Northwest Fishing Magazine April 2025 Volume 4 Issue 6 - Flipbook - Page 17
The second area is the East
shoreline. This area is also
shallow and has a sandy
bottom which heats up the
water in the early spring.
There is a spring to the
north side of the eastern
shore where fresh water
enters the lake from the
aquifer. As the ice comes
off of the lake with the
oxygen-deprived water
this area always does well
in early spring. Of course,
my favorite area is actually
trolling between the east
shore and the cove to
the northwest along the
northern shoreline just
outside of the cattails.
What to use: This is your
standard trout lake and you
can’t go wrong soaking
powerbait or single salmon
eggs doused with Pro-Cure
SuperGel in nightcrawler
or trophy trout. Be ready
if you’re a bait plunker as
there are also some big
channel catfish in the lake
that might gobble up your
offering and give you a
heck of a surprise when
you’re expecting a planter
rainbow! When the ice is
on a favorite bait is cooked
cocktail shrimp tipped
with some corn soaked
overnight in Pro-Cure
bloody tuna SuperGel. But
either before the ice or after
it comes off my number
one way to fish Roses is
to troll a Carey Special or
olive green Mack’s Lure
Smile Blade fly, which
is essentially a Whooly
Bugger with a small Mylar
blade in front. Black leaches
and a gold bead head black
or green whooly bugger
also works really well and
you can use them to catch
panfish and bass as well.
You can use a 5 to 7-weight
fly rod with a slow sinking
line, or just a few small split
shot two feet in front of the
fly with a spinning outfit. Of
course, if there was anyone
joining me for the day I
always made sure we had
at least one Yakima Bait
Company 2-inch Maglip in
a green frog pattern being
trolled behind the boat. You
can use motors on the lake,
but rowing can increase
bites as it seems that the
slower you go the more fish
you catch.
Fly fishing: Just to the west
of the boat launch is a little
stream that outflows from
Roses Lake to Dry Lake. Dry
Lake is full of warm water
fish, such as bass, crappie,
bluegills and sunfish. These
species always seem to
sneak their way into Roses
and this part of the lake is
ideal for float tubing with a
fly rod. There are also tiger
trout in Roses and even a
few browns, as WDFW tries
curtailing the sunfish and
