Northwest Fishing Reports

I was just reading the recent blog post from 8thebait. He lists all of the lakes he has fished over the state in the past, by county. I saw a couple of lakes that I would call almost "Sub-alpine" (lake 22 comes to mind) Although he did not catch any bass in lake 22, it got me to wondering if anyone can recall the highest elevation lakes that they have caught bass in?

I noticed from his post that he had caught bass in the Spada Reservoir. That isn't exactly alpine, but it is getting up that way. Anybody have a lake that they think is kind of high? I like very much to hike and fish also.

Hey Quadfather, putting an asterisk on Spada lake was a goof on my part, I have since edited my post and removed it, sorry for any confusion! It is still a work in progress, but I am trying to be as exact and specific as possible!

B8

the highest that i know of in eastern wa is Lk Bonaparte NE of tonasket. Should be real close to 3500ft. Has a good population of largemouth with some real kicker smallies mixed in. Freezes over solid every year.

lowvw wrote:the highest that i know of in eastern wa is Lk Bonaparte NE of tonasket. Should be real close to 3500ft. Has a good population of largemouth with some real kicker smallies mixed in. Freezes over solid every year.

Yeah, thats right, Lake Boniparte. I love that lake and that area in general. Some great fishing of a variety of species over there.

My parents retired over there about 6 years ago and can see the fire tower on top of mt. bonaparte from the house. Ive spent a lot of time hunting/fishing that area..Its real nice and quiet. bonaparte, osoyoos, palmer, whitestone, spectacle....all good bets

The Quadfather wrote:I was just reading the recent blog post from 8thebait. He lists all of the lakes he has fished over the state in the past, by county. I saw a couple of lakes that I would call almost "Sub-alpine" (lake 22 comes to mind) Although he did not catch any bass in lake 22, it got me to wondering if anyone can recall the highest elevation lakes that they have caught bass in?

I noticed from his post that he had caught bass in the Spada Reservoir. That isn't exactly alpine, but it is getting up that way. Anybody have a lake that they think is kind of high? I like very much to hike and fish also.

The question is interesting. I have caught bass in Colorado, near Colorado Springs, at elevations over a mile high, almost 6000 feet. At 4826', South of Colorado Springs at Pueblo Reservoir, the Bass are huge, hungry, and the lake is full of shad for them to feed on. In South-Central Idaho, at a lake above Malad Idaho, elevation 5196, I caught some of the largest LMB ever, but they grew very slow.

At a latitudes of 43.20, I had awesome bass fishing in a lake in the high desert at elevation 4768'. The bass fishing was something I and my son talk about all the time when we get together.

I suspect that elevation is only part of the equation. The tree line in Washington seems to be lower then the lakes I fished in Colorado and Idaho. But then again, the tree line in those states was a high as 10 to 11 thousand feet.

The ambient temperatures, combined with day lengths and light angles, seem to be the key. The farther North you go, the lower the elevation that the bass will found in.

Note, all elevations taken off Goggle Earth.