Cultus Lake

[ripnlips]

Going over to the area in the next week or so. Never fished Cultus before. Any tips re: flies,methods, etc.? Going to troll at Lava Lake as well.
Anyone over there lately?

[Old Coot]

Cultus is a big lake, almost 800 acres, about a mile and a half long, with the long axis running east and west. When the cross-pass winds start to blow, the lake can kick up in a hurry and get some substantial rollers. :help:

The water is very clear. Take a sink-tip line, it is over 200 feet deep, and average depth is about 80 feet. :grin:

The lake hosts some big macs that look like cruising salmon. If you are going to fish for them, I would use some big streamers that look like chubs. For hardware, maybe a really BIG spinner. Many years ago I was running a red Cycolac prop on a kicker and a Cultus laker struck the prop, breaking off one blade. The fish came back up and wallowed on the surface behind the boat spewing blood all over, then sank in 200' of water.

The north bay could hold trout now, the NE corner of the lake has some big boulders on the bottom, contains some shallower water, and may warm up before most of the rest of the lake. I have to be honest, I never did very well there; but I have a very long list of places where I never did very well so...

If you get onto the water, be sure you take a look at the far west end.

[Tanner]

If you want to do some stillwater flyfishing and you are going to Cultus, I would try Little Cultus Lake. It has Eastern Brookes in it. I have caught them up to 17" out of there.