Coldwater LakeDated 7/26/10 The lake is doing well for terrestrials and streamers like wooly buggers. The far end of the lake is usually best but the area around the island is also good. Dated 6/4/10 Lots of large trout being taken here from 15-24 inches. These trout are very cold and prefer taking flies beneath the surface on a heavy sinking line. Lots of cuthroat present but hard to get in boat according to anglers fishing there. Dated 5/15/10 Coldwater has had a recent surge in the number of trout and size of fish being caught by the fly anglers there. Good patterns are the BH Buggers, Carey Specials, Muddler Minnows and other streamers. Ant patterns will be coming on very soon as the warmer weather approaches. Most anglers have been seeing fish rising along the north shore between the island and boat launch and have had a hard time taking fish rising to dries there. Anglers who have used slowly sunken flies or emergers have done the best. A good old chironimid would do well here as an emerger as black gnats were reported the other day in this area. Stay close to bank areas for best fishing.  A calm scene on Coldwater lake looking east. Dated 5/15/10  Nice 15 inch rainbow from Coldwater lake. Dated 5/15/10  Another calm scene from Coldwater Lake Dated 5/15/10  Big west slope cuthroat from Coldwater Lake. Dated 5/15/10  Beautiful rainbow from Coldwater lake Dated 5/15/10 5/10/10 There have been fly anglers taking a few rainbows using wooly buggers and nymphs at the lake recently. Temperatures were warmer yesterday when the reports were recieved. The best times for the lake are during mornings when the wind is usually lighter. 9/24/09 The fly angling at Coldwater Lake has been very good the last few days with calm days and evenings. There have even been several reports of ant and hopper hatches along the shore line by anglers. The fish in the lake are beginning to actively feed for the winter as the days get shorter. Good patterns to consider would include ants, caddis and mayfly emergers. If you prefer to troll a fly good patterns include leeches and wooly buggers.   George Foshee with a 19 inch rainbow from Coldwater Lake. Dated 9/22/09  Dated 9/23/09 DATED 8/9/09 NO PICTURES THIS WEEK BUT ANGLING HAS BEEN GOOD EARLY AND LATE DURING THE DAY. MANY ANGLERS ARE USING TERMITE PATTERNS AND BLACK FLYING ANTS ALONG THE SHORELINES. SOME ANGLERS FLIND SUCCESS IN TROLLING USING SINKING FLY LINES ALSO. POPULAR PATTERN FOR TROLLING THE LAKE INCLUDE THE WOOLY BUGGER, CAREY SPECIAL, MUDDLERS, MATUKAS AND LEECH APTTERNS. MOST ANGLERS TROLLING USE A TYPE 3 SNKING LINE OR INTERMEDIATE.. MANY FLY ANGLERS ARE FREQUENTING THE SOUTH SHORE JUST OUTSIDE THE BOAT LAUNCH OVER TO THE ISLAND AND THEN AROUND THE BOAT LAUNCH. REMEMBER THAT THIS LAKE IS FAMOUS FOR THE WIND SO BE PREPARED FOR IT. THERE IS FISHING IN GREAT ABUNDANCE AT THE FAR END OF THE LAKE BUT REMEBER THE WIND IS A FACTOR HERE. 6/3/09 FREE SPEY FISHING CONCLAVE SPONSORED BY BLACK HERON FLY FISHING 1060 14TH AVE LONGVIEW, WASHINGTON 98632 360-575-3970 OFFICE AUGUST 1ST , 2009 ON THE COWLITZ RIVER FROM 10:00AM TILL 5:00PM DETAILS WILL FOLLOW ON LOCATION AS WEB SITE IS UPDATED. Please see home page for map of spey clave location. The lake has seen an increase in the number of fish being caught here due to the warmer weather. The average fish being caught has ranged 16 - 19 inches with some approching the 22 inch mark. The fishing has mostly been around the island and south shore. Common patterns being used are the Black Monter beetle and Fly Black Ant. Some other patterns used at Coldwater this time of year are the Chronimids, Wooly Buggers, BH Nymphs, and attractor dry flies like Black Humpys. Dated 5/22/09 Coldwater is fishing relatively well but has problems with clarity of about 3-4 feet. The anglers visiting there say they wish the water would warm and clear. This should occurr this weekend with good weather forcasted. The most popular patterns lately are the wooly bugger and chironimids used close to the bank 10-15 feet from shore. The last angler there caught 12-13 fish in the 14-18 inch range in about 5-6 hours. All his fish were caught close to shore and no farther than the island . DATED 4/16/09 The lake has seen a little improvement with fish being caught but the water is at 38 degrees according to anglers and there is still snow on the banks. The biggest fish reported has been about 17-18 inches with the majority being about 12-14 inches. The lake has not turned over yet according to anglers fishing there. The fish there is tough, but worth the drive because they say no one is fishing there yet. The scenary is spectacular DATED 4/10/09 THE BOAT LAUNCH HAS BEEN REOPENED BY REMOVAL OF A LARGE LOG.  The roadway is plowed and passable to Coldwater Lake. Dated 4/5/09  Coldwater Lake road is open and plowed all the way to the boat launch. 4/5/09  The parking lot at Coldwater 4/5/09  Coldwater lake is open and fishable. The water is cooooooool!!!!! The clarity is good with a dark green color predominating.  THIS LOG HAS NOW BEEN REMOVED ACCORDING TO REPORT AND BOAT LAUNCH IS OPEN. DATED 4/10/009  A crisp breeze at Coldwater Lake. Dated 4/5/09 10/25/08 For the few anglers travelling to Coldwater angling has been good using chironimids and dries along the shorelines. If the wind is up dont plan on fishing the far end of lake. Plan on the road being blocked very soon by the people managing the roads in the area getting ready for winter. Dated 9/15/08. There have been a larger number of anglers visiting the lake recently due to over crowding on the Columbia River . Here is a nice trout from Cold Water caught by Ken Leaf.  Ken Leaf with a nice Rainbow Trout from Coldwater. Dated 9/15/08 9/11/08 There have been a few anglers visiting the lake fishing hopper and termite patterns along the shoreline. The fish are runnning about 16 inches and most anglers are catching and releasing these fish. The best times to visit the lake are early in the morning or later in the afternoon when the light and wind is lowest and fish most active. Some of the float tubers are having succcess trolling a wooly bugger behind their float tubes very slowly using both floating and slow sinking fly lines. Another technique that has worked is to use a struke indicator and chironimid pattern with a floating fly line and 12-13 foot leader. Casting to bank has been pretty good using this technique.  8/29/08 RICK WARD with a nice Coldwater Lake rainbow.  Bob Buchman with a piglet. Fishing close into the shoreline using terrestrial ant nad beetle patterns. 8/25/08 Last update 8/16/08The far end of the Lake has seen very few visitors lately. The lake should be producing good number of prime trout in the 15-19 inch range now since the clarity has improved. The majority of anglers who are catching fish are either trolling a fly such as a wooly bugger or casting to the bank using ants, termites, beetles and hoppers. There has also been success using orange stimulators in smaller sizes. These have also been thrown towards the banks and retrieved slowly. The visibilty has improved
considerably over the last couple weeks on Cold water. The last few
people who have been to the lake have said
the lakes clarity has improved. Visibilty is over 10-12 feet
now.
Possible patterns to use Bead Head Leeches, Muddler Minnows, Cone Head Buggers, Carey Specials, Chironimids and San Juan Worms. Other possible patterns to use would include Elk Hair Caddis, Blue Wing Olives, Parachute Adams, Parachute Lt Cahill and a host of emerger patterns due to the colder weather. Along with these patterns you may want to consider taking some termite, beetle and ant patterns due to the large number of downed trees and debri along the lake shore. Customers have been throwing to the shoreline with floating fly lines and catching nice rainbows using dry flies. Mostly Beetles , Ants, and Termite patterns. The last report from Coldwater on 8/12/08 included size 10 hoppers as a go to fly along the shoreline. Several fish were missed and 10-12 were caught by these anglers. Anglers also said the fish were full of red chironimids when they pumped the fishes throat.  Coldwater Rainbow  Annette Crews with another monster from Coldwater Lake. |