Mark Morical / The BulletinA clear day fishing Elk Lake includes ample views of South Sister.

ELK LAKE —

The watersports enthusiasts start arriving here this time of year for an endless array of activities: sailing, windsurfing, swimming, kayaking, paddleboarding, beachcombing.

But fishing? Not really.

Elk Lake is not known as a destination trout fishery like many of its neighboring Cascade lakes in Central Oregon.

I have been to the lake dozens of times over the last 14 years, and not once have I seen someone wetting a line.

Local fishing guide John Garrison called me last week and made me guess where two of his clients had just limited out with five beautiful brook trout apiece. I reeled off names of lakes until there were no other options.

“Uh, Elk Lake?” I asked.

“Elk Lake,” he responded whimsically.

I expressed my disbelief in no uncertain terms, but we made plans to fish Elk Lake the next week.

Garrison, owner of Garrison’s Guide Service in Sunriver, has guided anglers on the Cascade lakes for some 30 years, and he said his boats have never touched the waters of Elk Lake until this spring.

One of his assistant guides, Frank Cariglia, had fished Elk Lake last fall and told Garrison about his success fishing for brook trout.

“I’d never even been on the lake,” Garrison said. “Frank came late last season and bragged about all the fish he caught. I took him to show me where, and it worked out quite nice. How long is this going to last? I don’t know. But it’s a very beautiful brook trout fishery.”

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife stocks Elk Lake with 50,000 trout fingerlings — 30,000 brooks, 20,000 cutthroat — each year in late June or early July, according to Erik Moberly, an ODFW fish biologist based in Bend. The lake also supports naturally reproducing kokanee, but the main catch is the brook trout.

The 250-acre lake, located 32 miles southwest of Bend, has a depth of 25 to 65 feet.

I met Garrison at the Elk Lake Resort launch this past Friday, as the wind whipped up whitecaps on the lake. Boat launching is available at the resort for $10. Boats at Elk Lake can also launch at Little Fawn Campground or Point Campground for free.

Garrison motored his 22-foot pontoon to the south end of the lake near the Beach day-use area, where the depth was about 20 feet, and we cast out lines with worms and marshmallows attached.

The morning started slow, as the wind out of the north continued to hammer us and made it difficult to see the bites.

I picked up one rod, gave it a slow reel and felt some weight on the end of the line. Sure enough, I ended up reeling in a nice 14-inch brook trout.

“You can say you caught a brook trout on Elk Lake,” Garrison said with a laugh. “Surprise, surprise, surprise.”

Brook trout do not fight like rainbow trout — they don’t come flying out of the water when hooked — but they sure are a good-looking fish, and good eating, too.

We netted four more brook trout, and I limited out, promising a nice Mother’s Day barbecue for the family.

The brook trout we landed ranged from 14 to 18 inches. The last fish of the day, which we caught and released near the resort, was a darker, well-spotted 18-incher.

Moberly said he does not receive too many reports from Elk Lake. ODFW placed a creel counter at the lake last year, but Moberly said she could not find anybody fishing.

“So it really wasn’t worth her time,” he said.

I told Moberly about our success at Elk Lake. He was surprised — but not that surprised.

“That’s not a normal angling report for Elk Lake,” he said. “It’s not a highly productive lake. But because of the mild winter, a lot of the fisheries (in Central Oregon) are showing some pretty large fish. The lakes stayed productive longer (during the winter) and there was not a lot of die-off. It wouldn’t surprise me if Elk Lake benefited, too.”

Aside from the fishing at Elk Lake, the views are about as good as they get in the Central Oregon Cascades. South Sister towers over the north end of the lake, and the south side of Mount Bachelor looms to the northeast.

All sorts of watersports die-hards come here to enjoy those views.

Maybe the anglers should, too.

— Reporter: 541-383-0318,

mmorical@bendbulletin.com