Orting Lake in Pierce County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Orting Lake lies in Pierce County, in Washington. Around the bank it is oak and grass. Small at around 13 acres: two anglers spread out cover most of it. For a base, Orting sits 1.7 miles out. Prairie Ridge lies 2.1 miles off, McMillin another 3.1 miles. There is no boundary nearby to worry about. The water gives you a straightforward day if you keep it simple.

• Where to Fish on Orting Lake

  Nothing in our records gives a depth for this one. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Public occurrence data for Pierce County names pink salmon, sockeye salmon, largemouth bass, Chum salmon and Coho salmon. Several of these carry legal protection or closed seasons; the rulebook comes before the rod. Work Orting Lake in sections rather than trying to cover it.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Average temperature peaks around 65°F in August and bottoms out near 38°F in January. There is no frozen season to plan round. The first and last hours carry the summer; the middle is slow. June to September is hot work, so the first and last hours are what count. Anyone fishing Orting Lake regularly works to that calendar.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access is not recorded for this water. You will be walking about half a mile from the nearest car park. Toilets are 0.9 miles away, which matters on a long session. A small crankbait along the drop and a worm in the thick stuff cover the bass. Some banks are open only from a marked point. Some ground is open by custom rather than by right, so tread carefully. McMillin Reservoir Number Two, 3.7 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. What applies at Orting Lake may have changed since it was mapped.