While visitors have plenty to do at Alta Lake State Park, the park’s namesake lake is known for good summer fishing — thanks in large part to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s generous stocking schedule.
Every April, state authorities stock the 220-acre lake with tens of thousands of young rainbow trout and kokanee. These prized game fish grow to maturity in the clear alpine waters.
The state park on the lake’s northern side provides excellent shoreline access to Alta Lake. Additionally, the park boasts two boat launches and camping for anglers wishing to make a weekend of it.
Fishing at Alta Lake is managed seasonally. It opens on the fourth Saturday in April, staying open through Halloween.
Statewide bag limits apply: up to five rainbow trout per day, up to 10 kokanee per day.
Trout Fishing
Alta Lake is one of many Okanogan County spots known for good trout fishing, as well as one of the easier ones to access.
The reliably good catches are powered by the planting of nearly 30,000 young rainbow trout, as well as more modest stocking of catchable rainbow trout in the spring.
Rainbow trout prefer cooler temperatures, but Alta Lake is one of the best spots around to catch trout even during the hot summer months.
If you’re fishing in the heat of summer, consider packing a fish finder to help locate fish in deeper waters.
Surviving larger trout will begin to feed more aggressively in the fall as instinct tells them to prepare for winter. They may move back into shallower water to forage as the weather cools later in September and October, in the waning weeks before the season closes.
Rainbow trout are great “first fish” for amateur anglers, although they are enjoyed by anglers of all abilities and levels of experience.
Try out a lot of different techniques to find your favorite.
The classic bobber with a worm on a hook suspended underneath works like a charm much of the time, especially if you see fish activity near the surface. This is a fun way for beginners to “see” the bite as the bobber dives under or bounces and skitters on the surface.
Bait anglers often will move toward the bottom as the fish retreat to cooler water. Using a floating dough bait such as PowerBait or using mini marshmallows to float a piece of nightcrawler or salmon eggs a few feet off the bottom is a time-honored technique.
Boaters often turn to trolling for trout.
A classic trolling setup is using a set of attractor blades or a dodger ahead of a lure or a baited hook. The Wedding Ring is a standby if you don’t already have a favorite, but small spoons and other lures or just a nightcrawler on a hook will often get the job done.
More advanced anglers will try fly fishing here, matching their presentations to the hatches going on at the lake.
Check out our guide to simple trout fishing techniques for more bait and lure suggestions and other tips.
Trout fishing typically starts out hot right out of the gate when the season opens in late April and is best during the spring, although fishing here holds up into the summer better here than it does at some trout lakes.
You may hook holdover rainbow trout up to 16 inches long at Alta Lake, although 11 to 13 inches is more typical of the population.
Kokanee Fishing
The other primary game fish you’ll find at Alta Lake are kokanee, which are a somewhat newer addition to the lake.
A form of landlocked (non-oceangoing) sockeye salmon, kokanee or “kokes” don’t often grow as large as salmon that complete the saltwater cycle of their anadromous kin.
But kokanee share their oceangoing brethren’s fighting ability and their tastiness on the table.
Kokanee are stocked in lakes as fry in the spring and grow into keeper sizes in following seasons.
Kokanee at Alta Lake typically grow up to about the same size as their rainbow trout cousins: 11 to 13 inches or so.
Kokanee might get off to a slightly slower start than trout at the opener some years, but if that’s the case they’ll come on strong during spring and remain worth your while into the summer, when during good run years some anglers will switch over to the sea-going sockeyes arriving in the nearby Columbia River.
Kokes like even colder water than trout, so expect to find them well into the depths at Alta Lake during the peak of the summer season.
The deepest water at Alta Lake is about 75 feet or so, near the middle and also favoring the water a little closer to the steeper east bank.
The keeper-sized class of kokanee will take on spawning colors in the fall as the fishing season here comes to a close. They will still taste quite good early in that process, but once they are bright red with hooked jaws, you’ll notice the eating quality falls off and it’s time to focus on rainbows.
Attracting kokanee to bite can often be a bit trickier than trout fishing, in part because with kokanee you are trying to provoke an aggressive response rather than set the dinner table.
Kokanee primarily eat microscopic zooplankton, which frankly aren’t much fun to get on a hook!
As with trolling is the most common way to catch kokanee.
Try using dodgers or flashers ahead of your lure to get their attention and provoke a territorial response.
Small spoons, spinners, hootchies and similar lures in bright colors are the usual terminal tackle of choice when trolling for kokanee.
Using bright metal jigs is another tactic that can boat kokanee quickly if you can very accurately zero in on a school.
Learn more about the best fishing techniques for kokanee.
Where is Alta Lake?
Alta Lake is located near the city of Pateros in Okanogan County, in north-central Washington, roughly between bigger fishing meccas such as Lake Chelan to the southwest and the Brewster area on the Columbia River to the northeast.
(Note that there’s another Alta Lake in the Whistler area of British Columbia, Canada, that might come up in your internet searches.)
Washington’s Alta Lake is about an hour north of Wenatchee; take U.S. Highway 2 to U.S. Highway 97, then head west and south from Pateros to reach Alta Lake State Park. It’s also a little more than an hour west of Grand Coulee Dam and lower Lake Roosevelt.
Access and Amenities
There’s an 18-hole golf course just north of the state park and pine forests along some of the shores, offering relief from the starker landscapes immediately east toward the Columbia River.
You likely will see lingering signs from the devastating 2014 Carlton Complex Fire in the area, but this won’t impact the fishing.
Alta Lake State Park also has camping, shoreline access and boat launch facilities. A Discover Pass from Washington State Parks is required to drive into the park.
Alta Lake covers some 220 acres. The state park sits primarily at the lake’s north and northwest shores, and homes with boat docks line other parts of the shoreline.
Be mindful of swimmers, sailboarders and other recreational users of the lake. Never fish too close to people who are in the water. Sailboarding is particularly popular during the summer months.
Personal watercraft and waterskiing are only permitted from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m..
Fishing regulations are pretty typical here, including allowing two-pole fishing for those with the extra endorsement.
A launch permit is required to use either of the boat launches on Alta Lake.
Find More Fishing Spots in Okanogan County
Washington Resources
WDFW Fishing and Stocking Reports
WDFW Fishing Regulations
National Weather Service forecasts