Can you go home again? And if you do, will the neighborhood dwarf beat the snot out of you? Again?

I recently tried to find out when I returned to Goose Lake, which at one time was something like my home water. The results were inconclusive, which was probably a good thing for my ego.

Getting Goosed

When I got serious about fly fishing in 1982, most of my stillwater fishing was on Goose Lake in southwest Washington. We have a cabin up that way, and when we'd stay there I'd usually drive to the lake for some evening fishing.

Goose Lake a small alpine impoundment with a few snags still standing in the middle. Because of the snags, some people refer to it as a mini Crane Prairie. Except it's in the mountains, not a prairie. And no one's ever seen a crane there; for that matter, I can't recall seeing a goose. And, unlike Crane Prairie, it doesn't have trophy rainbows. In fact, when I was fishing there most of the catch was 7-8 inch stocked brook trout. Still, they outsmarted me plenty of times.

Goose Lake introduced me to evening stillwater midge hatches. Those little brookies educated the heck out of me. Time after I time, I'd come back to the cabin fishless. Sensing my disappointment, my wife would say, "Did you get skunked?" "No," I'd reply, "I got goosed."

Sometimes I'd get the right size and color of midge pupa, but just as often I would fail to give the trout what they were looking for. Fish would be rising all around my float tube while I desperately changed flies. The sky would grow darker and darker, the rises would come faster and faster. And my frustration would get deeper and deeper as I sought the right combination.

"Please, Lord," I'd cry, "give me one more hour of light! Thirty minutes, even! Just don't let it get dark before I've figured this out! I'll be a good boy the rest of my life." Then I'd go back to the cabin and admit to another goosing.

I only went to Goose Lake for a couple of summers. After that I considered myself too sophisticated to cast to seven-inch stockers. Truth was, stillwater midging at Goose Lake remained a hit-or-miss affair for me, and I wasn't sorry to evade the prospect of failure there.

Return to the Scene

Recently I returned to Goose Lake after a 25 year absence. It was Saturday, July 5. We were at the cabin for several days, and I'd brought my fishing gear and Waterstrider. We'd had non-fishing visitors, and there were obligations waiting at home, so I only had two hours to fish on Saturday afternoon.

It was about 2:00 when I arrived and launched my Waterstrider. Being the Fourth of July weekend, the lake was crowded with boats. There were no rises, and only one other fly fisher. I asked him if he'd had any luck. "Woolly Buggers," he said. "And a Pheasant Tail."

That was fine with me. I have done very little lake fishing the last few years, and trolling a Bugger or a PT was something I could handle. I'd be leaving long before dusk, avoiding any midge hatches. Or so I thought.

I had some hits on the Bugger, then switched to a PT and picked up a couple of seven-inch brook trout. Then I saw them, back in the cove by the inlet: rising trout. It looked like they were sipping midge pupae. I cast the PT into the cove several times and retrieved it. No takers.

Hmm. . . Should I try a midge pupa? I tied one on, cast it, and waited. Nothing. I tried several more casts. Nothing. I changed flies. Changed flies again. Still nothing.

I had the sense the fish were laughing at me: "Hey, big boy, you learned anything in the last two decades? Nah-nah-na-nah-nah! My great-great-great-grandfather told me about you--hee-hee! Better hurry up, it's only six more hours until dark!"

Well, I'm sure I would have figured it out. Eventually. Maybe . . .

We'll never know, though. Whatever was hatching stopped, and the rises petered out; it was time to leave anyway.

We'll return to the cabin in a couple of weeks, and I'll go to Goose Lake for the evening midge hatch. I'll be armed with every possible combination of size and color of midge pupa and plenty of time to try them all. I'm determined, resolute, got something to prove. After all, you can't go through life getting goosed.

Okay Scott, I used to fish there a lot...and the midge hatches were a lot of fun...I always had good success at the inflow on the other side from the campground. Did you know that several years ago there was a fear the lake would be no more.

Apparently a lava tube had opened up and the lake was noticeably draining...over time however that lava tube opening silted in and the plug was back in the lake...

I am curious if you ever fished elsewhere in that area...Steamboat LK., Misquito Lake, Tahklak Lk, or Council Lake?
Council is a pretty little Lake, a wee bit further "up the road."

The crowds were still there after the weekend, when I went there (July 8th).

Goose has frustrated the hell out of me at times too, although last fall I used an emerger pattern I picked up at (the nameless, not an advertizer) shop down in Woodland with excellent success the last 2 or 3 times I was there. Too bad it's such a zoo, since it's the only lake I know of where you can realistically catch four species of trout in the same day. Slot limits or something would help....it's been years since I caught a decent-sized brown there.

Love Steamboat, and over the Fourth I met a couple of guys who'd fished there that weekend. They had to drag their tubes two miles over the snow to get in. (Or so they said . . . ; kept me from going trying, so it was a good strategy.)

Back in the "olden days" you'd have the lake pretty much to yourself.

East and Goose lakes are my two favorite "local" lakes. One reason I like them is how great dry fly fishing can be on both of them. Goose has a great ant hatch when you hit it. A callibaetis cripple is my go to fly when there aren't ants. Yes, they are stocked fish but WA puts much higher quality plants in their lakes. Browns and Cutts in the 16 inch range are common. It also has receiver some triploid rainbows. Then there are the sea runs that sometimes are transplanted in the fall. Go in close to shore and you can catch the brookies on almost every cast.

For years, I never mentioned or reported on Goose because it just was not that crowded. But recently, like everywhere else, it is now well known and the crowds take away a lot of the fun for me. But, I will be there next week!

One of my favorites as well....definitely getting more crowded every year unfortunately. It really needs to be made into a C&R lake or at least a limited harvest lake.
Just curious, have you ever caught bows in Goose and if so how long ago? WDFW hasn't planted them in at least the last 8-10 years? I'm curious as to whether they are actually reproducing there.

Never caught a bow there.