Lake Cushman

[WSU]

I’m taking the family camping this summer at Cushman and am going to bring the boat. I’ve read there are Kokanee but also that it is no longer stocked. Anyone fished it in the last year or two and have any advice? Will have a boat full of kids so lots of action would be great.

[Alchase]

It has been six years since I last fished Lake Cushman. I use to fish it often. The key to limits was to find the Kokanee schools. That can be easier said than done on a lake the size of Cushman. I had good luck up closer to the Staircase end, and if the schools were there, you were in for easy limits due to the how shallow it is compared with to the SE end by the dam. There use to be a decent rainbow fishery as well, trolling along the shoreline drop offs was productive for rainbows. If you find the Kokes in the deeper middle, circle back in through doing figure 8s. When the schools move you have to re-locate again.
Sorry I do not have recent experience, and it sucks they are no longer stockings. But if I remember correctly Lake Cushman has a natural Kokanee run, and some natural CutThroat trout, so the stocking would be only for rainbows.

[MADMAX]

Ive heard theres Chinook in there also


https://www.allolympicpark.com/lakes_rivers_falls/lake_cushman.php

[fishngamereaper]

Buddy fished it last year and caught a ton of fish... trout, koks...non stop action.

[Alchase]

My two boys and I limited on Kokes fishing from the bridge at the Staircase end in a out three hours. It was total chaos with the Koke school right below us. We could see hundreds and hundreds of Kokes. After our limits we stopped fishing, and the boys were dropping trout eggs off the bridge and watching them attack the eggs.
Then they disappeared as quick as they showed up.