Hiking and Fly Fishing the Pratt River Connector Trail Washington

photo by patrick_fore Unsplash

A really good six-mile day hike close to Seattle is the Pratt River Connector Hike. This hike, near North Bend, gives you a chance to not only do a fairly easy hike and some fly fishing on the Pratt River or the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River. Of course, check the regulations carefully to make sure when and where either river is open for fishing. Another option, if you want a more challenging hike is to trek into Rainy Lake which is at twenty-nine hundred feet. Supposedly it has trout (Rainbows or Cutthroats, I assume) and is popular with fly fishers.

The basic Pratt River Connector Trail never goes much above one hundred feet assuming you don’t decide to hike up to Rainy Lake. This means that it is accessible pretty much all year round. Though, according to the Washington State Trail Association’s website, there are several routes that go as high as twenty-nine hundred feet. Also, you can also climb Preacher or Pulpit Mountain, but it doesn’t say if any gear is needed to do it or not. It isn’t clear whether to summit either mountain goes from being a hiking trip to being a climbing trip.

As for fly fishing, I have personally only fly fished the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie in the summer for mostly small Cutthroat and Rainbow Trout and in the Fall and Winter for Steelhead. Though, I’ve been blanked every time I’ve tried for Steelhead there. The Middle Fork is a catch and release fly fishing only section of the river, so barbless hooks and carefully release everything you catch.

I haven’t fly fished the Pratt River, but from what I’ve read it can be very good in the summertime for bigger than average (twelve to fourteen inch) Cutthroat and Rainbow Trout. There is supposedly planted Brook Trout in the Platt River as well. Don’t expect giant fish though. Most of the trout out of the Pratt River will most likely be five to ten inches. I don’t know if the Pratt River is fly fishing only like the Middle Fork, but barbless hooks and lots of care releasing the trout is a great idea regardless, in my opinion.

As I mentioned, I don’t know much about Rainy Lake. I checked the list of High Elevation lakes for King County on the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife’s website, but Rainy Lake isn’t listed. There is a Rainy Lake in Chelan County, but it clearly isn’t the same one. The Washington Trail Association does provide a little bit of information on Rainy Lake here though.

https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/rainy-lake-1

They say that Rainy Lake is popular with fishers and I doubt anyone would go through the trouble to pack their fishing gear into a lake at twenty-nine hundred feet if there were no fish, so I think we can trust their info on this one to be accurate.

Also, depending on what the regulations happen to be, there is a run of Summer Steelhead on the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie as well. So, if you happen to be using your four weight for the smaller Cutthroat and Rainbow Trout you might get a big surprise if one of those Summer Steelhead decides to grab your fly.

The type of rod and flies you use will depend on the time of year. A good six weight might be all you need. I would guess for Spring through early Fall a floating line maybe with your standard trout flies, dries, streamers, nymphs, ect would probably be all you would need. From mid-Fall and into Winter again depending on what the regulations say, at least in the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie there will be Winter Steelhead, Coho, and Chum Salmon. And during odd years Pink Salmon too. The Middle Fork closes in January through until Spring to give the spawning a break from us fishers.