This side of the mountains was rainy, the weatherman and a call to Fish Lake indicated partially sunny skies at Fish Lake. So I loaded up my trout gear and off I went to Fish Lake. I live in gold Bar so it is not too long of a drive. As I headed down the east side of the pass the sky brightened up. Got my boat in and geared up and on the water by noon. The wind was present but not too bad, yet. I started with a chrome dodger with a dragon fly larva pattern fly. I also put out my second line with a rainbow flatfish.
The dodger fly set up got results right away with very feisty small trout from 9” to 11”. I kept thinking I hooked into a large brown as my rod would slam and bend over. Then I would find a small Rainbow. The Rainbow flatfish took three fish while the fly set up took 13 to boat with many other long distance releases. I also landed a few with Chartreuse and black Rooster tail when I pulled out of the wind and did some casting on the far side of the lake.
The wind really picked around 3:00 PM, when it blows at Fish Lake it can rough. My boat is only 12” and wind and chop soon made the lake unpleasant. I fished the little cove near the dock for a while then called it day. Great day as I had pole action and I wasn’t working around the house in the rain! The picture is a little funny as it was taken close up with my cell. Good Fishing to All.

Went to Fish Lake, getting there around noon, targeting yellow perch. Never fished this lake before, so wasn't sure where to go. Punched a fair number of holes before finding the spot. Perch were biting *very* lightly, even for ice fishing. Ended up with four very nice, fat perch, and missed many more bites. Also caught one sculpin (yippee), and a sucker so large I could hardly get it through the hole..

Talked to some others, and the morning bite was much better. Afternoon wasn't producing much for anyone, from what I could see. Nevertheless, a beautiful day on the lake, with little wind and nice sunshine.

Ice thickness was generally around 8".

My buddy Jordan and I fished Fish Lake from about 12:30-5:30. The ice was about 9-10.5 inches thick-- the top two inches was white, but under that was still pretty clear. The bite was slow at first, but really came on after 4:00. We were targeting perch, and used wax worms on the Swedish pimples for the first couple of perch. After we had a few we started using perch eyes, which really did the trick. We ended the day with 16 (there is 14 pictured, two were caught after the picture was taken). I was really happy with the size of the perch, all but one or two were on the jumbo-side of the scale!

I fished Fished Lake for about two hours-- about 1-3 pm, Sunday evening. I was driving back from a weekend in Plain and assumed the ice would still be unsafe. Three nights of mid-teen temperatures proved my assumption wrong. In the cove, by the Cove Resort, the ice was 6.5 inches thick. Not clear ice, but quite strong (no slush). There were about 20 people in the cove, and two out on the main lake which still looks very questionable ice-wise.

I was tageting perch-- saw none caught while I was there. I did see two gentleman catch three or four trout. I was using a Swedish Pimple tipped with a Berkley power maggot or two. I typically tip my Swedish Pimples with wax worms, but was ill prepared since I thought the ice would still be unsafe. I don't think it would of mattered though, as no perch were caught by any one I saw during the couple hours I had avalible to fish.

The highlight of the trip was seeing a really healthy coyote walking the edge of the lake and two really big wild turkeys on the way home between Plain and Leavenworth.

Back in July I went to fishing and totally got skunked so I returned back this week to get my vengeance. I first trolled for trout and caught 2 small trout in 2 hours of renting a boat using the high lakes special tipped with a worm. Before dusk, I took out my inflatable raft and decided to go for perch and caught a handful before it was too dark for fishing.

That night I tossed and turned and got no sleep. I was thinking how at 15 bucks an hour for 2 hours to rent that boat bought me 2 little trout while a half hour of fishing for perch on my inflatable raft was free and a lot more fun. So i decided to take my raft out and try and catch my limit for perch the next morning.

So I set off the next morning with a weight at the end of my line and two hooks about 14 inches apart. First cast with a small bit of worm, and BAM. Bite was on. I was catching some nice sized perch sometimes 2 at a time. I thought for sure I was going to catch my limit at 25, but after 10 am, they mysteriously disappeared. After that, I caught nothing but those ugly bullheads, and it seemed like everyone else on the lake was having the same experience. Wish I could of stayed until evening to finish my limit, but next time I'll get 'em. All in all, I came away with about 15 fish some of them up to 10 inches. Next time I come back, I think I'll focus my entire time on just perch.

On a side note, the atmosphere is quite the smokey haze from the local forest fires, which you can see in my one of my photos. Proceed with caution if you visit the lake before the fires subside, especially if you have respiratory issues.

Good luck and tight lines.