Clear Lake Yakima County

Wayne Kohan

Wayne Kohan

Life of the Party
Anyone ever fish this lake? I've driven around it on a weekend and it was overflowing at the boat launch. I usually am just going to Leech, occasionally Dog, but have never fished Clear. The WDFW website is kinda intriguing with all the different type of fishes possible. I will likely head up this next week to give it a go, but any intel would be appreciated.
 
Wayne Kohan said:
Anyone ever fish this lake? I've driven around it on a weekend and it was overflowing at the boat launch. I usually am just going to Leech, occasionally Dog, but have never fished Clear. The WDFW website is kinda intriguing with all the different type of fishes possible. I will likely head up this next week to give it a go, but any intel would be appreciated.
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Depending on the camping situation at Leech lake, I might have to give it a try especially if Leech isn't fishing well.

I have reached out to White Pass about potential gate opening..I will let you know what I hear.
 
Wayne Kohan said:
Anyone ever fish this lake? I've driven around it on a weekend and it was overflowing at the boat launch. I usually am just going to Leech, occasionally Dog, but have never fished Clear. The WDFW website is kinda intriguing with all the different type of fishes possible. I will likely head up this next week to give it a go, but any intel would be appreciated.
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It’s worth looking at. I haven’t fished it in 15 years or so. There were lots of tiny hatchery fish but some big fish were showing on the sonar near the bottom. I talked with a guy at the boat launch who had a 16” Rainbow that was almost square it was so fat and it crunched like gravel so I offered to clean it. Turns out that it was full of snails. There’s a fish ladder and a short outlet stream section that flows into Rimrock lake with access from SR12 on a dirt road which is interesting. The dirt road around the lake crosses the inlet stream that flows in from White Pass. The lake is surrounded by summer camps. There’s at least one interesting stream that crosses the road around the lake. That road is paved and comes back into SR12 east of the tunnel close to the town of Rimrock Retreat. There are quite a few dirt roads that access the high country south of Rimrock lake.
 
Wayne I fished Clear Lake some 3 weeks ago it wasn't to bad. You'll catch rainbow, brookies, bull trout and white fish. Some carry over planters. I usually fish the north cove and you can put in there if you can 4 wheel a bit. Take the Camp Dudley road then the first hand dirt to the right. No trailers. Good luck.
 
Chris M said:
Wayne I fished Clear Lake some 3 weeks ago it wasn't to bad. You'll catch rainbow, brookies, bull trout and white fish. Some carry over planters. I usually fish the north cove and you can put in there if you can 4 wheel a bit. Take the Camp Dudley road then the first hand dirt to the right. No trailers. Good luck.
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Thanks! I’m thinking of taking the pram with a trolling motor though, which is on a trailer.
 
Fished it a few times over the years, usually a little earlier than now but I'm guessing it will fish well into June this year, based on the elevation and recent weather. Once I caught all the same fish Chris M mentioned in a single day plus a bonus cutthroat. Rained so hard I had to take the boat to shore and tip it over to drain the water out. But the fish were biting and so I kept fishing. Nice lake in a scenic area with the potential for lots of diversity and less pressure than you might think. And most of the pressure will probably be bank and/or bait fishing so its likely the fish won't get keyed in on seeing lots of artificial flies.
 
I've also fished Clear Lake a few times over the years. Attached is a report of my first time visiting the lake back in 2014; this report should give you a good idea of what to expect. The best fighting fish I've caught in this lake was a 14 inch westslope cutthroat. I believe the larger fish seen down deep are mostly Mountain Whitefish.
 

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Used to fish it quite a bit with my ex FIL. Caught some decent fish. Got into a flying ant hatch one trip and had a blast on dries.
SF
 
Finally got out yesterday to Clear Lake. The north road to the launch was awful with potholes and narrow, would suggest driving around to the south as the road is better. The launch is nice and easy, not much parking, but not much pressure there yesterday, lots of families with young kids in boats (grampa taking them fishing.) Water temp was 46 degrees yesterday, water is not too clear, maybe 5 feet visibility. Lots of shoals and dropoffs to fish, loved that about the lake. I marked a ton of fish on my depth finder. I caught about 25-30 fish, most were small. I had a couple rainbows that were about 13-14 inches, a few small brookies and a decent size whitefish. There were several osprey diving for fish, occasionally successful and a couple eagles flying around as well. Saw a fighter jet flying low over Hwy 12 over White Pass and a Chinook helicopter flew over Leech while I was checking it out as I was leaving. All in all, a good day, but I would hope for better quality fish. Might give it a try again in a couple weeks.
 
Wayne Kohan said:
Finally got out yesterday to Clear Lake. The north road to the launch was awful with potholes and narrow, would suggest driving around to the south as the road is better. The launch is nice and easy, not much parking, but not much pressure there yesterday, lots of families with young kids in boats (grampa taking them fishing.) Water temp was 46 degrees yesterday, water is not too clear, maybe 5 feet visibility. Lots of shoals and dropoffs to fish, loved that about the lake. I marked a ton of fish on my depth finder. I caught about 25-30 fish, most were small. I had a couple rainbows that were about 13-14 inches, a few small brookies and a decent size whitefish. There were several osprey diving for fish, occasionally successful and a couple eagles flying around as well. Saw a fighter jet flying low over Hwy 12 over White Pass and a Chinook helicopter flew over Leech while I was checking it out as I was leaving. All in all, a good day, but I would hope for better quality fish. Might give it a try again in a couple weeks.
Wayne Kohan said:
Finally got out yesterday to Clear Lake. The north road to the launch was awful with potholes and narrow, would suggest driving around to the south as the road is better. The launch is nice and easy, not much parking, but not much pressure there yesterday, lots of families with young kids in boats (grampa taking them fishing.) Water temp was 46 degrees yesterday, water is not too clear, maybe 5 feet visibility. Lots of shoals and dropoffs to fish, loved that about the lake. I marked a ton of fish on my depth finder. I caught about 25-30 fish, most were small. I had a couple rainbows that were about 13-14 inches, a few small brookies and a decent size whitefish. There were several osprey diving for fish, occasionally successful and a couple eagles flying around as well. Saw a fighter jet flying low over Hwy 12 over White Pass and a Chinook helicopter flew over Leech while I was checking it out as I was leaving. All in all, a good day, but I would hope for better quality fish. Might give it a try again in a couple weeks.
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May I ask what you found the condition and access of Leech to be ?
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Leech is wide open to the launch, campground is blocked off though. Recently stocked it seemed when I fished it on Tuesday.
 
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