After almost two hours of fishing Goose Lake, we were still the only boat out on the water. More importantly, I had yet to land a trout.
My partners for the day, Chris Sessions of Portland and Buzz Ramsey of Yakima, both had fish hanging from their stringers, even though the trout were being especially tentative in their strikes. All of us had lost plenty of trout that had bit short. However, they had put some trout in the boat, where I had nothing to show for my efforts.
Shortly after that we noticed a few fly fishermen launching their small craft. Goose Lake is a well-known high elevation lake that anglers can drive to, and it is stocked heavily each spring through fall. We knew we would not fish alone all day.
We were right. By the time we left at about 10:30 a.m., the lake was full of boats of all kinds. The bank along the northern shore was also crowded with anglers. And, they were all catching fish.
That was no surprise, either. Goose Lake had been stocked with over 15,000 trout, a mix of cutthroats and rainbows. Most were catchables in the 9 to 12-inch range, but we found plenty of larger cuts to 13 inches. The lake was also stocked with some heftier rainbows.
“Fishing has been super good up at Goose Lake this year,” said Stacie Kelsie of the WDFW Inland Fishes program.
Kelsie expects the fishing to hold up well into the summer, and the state could stock out more fish in the months to come.
“Stocking through the summer will depend on the availability of fish from the hatcheries,” she noted.
The lake was stocked in late June with another 3,040 catchable rainbow trout. Once cooler weather arrives in the fall the lake will be well stocked with larger cutthroats.
Goose Lake is about 13 miles west of the Mt. Adams Ranger District office near the town of Trout Lake. It is positioned at the edge of an ancient lava flow, and is fed by numerous creeks as well as groundwater from lava tubes.
It is a picturesque setting. The lake is studded with standing timber from long ago, and fir-clad hills rise behind the water’s edges. It is crisscrossed with deep channels and holes, and there are shallow, marshy shorelines.
The northern tip of the lake is where we caught most of our fish. They were gathered in the early morning in shallow water along the edges of channels, and as the sun rose, they pulled deeper into the clear water.
As boats began to work the lake, we observed anglers getting their fish with just about every technique you could think up. Fly fishermen were taking fish by casting flies, and trolling flies. Most seemed to be working sub-surface presentations, and a few were fishing dry flies.
A few boat anglers were anchored and fishing bait, many were trolling, and others were casting lures or fishing bait below a bobber. On the bank anglers were mostly fishing Berkley Powerbait and other dough baits near the bottom, and a few were casting spinners.
It seems all were finding some trout, and most were taking out limits.
We had been casting a variety of spinners, mostly Rooster Tails. The fish were finicky, choosing some spinners over others, and changing their preference during the day. They were also biting short, and we continued to lose a lot of hooked fish.
After a while even I was able to land a few trout, and just before we filled our limits, Buzz Ramsey busted out a few prototypes of the new trout-sized Yakima Bait SpinFish. The lure, which can be loaded easily with tuna or other attractants, worked phenomenally well. The trout would not leave it alone. The bad news is that the new 2.0 and 2.5 SpinFish will probably not be on the market until mid-January of 2021.
We finished with limits all around very quickly.
If there is any hot weather this summer, the fishing will slow down, especially in the middle of the day. In dry summers the lake can drop to very low levels. If the current wet and cooler than normal weather continues, Goose Lake should produce well until the snow flies next October.
The lake has a Forest Service Campground and a boat launch. Only electric motors are allowed. A Discover Pass and Northwest Forest Pass are required. Two-pole fishing is allowed.
More information
For more information, contact the Mt Adams Ranger District at (509) 395-3402.
Look for Terry Otto’s weekly Southwest Washington fishing report and forecast at Bob Rees’ “The Guides Forecast,” at https://www.theguidesforecast.com/
