Rainbow trout biting around Roses Lake
Roses Lake, which is just up the hill from Manson at Lake Chelan, is loaded with rainbow trout.
Courtesy Photo/Dave Graybill
After I tried my luck fishing for cutthroat in Monument Bay on Lake Chelan, I thought I had better check out Roses Lake. If you haven’t heard, there was a big plant of rainbow in Roses last month.
On November 13th, the WDFW released 17,750 rainbow into Roses, and the size of the fish was 2.5 per pound, or about 11 inches. The fall plant is pretty much an annual event at Roses, and since it rarely freezes solid enough to allow ice fishing, anglers get to take these fish all winter long.
The trout in Roses have a good growth rate, too, so anglers are catching trout that average about 13 inches in the spring. There are some dandy carryover trout in Roses, and rainbow of 18 inches are no surprise.
Anyway, I stopped by the lake and the first thing I noticed was the work that had been done. There is a new vault toilet, a huge, paved parking lot, a new dock, and a nice fishing platform near the dock that is paved also.
If you would like to get your youngsters into some fish this winter, Roses would be a great place to go.