The last time I fished at Harriet lake was in the third week of July. All I caught were hatchery rainbows, no brook, cutthroat, or browns. My question is, has anyone been fishing there recently? Have you caught anything but a rainbow this year? Most importantly, is it worth my time going there. All I have is a float tube. Anything helps! Please and thank you.
Harriet Lake
- Thread starter Oliver Luedtke
- Start date
This sub forum is for reporting a trip AFTER you've been. Why don't you go give it a shot and write it up and post here?
Divad
Whitefish
Use the tube to your advantage, stop at the campground fish a section get out, move up the road, do it again. Utilize your vehicle. Or if windy, start on the leeward side and let it take you down the lake. Get out and walk back to your car for an easy shuttle on a windy day.
Have fun, maybe dabble in the creek, I look forward to seeing a report from ya!
Have fun, maybe dabble in the creek, I look forward to seeing a report from ya!
To be fair he started off with a trip report and finished by asking if anyone had been there lately. Politely at that. I thought with the merger everyone would relax a bit. Guess I was wrong.
Oliver Luedtke
Smolt
Harriet Lake Fishing Report:
I arrived at 7:30 AM. There was little to no wind on the lakes surface and in the surrounding areas. When I arrived, there was only one bank angler besides myself. There was a small caddisfly hatch happening on the east side of the lake, but there were fish jumping, almost anywhere you looked. I was using a 10 1/2ft 5x liter, and a dropper rig set up. I noticed that there were fish looking at my flies but not eating them. I tied on 6 feet of 6X Tippit to my leader, and used the same 6X between the two flies. After doing this, I casted in different locations for around one hour and was able to catch three fish. After around 45 minutes of no bites, I looked below my float tube and noticed that the fish were hanging more on the bottom of the lake. This is when I decided to use a sinking head, Fly line and a leech. I did not use a tapered leader instead, I tied on some 6X Tippit that was around 6 feet long and used that. I trolled and retrieved the fly around the bank, going towards and away from the dam. Using this method, I was able to catch two more fish, one going towards the dam, and one going away from the damn. I fished for another two hours and was not able to produce any more fish.
Four of the fish that I caught were stocked, rainbow trout, but the fifth trout was a wild rainbow. I have heard online, in books, fly shops, and local knowledge that there are brown trout, brook trout, cutthroat trout, and wild rainbows, all in this lake. By the time I ended my fishing adventure, there were four people fishing from the bank and four boat anglers. There was one boat angler who fished near the Confluence with the creek and the lake and was able to catch a 16 inch brown trout. There was one bank angler who had claimed to have caught a 14 inch brook trout on the west side near the dam, while on his 12 foot boat, but it was hard to tell whether this was a fish story or a actual story. I would fish here year-round but I would be prepared to use technical fishing techniques, especially in the winter months. You are not wasting your time by fishing here if you know where to fish and what you’re doing.
There is also a secret way to get to and from the lake from Ripplebrook that PGE doesn’t want people to know. Keeping traveling on the road the goes to high way 212. Right before the gate there is a gravel road that forks off to the left. This road is called 5720. After 4 miles you want to keep right and go up the hill. After another 4 miles turn left onto road 160. This road will turn into road 4640. Then you are dropped off right at the high way. I would only go this way if you have four-wheel-drive and all-terrain tires. The road is narrow in some portions so I would not recommend you tow anything behind you. After traveling half a mile on the highway I came across two Forest Rangers at the Ripplebrook ranger station. They told me that they would start clearing the original paved road from Ripplebrook to Lake Harriet on September 15. This would provide easy access if you are hauling a boat or a trailer around. I would recommend you just wait until the road opens.
Good luck
I arrived at 7:30 AM. There was little to no wind on the lakes surface and in the surrounding areas. When I arrived, there was only one bank angler besides myself. There was a small caddisfly hatch happening on the east side of the lake, but there were fish jumping, almost anywhere you looked. I was using a 10 1/2ft 5x liter, and a dropper rig set up. I noticed that there were fish looking at my flies but not eating them. I tied on 6 feet of 6X Tippit to my leader, and used the same 6X between the two flies. After doing this, I casted in different locations for around one hour and was able to catch three fish. After around 45 minutes of no bites, I looked below my float tube and noticed that the fish were hanging more on the bottom of the lake. This is when I decided to use a sinking head, Fly line and a leech. I did not use a tapered leader instead, I tied on some 6X Tippit that was around 6 feet long and used that. I trolled and retrieved the fly around the bank, going towards and away from the dam. Using this method, I was able to catch two more fish, one going towards the dam, and one going away from the damn. I fished for another two hours and was not able to produce any more fish.
Four of the fish that I caught were stocked, rainbow trout, but the fifth trout was a wild rainbow. I have heard online, in books, fly shops, and local knowledge that there are brown trout, brook trout, cutthroat trout, and wild rainbows, all in this lake. By the time I ended my fishing adventure, there were four people fishing from the bank and four boat anglers. There was one boat angler who fished near the Confluence with the creek and the lake and was able to catch a 16 inch brown trout. There was one bank angler who had claimed to have caught a 14 inch brook trout on the west side near the dam, while on his 12 foot boat, but it was hard to tell whether this was a fish story or a actual story. I would fish here year-round but I would be prepared to use technical fishing techniques, especially in the winter months. You are not wasting your time by fishing here if you know where to fish and what you’re doing.
There is also a secret way to get to and from the lake from Ripplebrook that PGE doesn’t want people to know. Keeping traveling on the road the goes to high way 212. Right before the gate there is a gravel road that forks off to the left. This road is called 5720. After 4 miles you want to keep right and go up the hill. After another 4 miles turn left onto road 160. This road will turn into road 4640. Then you are dropped off right at the high way. I would only go this way if you have four-wheel-drive and all-terrain tires. The road is narrow in some portions so I would not recommend you tow anything behind you. After traveling half a mile on the highway I came across two Forest Rangers at the Ripplebrook ranger station. They told me that they would start clearing the original paved road from Ripplebrook to Lake Harriet on September 15. This would provide easy access if you are hauling a boat or a trailer around. I would recommend you just wait until the road opens.
Good luck
Nice report! That's a looong leader setup for me, glad you were able to tie into a few. Good luck getting some bon-rainbows next time!
Hoofer
Life of the Party
Nice report, man! Whack those stockers! I haven’t been up to Harriet in many years but I also recall reports of big browns. That inlet area looked fishy to me. I’ll bet there are some good opportunities coming up for bigger fish as we get into the fall. Is there a spawning run up the river? Keep going back!
Sagebrush
Smolt
I was there several weeks ago not realizing that the road was still barricaded off. At first i was a bit angry that i might have to go back around and go up through Mt Hood, but then started looking with my Gaia phone map for alternative ways in and found the exact same road 
. Glad i had Gaia.
. Glad i had Gaia.