Upper Cle Elum river / Tuquala Lake ??

[oneshot]

way up past Salmon La Sac up the cle elum river is a beautiful valley with a small lake that is part of the river system at around 2500ft to 3000ft called Tuquala Lake.
https://maps.google.com/?ll=47.513578,- ... 2&t=h&z=15" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have been camping, dirtbiking up here for years and snowmobiling in the area in winter but i have never given the lake a try for fishing. or the river actually.. to busy .. anyways, we are camping up here soon with some other families and we'll all be trying our luck, including some of our children. i know its grassy and swampy around the lake so i'll have a small inflatable raft for me and my son, and probably bring my waders..

has anyone ever fished up here and had luck?
any tips on what works up here or what should work for these high alpine lakes? my goto's are usually mepps spinners in small size and different colors for high lakes. but what would be suiting?
flies? is there a technique for using flies with a spinning setup? i've never fly fished

I have read some of the cle elum river reports but none say they are that far up the mountain.. and the lake isn;t listed, least i could not find it

any tips or reports greatly appreciated..

[stryker17]

cant really give you much help, but years ago they tried to plant the area but not much luck, we fished it several times but didnt have a raft and its really muddy wading around it the reeds........worked search and rescue several years and we always had calls in that area summer and winter...............

[oneshot]

I know search and rescue get called up in winter i've been up there with them in the area. we go up next to scatter creek and over those ridges and start bowl hopping in winter.. super easy to get lost if you don't know the terrain..

i'm wondering how much snow is up there still??. haven't been up since late april (still riding).. we had a killer snowpack up there this yr. and it didn't start getting warm, until recently..

[jknab]

Haven't fished that lake, but did fish Cooper Lake a couple weeks back while camping at Salmon Le Sac. Caught some rainbows in the 12 in range, with a small rapala from the inflatable and with powerbait from shore.
Haven't heard of using flies with a spinning rod; seems like it would be hard to cast them without the weight of the fly line...
Have fun!

[oneshot]

we might give cooper a try.. not a lot of access though around those banks..
either way i'll take pics and report back leaving in an hour.. hope the weather comes around this afternoon..

[The Quadfather]

Oneshot,
Ya, when I was up at Cooper lake a few weeks ago, I saw the info. regarding Tuquala lake. I honestly had thought Cooper was the last lake up there. I hope you make it in there. Go look through reports, about a week back there was a SHWEET report on the Cooper river. 5 star report from a guy.
Anyway, ya, Mepps spinners with the standard fly attached has always been an alpine lake spinner for me.
You asked about flies on a spinning rod. If you aren't going to drop a bunch of money on an actual fly rod for this one trip, (and I wouldn't )--- save it for those Scotty 1080's that you need.
I would totaly suggest going to OE or 3 Rivers marine, any quality gear store, and picking up a few of those clear bobbers that allow you to put water in them to give you wait for casting. not usually at Fred Meyer.
Then it's a must... go down to The Avid Angler http://www.avidangler.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
located in Lake Forest Park shopping center, a few doors away from Albertsons. This is a great fly shop with down to earth people. You don't need to be afraid to tell them you're a gear fisherman! Tell them it's an alpine lake, bobber with water, and you want a handfull of dry flies. They will hook you up. Ask for Britta, although they are all nice people.

Edit:

http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/for ... #post-7042" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

read last post on the link.

[stryker17]

If you are into hiking (not me any more) you can take the trail from Cooper Lake and hike back into Pete Lake, 2 or 3 miles, easy hike, I have heard there are small trout in there and than you can go even further up to another lake cant remember the name.......... very nice country.......

[oneshot]

Oneshot,
Ya, when I was up at Cooper lake a few weeks ago, I saw the info. regarding Tuquala lake. I honestly had thought Cooper was the last lake up there. I hope you make it in there. Go look through reports, about a week back there was a SHWEET report on the Cooper river. 5 star report from a guy.
Anyway, ya, Mepps spinners with the standard fly attached has always been an alpine lake spinner for me.
You asked about flies on a spinning rod. If you aren't going to drop a bunch of money on an actual fly rod for this one trip, (and I wouldn't )--- save it for those Scotty 1080's that you need.
I would totaly suggest going to OE or 3 Rivers marine, any quality gear store, and picking up a few of those clear bobbers that allow you to put water in them to give you wait for casting. not usually at Fred Meyer.
Then it's a must... go down to The Avid Angler http://www.avidangler.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
located in Lake Forest Park shopping center, a few doors away from Albertsons. This is a great fly shop with down to earth people. You don't need to be afraid to tell them you're a gear fisherman! Tell them it's an alpine lake, bobber with water, and you want a handfull of dry flies. They will hook you up. Ask for Britta, although they are all nice people.

Edit:

http://www.washingtonflyfishing.com/for ... #post-7042" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

read last post on the link.

excellent info as always, thanks!!
my buddy had a extra fly fishing rod/reel i tried out this weekend on the lake.. still learning how to cast properly, but i tried it a little..
while my friends brought nothing to get in the water (the shore is next to impossible to fish), knowing the lake, I brought a blow up raft so my wife and son could paddle around the lake while i put my waders on and headed towards the middle where the river channel runs through the lake.. I hiked up through the lake and spotted fish feeding on flies here and there.. but at this point i was throwing mepps wee size spinners, couple different variations.. i got one chaser super close that never took it.. and no more action rest of my hike.. but seeiong some fish was a good enough sign that i wasn't there for no reason..
i'm gonna try the fly on a mepps some other time. never thought of that.. i'll be at lake kachess a couple days (on my boat) this coming weekend and i know some small lakes up in the gold creek area i have fished successfully before for small trout, so we might hike into one of those one day..

one thing is for sure about Lake Tuquala... the whole valley is beautiful! while my other friends and families that showed up sat around the camp swilling cheap beer, my family took on the lakes beauty and we spent a few hours on the lake, we hiked some, i waded way down river looking for fishy holes and then rafted a section of river and blew up my cheap raft (not the best idea i have ever had).. when i finally sat down back at camp after my adventures i felt complete and whoooped!

quadfather, always with the good info.. thank you!!!
i think i want to get a small alpine lakes fly fishing rod/reel at some point.. i think i would have had better luck when i was hiking up through the lake's river channel.. seeing fish come up for flies was the deal sealer..

[BentRod]

oneshot, like Quad referred to, I used to used to fish flies with my spinning gear on mountain lakes successfully using water filled adjustable floats. http://www.cabelas.com/product/A-Just-A ... l+Products
I'd slide one on my line (large end facing the fly), then tie on the fly. I think I'd leave about 4 feet of line below the float and add enough water to cast it as far as I could, yet still see it on the surface. Twist the tubing to bind it to the line. Slowly work it back to shore pausing along the way. Did very well on RB's in eastern WA when I was a kid.

[oneshot]

excellent!
I'm gonna try this out this weekend i think at swan or baker lake up in the gold creek/kachess area.. might give my kid a better chance at reeling in some more fish too.. i think he'd rather cast and let it sit, come back when its bouncing..

in between boating in the big lake

[oneshot]

haven't gotten pics from a friend yet.. but here's one from saturday afternoon..

[rlkelsey]

If you are into hiking (not me any more) you can take the trail from Cooper Lake and hike back into Pete Lake, 2 or 3 miles, easy hike, I have heard there are small trout in there and than you can go even further up to another lake cant remember the name.......... very nice country.......

Hiked to pete lake with my son last Sept. didn't see squat for fish, I assumed it was barren.
we did however, run into a ton of fish 7 mi later at Spectacle. The lake i named such for reason.
Main lake is huge, probably nearing 100 acres, while the smaller sidelake we camped on is maybe 1/8 the size the former.
We hiked in rafts, and after my son popping his, did some good exploring on foot with killer results. Nice 10-12 in. brookies, fat and healthy. Rarely do the areas of the lake we hit see any action, mostly hikers who may bring along a rod, but i,ve been there multiple times and have always been the only one sportin, a raft.