Pine Lake

How big is Pine Lake?

How deep is Pine Lake?

What kind of fish can you catch in Pine Lake?

What are the closest cities to Pine Lake?

Are there boat launches on Pine Lake?

Are there places to eat and drink near Pine Lake?

Pine Lake is a designated stream trout lake, managed for splake. The current goal is to maintain a splake population with a minimum gill net catch of 6.0 fish/set in spring assessments, with some fish larger than 16 inches present. This was the first of two population assessments scheduled in the 2009 lake management plan to determine whether stocking splake in higher numbers, while discontinuing rainbow trout stocking, would result in an increase in splake abundance with no reduction in growth rate.

Long range goals for splake in this lake were met in this assessment. Splake were relatively abundant, and a few larger fish were present. No rainbow trout from the last stocking (2010) remained. The splake gill net catch was near the upper end of the normal range for spring assessments of stream trout lakes in this area (5.25-12.00 fish/set), and exceeded catches seen in 1998, 2001, 2004, and 2008 in this lake. The mean weight for splake taken in gill nets was close to average for this area, and was similar to means seen in other recent assessments of this lake. Four stocked year classes contributed to the catch, and survival to three years of age was apparently fairly good. Splake growth had been somewhat slower than average; two-year-old fish reached a mean length of 8.5 inches at the end of their second year, compared to an area average of 9.5 inches. Competition from bluegill and white sucker may have adversely affected growth of young splake, perhaps because they may have been more dependent on invertebrate forage than older, larger fish.

This assessment was supposed to have produced a population estimate for splake, based on marking done in a 3 June 2014 special assessment. Unfortunately, too few splake were recaptured to allow estimates to be made with acceptable precision. At most we can say, with some confidence, that the lake supported at least 820 splake in June 2014, and that at least 45 of those fish were 12 or more inches in length.

Bluegill were fairly abundant in Pine Lake in 2014, and many were large enough to have provided some good fishing. Bluegill are not common in lakes in this area, and have been even scarcer in the area's stream trout lakes. The bluegill trap net catch in this assessment was high for this area, where catches normally do not exceed 3.3 fish/trap net set in the few lakes where the species is found. The 2014 catch in Pine Lake included fairly high numbers of fish larger than six inches, with fish as large as 8.9 inches taken. Several year classes, all naturally produced, contributed to the 2014 bluegill catch. Growth had been about average for this area, with fish reaching a mean length of 6.0 inches by the end of their fourth year.

White sucker were also fairly abundant in Pine Lake in 2014. The gill net catch was similar to the catch observed in the last (2008) assessment. The catch in trap nets was similarly high. Based on lengths of fish sampled, it appeared that several year classes contributed to the 2014 catch, including many small fish from one or two younger age classes.

Are there any state parks near Pine Lake?