Ross Lake

Well, while all of ya'll are out playing in the salt this weekend (read as jealousy), I'll be camped out at Hozomeen on Ross Lake.  I'll be there Friday through Monday morning.  I'll be with the WAF, but will still be concentrating on trolling the lake for trout, and will be tossing some bait out in the early A.M. with the boy.  I'm not much of a lake trout guy, though I've got some Kokanee rigs that I'll be bringing along, though I plan on hitting the tackle shop Thursday night.

Any tips from lake trout trolling gurus?  Anyone have a link they can share?  I'm hoping to make it a successful trip and would appreciate any information ya'll can offer.    I plan on bringing a camera, so I'll provide a report and a TON of pics of all the fish I catch.

Yak Monkey,

I wasn't aware that Ross lake had lake trout (mackinaw).  If it does, I would recommend using a fish finder and looking 100-200 deep feet off points, etc where there might be structure and look for fish on/near the bottom around these points.  Then I would try vertical jigging right on top of the fish at first light or dusk.  Tip the jig with bait if possible.  I also like to "rake" the bottom if it is not too snaggy with large plugs using wire line.  Otherwise a downrigger + fishfinder is really needed.

If you are talking just regular trout like cutthroats and rainbows, then I would recommend lead-core line and use a variety of the typical trout lures, including wedding rings with bait.  Dont forget the "cowbells" or "ford fenders" or "jack-lloyds" or Les Davis flex troll type attractor setup with lure or bait behind one of these.  Try various depths early in the morning and late in the afternoon.
Mike

I'm getting conflicting info from a few of the local shops in the area.  I don't think Ross has "Lake Trout" per se, but is more likely just home to more typical species.  From what I gather, spoons behind multi-blade attractors similar to kokanee rigs are popular up there, often in green tones.  Banana weights will be my line sinking option, adn 25lb spectra is what I have spooled at the moment.  I'll be using a ff to locate proper depth (I hope).  I'll probably use 8lb flouro for leader material.  I"ll be taking white corn as bait add-on to the wedding ring option.  I'll let you know how it goes.  It's always fun to do something a bit new.

Ross laKe is drop-dead gorgeous, you'll love it!!

Ross Lake is beautiful; just watch out for the afternoon winds. It can really howl.

While I live just the other side of the Cascades from Ross, I've never fished it. I have fished some of the larger creeks/tribs (Big Beaver?Granite) and done well (flyfishing). Should be some good size 'bows and cutts. I'd try some spoons behind attractor blades.

Thanks for the info, guys! I'm actually hoping to get some decent winds in the afternoon.  I'll be bringing my amas and sail along for some fun in the Hobie AI.  It's not hard to switch it out between fishing and sailing rig.  I just haven't worked out if it's feasible to do both simultaneously. The rods and crate get in the way.

Looks like it may try to rain on us, but I'm set up for immersion and not too worried.  It is a water sport after all!  I'm more worried about the WAF getting bored or frustrated with a weekend of tarp camping in the rain.  Crossing all fingers and toes that the weather holds.

Pisko, I hear that Tonasket has a nicely fishable body of water out your direction.  Is it one of the East side bass lakes?  I'm thinking of making a weekend dash out to either Banks or Potholes before Hwy. 20 closes and re-living some fall bass memories.  Would Tonasket be a worthy stop for a few hours?

Tonasket area: West of town is Whitestone Lake, which is a warmwater lake. Good LMB and BG. Even farther west is Chopaka, which is a favorite of westside flyfishers. It's up a dramatic (steep and bumpy) road; nice views. Known for the callibaetis hatch, it has rainbows. It was "rehabilitated" a couple of years ago, so I don't know how big the carryovers are this year, but it's known for healthy sized fish. The Okanogan R. is supposed to have a healthy SMB fishery, but I've not tried it. (Too many other good fisheries that are closer. ) BTW, the Tonasket area is far from Potholes and Moses lake- like 2 1/2-3 hours away. On the way, you'll pass close to Banks and Rufus Woods. It's a little early for the triploids at Rufus, but action will heat up after the weeds start dying.

The wildcard fishery, in the near future, will be the possibility of a steelhead opener on the Upper Columbia and the tributaries. Probably won't happen till the first of October, but should be good when/if it opens. WDFW actually closed the Methow R. to all fishing today, because too many steelhead were being reported caught in the trout fishery.

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The Report:
   We set out of town around noon on Friday, packed for rain and ready to weather anything.  The drive from Bellingham took about 3 hours, with a blessing of very little wait at the Canadian border.  We were lucky enough to arrive early and have our choice of camp sites, and we took a look around.  Then the mosquitos hit.  Oh... my... word...  I haven't seen a swarm like that since I climbed the Vertical Swamp outside of Juneau.  We set back out for the nearest town, twice again crossing the 60 some kilometers of washboard gravel access road.  It was worth every little shaky bump to have the repellent.  This made it late enough for us to scrap any hopes of getting out on the water that evening and we settled in for marshmallows, hot chocolate and swatting exercises.
   I woke up around 4 a.m. and pulled the 'yaks off the truck and set about rigging my fishing machine and the family Malibu 2 Classic.  I was enthusiastically surprised when the boy got up with me and helped with the project.  What a trooper.  I set out as soon as there was enough light to make out the trees across the road without use of the flashlight.  I spent the first hour just cruising with the fish finder on and reading the bottom conditions and searching for the old river bed I'd seen on maps.  I was hoping that it would be the area to do the trolling.
   Once I'd found my orientation to the trolling path, I dropped a kokanee style rig down about 20 feet and began a slow troll.  No luck. I wasn't too surprised as I hadn't found any groups of fish holding at all.  I covered about 2 miles at the slowest troll that kept the green/bronze wedding ring moving appropriately.  I varied the speed and depth of the troll and changed out to lure/bait (corn) combination a few times.  No luck still.
   After thoroughly covering a comfortable area while trolling, I broke out the spinners and headed for shore.  By now my belly was rumbling and lunch was calling.  I cruised along the campsite side of the lake casting at fishy looking areas and kept my perfect skunk trend intact.  I was mentally kicking myself because I had no dark colored lures at all.  Nothing for cloudy days with crystal clear water.  Nor did I bring a single fly or my fly rig.  (I'm rusty and the rod is dusty to be honest.)
   After lunch it was time to head out with the family and do some sight seeing and exploring (pics attached).  We found some beautiful areas and got some great photos.  Had a very nice picnic lunch.  I did some more spinner casting in the shallows and luckily nearly landed a 9" or so trout.  Ross Lake is under partial restrictive gear rules, so barbless hooks are required, and without a landing net, I was hosed.  I lost the fish just as it made it to the 'yak.  I was both disappointed and relieved to lose the fish as it appeared he was lightly hooked under the mouth, in front of the gillplate.  My guess is he went after the spinner from a territorial aggression perspective and I'm hoping he survived intact.  Are trout in lakes territorial?  Maybe someone will know the answer to that question.  In any case, it was encouraging.  We headed back to camp and I called it a day.  Dinner was warm and delicious for everybody (mosquitos included) and off to bed for all.  Then it began to rain.  I got a good chuckle out of the timing.  Couldn't have been better.
   I woke up early again, and the rain hadn't let up even slightly.  So, back to sleep.  I dozed in and out, and finally the rain broke at about 9 a.m., well into morning.  Oh well, time to give it another go.  This time I headed farther out along the lake searching for deeper water.  I'd spoken to the ranger just after dinner the night before and he'd indicated that the fish were holding over the 50+ foot deep are aof the lake which started about 3 miles SSW of where we were camped.  Actually, he said the best area was about 5 miles down the lake, but I wasn't going to go that far on my limited amount of time.  I found an area of several PB's, and began trolling again.  This time I did wierd things just to see if anything would pay off.  Nothing did, even though I did spot groups af 4 or 5 fish holding at about 25 ft..  The wind and the waves made it a more interesting troll than the day before, but that was the only difference.  Skunk.  I came back in at about 4 p.m. tired and a bit chilled, but grateful for the time on the water.  It was a good trip.
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Beautiful photos! I especially liked the last one.

Dave

Ever since I was a kid Ross Lake was one of those lakes I always wanted to visit and do a multi-day trip on.  I haven't made that trip yet, but your report/pics have planted the seed once again.  Maybe one day ... 

-Allen