Looking back across the lake to the floating dock and small boat launch, it appeared much farther away than it was. Roses Lake, near the small orchard community of Manson, WA, is 130 acres and surrounded by foothills leading to the Cascade mountains. Roses Lake is not small, but also not nearly as large as the nearby 55-mile-long Lake Chelan which is the main reason why most visit the farming valley.
But on this springtime day, the afternoon winds had come up, blowing down the rolling hills and across Roses Lake. Between me and the newly redesigned boat ramp stretched a choppy expanse of wind-driven waves and whitecaps. In my small 12-foot rowboat, the real challenge wasn’t just the distance, it was the fact that I’d be rowing straight into the wind and crashing waves.
It had been a good day of fishing with several trout on the stringer and even more released as I rowed across the lake. Towing a green Mack’s Smile Blade fly in olive green with two small split shot a couple of feet before the fly meant catch and release was an option. If you choose to use bait then all fish caught must be counted towards the daily limit, even if released. Once I got to the far shore which is lined with cattails, I opted to switch over to a lightweight rod and a small jig with a curly tail grub under a float. This provided non-stop action with bluegills and small largemouth bass. Roses Lake offers anglers a lot of options all year long.
I grew up fishing this lake and back when it was a winter-only fishery, opening on December 1st and closing on March 31st; it was very popular with the locals. Every weekend there would be dozens of people sitting on buckets huddled around holes in the ice. But by the time the ice was gone, so were the locals. It seems they had their fill by March. Then several years ago the lake became a year-round season, now there is no rush of fishermen on December 1st.
When the ice is on this lake it is still very popular with the locals, but just like the days of years ago during the winter-only fishery, once the ice is off, the lake is all but forgotten. My dad fished it every day for a week straight this past January when the ice was thick and solid. He also limited on 10 to 12 inch rainbows in less than 2 hours each day he went out and the fishing continued to be good until the summer heat warmed up the water and brought out the water skiers.
In March, the lake becomes very active, especially towards the end of the month when the water temps start rising and bugs start hatching. April and May are great months to fish the lake, especially trolling Mack’s Smile Blade flies or Carey Special flies either on a sinking fly line or on a lightweight spinning outfit with a few split shot above the flies. Since the lake receives trout plants throughout the year there always seems to be enough fish to make it worth the time to wet a line.
On average this lake sees a yearly planting of 31,000 rainbow trout, with 25,000 of those being triploids which are sterile and grow quickly. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife also stocks around 2,000 brown trout and another 2,000 tiger trout, which are planted in hopes of keeping the warmwater spiny ray species in check. There are also catfish in this lake, though rarely targeted, and a good population of bass as well.
Access:
Roses Lake is 7 miles from the town of Chelan, along the north shore. Take Highway 151 towards Manson. Turn right on Wapato Lake Road, which is the same road that leads to the Colville Tribes casino and is across from Mill Bay County Park. Continue for approximately 2 miles until you come to Roses Ave. Turn left for about a ½ mile and the road veers right onto Green Avenue. Then head to the marked WDFW launch and access site about a ½ mile further.
There is ample parking which was recently re-paved and has bathroom outhouse facilities. Roses Lake access site also had the boat launch improved a few years ago with a dock added to assist in launching small watercraft. For those bound to the shoreline, WDFW just added a new fishing dock and a handicapped access bulkhead to fish from. It should be noted that this is the only public access to the lake as the rest of the shoreline is private property.
Where to fish:
Right out in front of the boat launch and off of the two fingers at the public access site has always produced fish. But if you have a boat there are two other areas that I highly recommend. First is a cove to the Northwest end of the lake. This cove area is shallow compared to the center of the lake and the water temps can warm up a little bit here which makes for better bug activity and hungry fish.
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 too:
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 invasive panfish that can spawn in lakes by using these predators. If the trout fishing is slow then you can try poppers or leach patterns for the pan fish.
Other options:
If you are planning a trip to the Chelan Valley to give this fishery a try, don’t forget a few other options as well. Dry Lake right next to Roses is a bass fisherman’s dream. This lake is very shallow and by summer the weeds have overtaken the lake, but in fall and spring the weeds aren’t as bad and it’s very fishable. I don’t recommend ice fishing this lake because it is so shallow that the ice seems to be thin or “rotten” in places as the water can remain a bit warmer than the deeper Roses Lake. There is no improved launch at Dry Lake, but a small car topper boat or a float tube works great here. There are some big bass in there as well as good-eating crappie and other pan fish.
Of course, Lake Chelan is also an option that you cannot overlook. Springtime is prime time for the Lakers as they are in their spawning cycle. It seems the bigger fish come up from the depths or from the up lake to the down lake area (little is known where the big fish hang out since the lake is so big and deep). By late spring you can target the kokanee which are heading to the east end of the lake. The standard pop gear and wedding ring tipped with a worm and shoepeg corn soaked in Pro-Cure’s anise or bloody tuna is the top producer for the Kokes.
It seems this migration of landlocked sockeye fatten the Mackinaw for a chance to break the state record for Lake Trout. Try off of the end of Wapato Point where the lake goes from 150 feet to over 250 feet, either jigging 1 oz white grub jigs tipped with pike minnow or herring strips or troll a U20 flatfish along the bottom off of downriggers. If you’re not equipped for the deep water, the smallmouth bass are found along the docks in the town of Chelan. The water is clear enough that you can often see fish for the bass.
Back on Roses Lake, keep an eye on the afternoon winds and be ready to head for the boat launch. If the trout fishing slows then work the cattails for some incredible bass fishing. You might not find big bass here but they are plentiful and easy to catch. Keep in mind that there is often a water ski slalom course on the west end of the lake and that others will be using this lake as well. The 130-acre body of water is surrounded by orchards and a few houses and respect the shoreline.
The WDFW access site gets busy but there is plenty of parking and good bank access. This lake has it all, for everyone, from kayakers and float tube anglers to bass boats and tow boats, trout and bass, and some bluegill too. This makes it a perfect lake to take the kids as well as just spend some time catching fish while in the Lake Chelan Valley.
