I'm trying to find a lake that has a healthy population of lake trout. I've researched and found only lakes on the eastside. Are there any westside lake trout lakes?

I was told that lake cushman had lake trout. The guy that told me said you find a small creek draining into the lake anchor about 100 to 150 off shore and fish san juan worms with sinking line. He said he caught several in the 5 to 7 lb range.

It's likely what he was catching was dolly varden or bull trout and not lakers. All three species are char, but Cushman has a fair population of dollies.

When I was a kid, the paper would run a list of dollies caught each fall that was tremendous-- lots of fish over 10 pounds and some, as I recall, over 20.

I'm not saying that there aren't lakers there, but I would check things out pretty thoroughly before taking one home as I believe they're protected in Cushman as well as the N. Fork of the Skok.

Keith

Lake Whatcom by Bellingham has had lakers in the past. In fact I am told they used to be netted. I went up there last year and spent half a day trolling deep for them. I had no luck. That's not to say they aren't in there and if you're interested you should give it a try. Fish the south half of the lake, around the island and south. It's quite beautiful on that end of the lake - well worth a day of fishing. Be careful because I believe the cutthroat are protected. I did mark a fair amount of fish off the bottom, enough to give me an interest in trying again sometime. Good luck!

Try Lake Isabel up by Gold Bar. It's a hike-in lake, so be prepared. Best done with also taking a rubber raft in with you as it's a steepsided lake.

It's a 5 mile hike and one can follow the "road" to it, or try and find the shortcut which cuts some of the "road" off. Make sure you take the right shortcut, otherwise the trip will take longer. I took the wrong way my first time in.

i've heard rumors of some lakers being in the deeper parts of lake st. claire over by yelm. never seen one pulled out of there, but they are probably down towards the bottom and most people are trolling for trout in the top 10 feet of water or so. the lake is 110 feet deep in parts, wouldn't be suprised if they were in there

i caught a 14lb dolly/bull out of the skokomish river where it flows into cushman. thought it was a laker until i got it up to the bank. cnr'd it, so it's probably still swimming around in there somewhere

Mike C.
Believe that the lakers were planted in Whatcom (circa 1895) and there were reports of fish being caught through the mid-1940s. Could not find any confirmed reports of lake post 1950 - some large cutts and rainbows but no lakers.

Also were some lakers in Lake Sammamish but they seem to have disappeared in the mid-1960s.

Agree that the char in Cushman were/are bull trout.

Tight lines
S malma

Hey mike, we have to give whatcom a stab again. I'm almost positive they are there. They used the fish netted there to plant 4 other lakes in the area. Though i can't recall their names, they are relatively easy to find on the internet by looking up whatcom lake and looking for planting records.

Cushman is very interesting. Been up there a bunch but never heard anything about macks.
Definately have to give that a try. Got Husky Jerks?
If you feel the need mike give me a call.

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