caught from shore at Fish Lake by my dad on a a size 10 hothead leech. We've caught plenty of rainbows from shore as well. Be ready to change plans based on windiness though. I usually just make Fish Lake a quick stop for around an hour on our way to elsewhere. Stop by the Quiet Fly Fisher for some good advice and flies.
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All I can say those kokes are growing pretty fast because I caught a few in the winter and they were 10-12"
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heading there the 20th of june for 4 days. we usually rent a pontoon for a day and shore fish for 3 days. twin creek for has been great been going there for about 15 years now twice a year for vacations. we normally go with about 5 of us. we usually catch about 50 fish a day around twin creek mostly bows a few sucker fish and perch. we use power eggs mostly and lures thru out the day always a fun trip.
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