Rachel Lake in Kittitas County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Rachel Lake sits in Kittitas County, out in Washington. The water sits 4,646 feet up. It measures about 26 acres, which is a comfortable size for bank fishing. You are 20 miles from Tanner. For a city, Renton is 42 miles off. Also worth knowing: Rampart Lakes (0.6 miles), Box Canyon Lake out at 0.6 miles, Lila Lake (0.8 miles), Gold Lake out at 1.3 miles and Lake Lillian (1.4 miles). A county line runs close by, so local bylaws can differ within a short drive.

• Where to Fish on Rachel Lake

  No chart reached our records; the first cast is your sounding. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Kittitas County records list cutthroat trout, rainbow trout and Chinook salmon among the fish reported. Several of these carry legal protection or closed seasons; the rulebook comes before the rod. Fish Rachel Lake where the bottom changes rather than where it looks deep.

• Seasonal Patterns

  August runs about 56°F on average, January about 24°F. The season turns properly here, and fish follow it closely. Winter fishing happens on the ice here, with open water back around late April. Climate figures give an open season running late April to late November. Reckon on open water from spring through to late autumn, with May and June the strongest. Rachel Lake runs to its own calendar within the local pattern.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether you may fish here is not something records settle. A campsite is mapped about 110 yards away, which makes an early start easier. Facilities include toilets around half a mile from here. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Rules differ from one water to the next round here. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. The nearest alternative is Rampart Lakes, 0.6 miles out. What applies at Rachel Lake may have changed since it was mapped.