A great day of catch-and-release on Fragrance lake!

My girlfriend and I hiked in from Larrabee state park, approx. 2.2 miles each way. It was raining on the way up, but cleared up when we made it to the lake. We fished from ~11:15am to 4:15pm.

There is another access point from Fred Cleator Road (just North of Larrabee State Park) that cuts the hike from 2.2 miles down to ~.5 miles or so if I recall correctly....but the area is prone to car prowls. We avoid using the lookout/parking area on Fred Cleator Road, and access the park trails via the trailhead directly across from the campground area of the Park. Definitely keep all valuables with you, or at least out of sight!

We started the day with bobbers, using salmon eggs as bait. Bobbers were going under every few minutes, but we missed hooking plenty of fish. This was the first time in years either of us had used the old "candy cane" bobbers...it was a hoot.

After 20 minutes or so we switched to spinners and spoons and the action picked up. The hot ticket of the day for us seemed to be hammered brass spoons. We were getting a countless number of strikes, as well as plenty of curious fish following lures to the shore. Yes, we landed several as well. Most fish were 6-10"

A few young kids got a great show as my girlfriend pulled in two fish in two casts (after they blatantly told us there were no fish in the lake!).

Of the spinners we did try, greens and oranges did not seem to get any interest. Mepps brass spinners did fair. We tried black rooster tails with mediocre success.

We happened to run across another member, Andrew Wyman, while we were fishing the lake. Being such a nice guy, he shared a few tips with us. :-P

There are a countless number of fish in this small lake. They were surfacing constantly, even just a few feet from shore.
Again, the majority of the fish we saw were <12"

We will be back to hike and fish the area.

Other hike-to lakes in the vicinity are Cedar Lake, Pine Lake, Lost Lake, Lizard Lake, and Lily Lake. They can all be reached through this "massive" inter-twining trail system, with the majority of them being on DNR and State Parks land. Trailheads are scattered along Chuckanut drive - Maps can be found within Larrabee State Park.

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