Northwest Fishing Reports

Hey folks!

I moved to MT two years ago and got into ice fishing, hard. I have freinds and family in WA to visit in February, and ive got a license from Potholes last summer.

Question, is it safe to ice fish the pass reservoirs? I lived there for 21 years and never tried. I heard Kacheelus can drop after freeze and be sketchy. I would much rather fish one of the others anyway...

We tried to take my Lund to Cle Elum lake last summer and there was no way to put a boat in! I remember swimming with the Sockeyes in the river there and would love to jig for them. Or I'm mixing the lakes up...

Big lakers in one of them I've seen videos of too, now thay on an ice rod would be a kick. How I never knew that... For shame.

Anyway, anything you guys can tell me would be wonderful. Thanks so much for reading!

Chris

I broke through the ice in E Wa after a freeze and water level drop and refreeze. Dropped a good two feet before touching down and stopping on the ice below. Quite a surprise! Made me more careful about going out on it.

I would be very careful on any of those lakes as they're all reservoirs. Kachess you may be stuck with the ramp, but I it's pretty close to the dam. Sounds like you were at Cle Elum and launching shouldn't be a problem from late April until they freeze again. If you went to Cle Elum and tried Whishposh or the WDFW spot at the other end of the lake (where you swam with the fishes), it can be a problem. You can always launch at the dam just about anytime it's not frozen, you just need four wheel when the partiers loosen up the sand. Good part about launching there is folks hang out all day into the night and there's no worry of break ins at all and they'll probably help you launch and land your boat. It's a huge party!

You're ready for next time.

Bummer about the ice. Thanks for the tips though. Yeah it was Wishposh we tried to put in at. Next summer it is

For Cle Elum, if you don't have private beach access after the water has dropped below the ramp at Wishpoosh, down by the dam is Speelyi Beach and you can launch there year round when not frozen.