Forest Lake Fishing near Colebrook, Vermont

• Overview

  Within Essex County, Vermont, you have Forest Lake. The water sits 1,660 feet up. It runs to roughly 61 acres — big enough to hold fish away from the bank, small enough to learn. Roughly 1.1 miles of bank means you can walk to a fresh area when one goes quiet. Head to Colebrook, 11 miles away, for anything you forgot. Further out sit Coaticook (12 miles) and Stanstead (20 miles). Local rules may differ a few miles either side of here.

• Where to Fish on Forest Lake

  Depth is not on record here, which means reading the ground instead. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Records held for Essex County cover rainbow trout, brook trout and brown trout. Records at this level tell you what is in the area. Anyone new to Forest Lake should walk it once before setting up.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Average temperature peaks around 64°F in July and bottoms out near 11°F in January. The year splits cleanly: hard water, then open water. Firm cover through the cold months, then open water from late April. Ice usually gives way near late April, and forms again about late November. September and October fish steadily right up to the freeze. That shapes the year on Forest Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access status is simply unknown for this water. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. No made access is recorded, so a short walk in is the likely arrangement. Largemouth respond to soft plastics tight to cover; go weedless where the growth is heavy. Where a permit is needed, the nearest town usually sells it. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. Great Averill Pond sits 1.1 miles off and takes the overflow. What applies at Forest Lake may have changed since it was mapped.