Mountain Lake Fishing Guide, San Juan County, Washington

• Overview

  In Washington, Mountain Lake falls inside San Juan County. The water sits 965 feet up. The water covers some 195 acres, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. The bank runs about 3.0 miles all the way round, so one visit can cover most of it. Among the waters listed for San Juan County, none is wider. Friday Harbor lies 13 miles from the water. Anacortes lies 14 miles off, Marietta another 14 miles. A border sits close enough to be relevant to the paperwork.

• Where to Fish on Mountain Lake

  Depth is unknown to us, and the shoreline is the better guide. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Survey and observation records for San Juan County include Coho salmon, tidepool sculpin, Pacific staghorn sculpin and great sculpin. Several of these carry legal protection or closed seasons; the rulebook comes before the rod. The near bank of Mountain Lake is often the one people ignore.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Expect August to average close to 60°F, with January the cold end at about 39°F. Whether it freezes depends on the year. In milder years the edges alone go, and the middle never sets. Spring and autumn carry the year; summer squeezes it into the ends of the day. That shapes the year on Mountain Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether you may fish here is not something records settle. It formed naturally, so levels move with rainfall rather than with a gate. You can park half a mile away and walk in from there. Public data records a pier about half a mile out. A toilet block sits half a mile away. Season dates differ by species, so read the table. Where the way in crosses private ground, ask first. Should this one be busy, Summit Lake is 1.2 miles off. None of that is settled for Mountain Lake in what we hold.