Northwest Fishing Reports

My dad and i have recently started riding our bikes and have worked up to 10 miles a day and we are looking for a lake to bike to behind a gated road for some fishing preferably up hill on the way in I live in federal way and would like something no more than an hours drive away if possible. thanks, justin

From the headline I thought I'd see a pic of a bike in a lake...
You need to be a little more specific in your request, I think. What species are you looking for, and what type of fishing? So, trout vs bass, fly vs spinning, high lake vs lowland. I know a few lakes on this side of the mountain, notably White pass area, like the Cougar lakes, and the Leavenworth area, and Ancient Lakes by Quincy, but they are all a bit over an hour from you. You are in the sniv... errr... civilized area of the state, with all its pluses and minuses. There are some trout lakes by Packwood, but again, a bit farther than you asked for. Good luck! There are some excellent guide books to WA fishing that describe hike in/bike in/drive in requirements. Any decent book store or Amazon.

And I presume an hour's BIKE RIDE in rather than an hour's CAR DRIVE in.

Hmmm... sounded like an hour's car drive, then uphill, but I see your point. Could be either. I'm more prone to hike in than bike in, but I did help carry a guy that broke himself on a bike trail once... Does that count?

Anyway, this book isn't bad: http://www.amazon.com/Washington-State- ... 214&sr=1-2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
There's lots of others.

He did say "An hours drive"
You have options, but what is hurting u is your limit of only 1 hours drive from Fed. Way.
Look at it like a full day Saturday outing with your dad. All your logging road gated kind of places, are farther than an hour.
Look up "Coal lake and "Independance lake" near Verlot WA. Nice bike ride, views, fish and 3 lakes on same ride.

How about an Alpine Lake bike in? Wallace Lake east of Monroe, alternate route is a logging road. A bit of a workout but a nice payoff:

http://www.washingtonlakes.com/ReportCo ... id=637&t=1

Those are 3 good suggestions. Been a long time since I was at Wallace, but it was good then. No monsters, but plenty of decents.

There are dozens of lakes/ponds behind gates between N. Bend-Hwy 2. Grab a good TOPO map (Bing, Google Earth) and start exploring. If you google Spur 10 gate, you will have the main access on the S. end. Hancock controls a portion of the area, so you may have to buy a permit now even if you walk/bike in ($200 plus) Many miles of roads to the east of Carnation-Duval area with many bike in lakes. DNR land, so no need for a permit. Drunken Charlie,Cherry, Lk Fontal, King Lk and many small lakes, ponds along Stossel Creek Rd will get you started.

I have been planning this as well. I have a light weight OldTown Pack ( 32lbs ) that is perfect for this bike-in fishing concept.

In 2012, I drove close to Lake Fontel...better for bike-in since the road is starting to get overgrown. I fished a small pond just west of Lake Hannan; until the Catholics kicked me off their holy land.

The lakes I'll probably hit-up first are; Smelling, Julie, Chitwood ( all can be walked, but bike would be quick ), Fontal. Near Granite Falls. Parking is tricky since you cannot park close to the gate, but back on the road you can park and then bike-in.

I've drooled over Drunken Charlie, Cherry, and that area. Eventually, I'll get there.

Everytime I read this, I get more amp'd about bike-in fishing. I'm super intrigued by it.

Lk Fontal brings back lots a memories. Fished and hunted that area a lot in my high school years. It was a big partyville lake back in the 70's when you could drive to it. Always had a huge opening day crowd. Fished and camped several opening day weekends and the road was always a disaster. Huge puddles and mud holes for miles. People drove in motorhomes and trailers, so you did not want to travel the road Fri-Sat and gawd help you on Sunday!..... My brother had a 63 Comet and drove that road like a maniac. I still get nitemares thinking about all the times he had to slam his brakes on or floored it to fly across those mud holes missing a tree by inches. Ahhhh the good ol days. LOL

Add Hanson Lk to your list up by G-Falls. Lots a fish in there, but you really need to pack in a raft. Very little shore fishing. Quite a few have keys to the DNR gates, so be careful on the roads. Another excellent area is the N. end of the Markworth Forest, SE of Monroe off the Ben Howard Rd. About a mile east of the Cedar Ponds Rd. is a gated road that leads to Lk 16, several ponds/beaver dams, creeks. About 10 miles in is Airplane Lk. at 3,000 ft. so that's a long ride in some pretty country. There's been logging up high on Haystack, but I think they are just about done. If the gate is open proceed at your own risk. I was locked in there about 5-6 years ago, so I can speak from experience......

Its getting a little rough outside but you can bike the Green river all through Kent down to the Duwamish. I usually pack light and just bring a few jigs, spinners or spoons. You can bike the south side of lake Keechelus all the way down to the dam.

Fish On! wrote:Lk Fontal brings back lots a memories. Fished and hunted that area a lot in my high school years. It was a big partyville lake back in the 70's when you could drive to it. Always had a huge opening day crowd. Fished and camped several opening day weekends and the road was always a disaster. Huge puddles and mud holes for miles. People drove in motorhomes and trailers, so you did not want to travel the road Fri-Sat and gawd help you on Sunday!..... My brother had a 63 Comet and drove that road like a maniac. I still get nitemares thinking about all the times he had to slam his brakes on or floored it to fly across those mud holes missing a tree by inches. Ahhhh the good ol days. LOL

Add Hanson Lk to your list up by G-Falls. Lots a fish in there, but you really need to pack in a raft. Very little shore fishing. Quite a few have keys to the DNR gates, so be careful on the roads. Another excellent area is the N. end of the Markworth Forest, SE of Monroe off the Ben Howard Rd. About a mile east of the Cedar Ponds Rd. is a gated road that leads to Lk 16, several ponds/beaver dams, creeks. About 10 miles in is Airplane Lk. at 3,000 ft. so that's a long ride in some pretty country. There's been logging up high on Haystack, but I think they are just about done. If the gate is open proceed at your own risk. I was locked in there about 5-6 years ago, so I can speak from experience......

Great info, and nostalgic! I wished I knew of this in the 70s. My narrowly scoped view of the fishing world was Lake Washington, Lake Washington, and Lake Washington....I mean really narrow minded...chuckle. I lived a block South from Seward Park and fished there regularly as well as the ol'Martha Washington School for Girls at the bottom of Holly street. I fished more than my brothers did, and spent quite a bit of time catching Crawdads under the rocks at Martha as well. I didn't stray very far from home, but it was fun nonetheless.

Good to see all the memories topics like this churn up, and the good info. There's a creek near Enumclaw that used to be full of small to medium cutthroat, and had a sort of jeep trail to it. Caught lots of fish near our logging camp. Probably has a Wal-mart on it by now though!

Haven't looked. Is there a post for "the good olde days?" Might get a bit of attention.