Fishing Squitch Lake in Kittitas County, Washington

• Overview

  Set in Kittitas County, Squitch Lake is a Washington water. The setting is lake country bush on every side. The water measures roughly 2 acres, so nothing here is far from anything else. On size it sits at the modest end of our Kittitas County list. Start from Leavenworth, 21 miles down the road. Then Cle Elum, 24 miles, and Cashmere, 30 miles. The county line is nowhere near, so one local authority covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Squitch Lake

  We hold no survey for this water; read the slope of the shoreline instead. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Reported across Kittitas County: cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, Chinook salmon, sockeye salmon and largemouth bass. Several of these carry legal protection or closed seasons; the rulebook comes before the rod. Fish Squitch Lake where the bottom changes rather than where it looks deep.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Seasonal averages run from 22°F in December up to 56°F in August. Winter puts a hard lid on this one. Hard water holds through the cold months, breaking up near late April. On the long-run averages the water opens up around late April and starts locking again about late November. Fishing peaks soon after break-up and again before the cold returns. Anyone fishing Squitch Lake regularly works to that calendar.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing we hold confirms whether access is permitted. There are toilets half a mile off. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Where access is informal, keep it that way by behaving. Where parking is tight, arriving early solves most problems. Nosh Nosh Wahtum, 0.7 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Signs at Squitch Lake carry more weight than any list.