hello sirs,

i have lived in Wa for a while now, i fished cowlitz and nisqually this past fall and winter, i was very impressed!, but now that spring is here i ask the men here with more time on the water than me, where are the bass??! there is no equal to settin' the hook on on a little 3lb large mouth bass and knowing the little ******* would strangle you with the line if he gets the chance!!

on another note! these fish are quality sport down south and are rarely kept for the dinner table. it is odd for me to see people bickering over the snagging of a fish, snagging is a totally alien concept for me. but up here its a different fishery i guess. your actions on the water wether it be with trash, the fish, other sportsmen, those are what seperate you from a true sportsman and an a$$ hole that can find his way around a wal-mart. compared to still water a river offers a very unique breed of jack asses. i was apalled at the amount of trash at the barrier dam. with all the people there how could someone litter openly? this is a beautiful state, with awesome fish and wildlife, i guess some people just don't realize that and are willing to wreck it for the rest of us with their trash and ethics. we all know where it will end, the closure of public access. what can be done? educate the masses before purchase of a fishing license. a free class like hunting safety classes on how not to be a moron on the water, sound good to me. the worst thing is many of them don't realize what impact they are having on the fishery. after all, a pig is happiest rolling in $hit. if you are not part of the solution you are a part of the problem. in the early and late 80's Tx found the quality of its fisheries on the decline. since they have enforced Very strict laws about litter, regs on taking fish etc.. and now i think they are one of the better examples that maintaining a fishery is easier then running it into the ground then rebuilding it.. if you are one of those few who just don't care, toss trash, and line on the ground and illegal fish in the truck, it all works out in the end, eventually you will get yours, be it a game warden, fellow sportsmen, whatever, wake up don't be stupid! it is all a privelage, not a right no matter who you are, once everyone realizes this i think we will all be better off..

IMHO you best bets for bass are Silver Lake near Castle Rock and Potholes resvoiour near Moses lake.. Check them both out on the Washington Lakes link.

As for trash and A$$ holes. I don't think we have a monoploy on them, but we have plenty as witnessed by the crap at Barrier Dam.

I almost always pick up other people trash when I hike into my favorite lakes. What I don't understand is why they arent offended by seeing empty beer cans and such where they stand to fish?

There are those who would argue your point on the privlage thing but that's already been hashed out on a previous post.

there is a fairly new shop out in the spanaway area called angler's marina it is on the west side of pacific ave just before the turn toward the park enterance, was in there the other day and the guys there are in to the B.A.S.S. thing big time ! they would be the best source of local info. they have been fishing spanaway lake the good reports.
later

i have heard there is a good population of smallmouth in spanaway lake. thanks for the tip on the shop. down south bass fishing is as popular as high school football so i gotta wing myself off it slowly, i need the patch!

Set the hook on an oversize sturgeon and youll forget all about the bass.

Even better than Spanaway Lake is the best Smallmouth fishing river in the West, the John Day River in Eastern Oregon. Amazing amounts of Smallmouth, and the Steelhead aren't bad either!

sounds great but the problem is that i have to stay within an hour of home, i have a kind of demanding job

You are right, Spanaway has a healthy population of Smallmouth. The Largemouth are even healthier. I'm guessing that the next state record Largemouth will be coming out of Spanaway. If you are serious about the Smallmouth though, try American Lake. Four Years ago they planted something like 30,000 smallmouth into the lake. I'm hearing that they are getting some size to them now, up to 5lbs. I am going to be giving American Lake a try in the near future, I've been waiting for the Smallmouth to grow up. Let me know how you do if you try American Lake. Both of those are in your backyard. JACK

Are gas motors allowed on American Lake?

Yes, you can use gas motors on American Lake. JACK

Welcome to Washington.

Hey, welcome aboard. There are two lakes that used to have bass close to you. One is Hart's lake and the other is Rap John lake. Not sure if they still have bass or not. I know I had incidental catches on both lakes. I don't lake fish anymore, so haven't really hit them in awhile. You can try there.

did allright on american, threw jerk baits(fire-tiger, rainbow trout, perch) and some rattle traps(blue&chrome, black&chrome) caught 4 smallmouth 2lbs and under, and about 10 of those little rock bass. pitching up among the docks and trying to hit the dropoffs, all smallmouth were taken using a frantic retreive, once i slowed down the action thats when the little rock bass would come in. they all liked the little rainboe trout jerkbait, good luck to all..

Try Lake Washington. It's got Small and Largemouth Bass,and more water than you could fish in a lifetime. It's probably the most underfished lake in all of Wa.

Sorry Jack, it wont happen there. The record is from the columbia river near tricities. There are tons of great sloughs and extremely big smallies. i believe the record fell more than once in that area. Way longer growing season over there, tons more food. A five pound smallie isn't a big deal there. i caught lots of them before I relocated to Port Angeles. great fish those smallies!

Joe275

I second the reply regarding the Potholes, there is a good Walleye fishery there in addition to bass. If you eat one you will change your mind about releasing them ALL.
If you make it over to the Snake River you can have some of the nations best smallmouth fishing with cats in the 3 to 8 lbs as well. It isn't any farther than driving from Dallas to the Toledo Bend Res. Boy I sure like that place in the spring and miss my trips down to TX.

As far as the littering jerkoffs go, I am so fed up with them. Educating them??? C'mon now, how many people out there need to be taught that it is not acceptable to trash the area where you hunt, hike, or fish??
I fish a lot on the Snake (Brownlee) and I always pick up a couple bags of trash whenever I fish from shore. Fishing line, empty drink containers, plastic bags (snacks) and always at least a disposable diaper or two. I have always marveled at how dumb shiots can carry it in full, but too lazy to carry it out empty. I must say, I know it is not just certain groups, but it does seem over here that wherever their are a lot of Hispanics or Asians fishing the problem seems the worst. Maybe due to the fact it is acceptable where they come from? I don't know, but no matter what race these trashters are, I'd like to wring their friggin' necks when they do it....... Friggin Pigs.

MC

this time of year try lake samammish state park. the smallies sit at the drop off at the mouth of the issaquah creek(closed) and wait for the salmon fry heading out. toss a trout colored rapala and you should do good.

there have got to be some big bass up here in washington in general cuz people dont fish em much
I dont fish them anymore but the bass in our pond at my dads house are so big that they eat the ducklings in the spring. thats a sight to see. they dont get fished much either cuz the pond is so eutrophicated and hard to fish.

No doubt AuntyM...... What the heck has our generation done with these punks? When I was a kid, you didn't dare litter. Today is a different story. Was kayaking last year with my 20 yr old stepson and he tossed his empty beer can in the river... I proceded to chew his butt royal and made him turn around and pick it up..... I don't think he even thought about it, but I am sure he did after everyone else on the river heard me lecture him like he was 5.....

MC