Just over an hour from Spokane and under four hours from Seattle is an Eastern Washington gem. Make the trip to Coffeepot Lake to find yourself surrounded by stunning cliffs and beautiful shrubsteppe landscapes that are typical of this part of Washington in the Columbia Basin. Around the water, you’ll find grasses ranging from bright green to pale yellow, low-lying shrubs, dark gray hillsides, and lichen-spotted cliffs made of volcanic basalt.
Coffeepot Lake itself is a long, skinny body of water that measures around 310 acres. The water levels change due to drought, producing weeds and algae in the shallows around the shoreline. However, the deeper areas of the lake are great for boating, kayaking, and — most of all — fishing.
Coffeepot Lake is located on 900 acres of Bureau of Land Management land and is reserved for both recreation and as a wildlife habitat with a campground for overnight stays. Don’t forget your telescope at home! The skies above Coffeepot Lake are a Class Two on the Bortle Scale, meaning you can clearly see the Milky Way in the summer months and constellations throughout the year. All in all, Coffeepot Lake is a great option for a weekend getaway for campers and anglers alike.
Catch a trophy-sized trout at Coffeepot Lake
Anglers, and particularly fly fishers, come to Coffeepot Lake for a few reasons. First, the rainbow trout are prolific and can reach almost 24 inches in length, per Northwest Fly Anglers. Second, due to the overpopulation of yellow perch, there are no limits on the number of these fish you can catch. Third, the lake is stocked with a diversity of fish anglers can catch year-round, including black crappie and pumpkinseed sunfish…