Where I have Fished: Foss River Lakes, WA

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Foss River Lakes, WA

In my years at college I had heard that hiking the Alpine Lake Wilderness between Stevens and Snoqualmie Pass can produce so great Alpine Lake fishing. Also in my years of college it had been talked and talked about going back packing. I had scouted this trip out a long time ago know that in a 7.5 mile (one way) hike I would pass 5 fish-able lakes. I did my research too and confirmed that many of these lake if not all at one point had been backpack planted with fry and would have many fish in them.So then, one fine Friday afternoon a friend and I headed out after work to go see what this hike was all about. Set back after set back put us in the parking lot sometime near 8pm. Knowing that we wanted to set up base camp at the third lake (Copper) and with a reasonable climb ahead we set off. In hindsight, I would say this was terrible because the moon was bright and the weather was much cooler than the hot days. However, I would not be wise to recommend it either. Needless to say we made it otherwise I wouldn't be writing this blog!
The second day we did a quick hike over to Malachite were I fished for a half hour or so, running into a man camping alone. Then, we ventured back to Copper to fish for a little and a day hike up to Big Heart. On the way we stopped, swam, played and fished at little. Finally we moved onto Big Heart where I got in my float tube and drifted around for twenty minutes before we had to turn around and return to camp.
Trout Lake:
Great lake and 1.5 miles in offers a great day hike but I never got to fish it.
Malachite:
Often overlooked was the only lake I hooked and landed a fish. It was a spawning cutt throat, as much as I wanted to get a picture the man who was trying to take it couldn't figure my camera out, and I wanted to let it go before I disrupted her spawning. She was gorgeous though!
Copper Lake:
Best lake to camp at, was very beautiful and had lots of fish. Wish I had spent time fishing in the evening when the hatch was on and the fish were feeding. I fished only in the day with a spinner. This fish would bite my gold swivel but never the hook.
Little Heart Lake:
No sign of fish but a nice place to play in the snow.
Big Heart Lake:
Crazy beautiful but again no sign of fish.

Go here to read more about the hike.

Summary:
Location: Alpine Lake Wilderness
Time: All day
Rod: 5 wt w/ sinking tip & light weight spinner
Tackle: Brown wolley bugger, black wolley bugger, casey special and a chartreuse with black speckle dick nite.
Fish:1
Species: Cutt Throat
Biggest Fish:12"
Smallest Fish: 12"
Rating: 9/10