Northwest Fishing Reports

So, I'm gonna be nursing a good hangover on Thursday, as a result of the Mayhem Festival on Wednesday, so me and the buddies are going to Lake Washington for some bass. It has been recommended that I launch near Renton at Coulon. I looked at the map, and I have no idea where to start fishing from there. Anyone able to help? I will have my new boat with a 4HP motor, so I should be able to have decent range.

Thanks everyone!

First let me know how the Mayhem Festival is. I am going to it on July 18th in Arizona. Should be kick ass. Let me know if there are any other real good acts thats shouldn't be missed before Dragonforce, disturbed and slipknot go on.


As for fishing when you launch at coulon just roll up the east side of the lake hitting docks and other areas. With a 4hp motor it might take a while to get to I90 but i know thats always a spot people go.


I'm sure there will be some good input posted soon by someone who knows better than me.

Thats a good start. Thanks.

Just a side note, check out Mastodon, Five Finger Death Punch, and the never forgotten, Machine Head!

If you launch at Coulon, have fun paying $16 to launch your boat. It sucks, I have a yearly pass that costs $75.
If you make it to I-90 in your 4hp boat, you aren't fishing enough. If you want to fish the bridge, launch at the east Mercer launch. I'm going out tomorrow after work, but its been slow for me all year. Did manage a 2.0 and 2.4 last saturday, but boy was it windy. Drop shot baits caught them for me.

Anything on the east side of the lake up from Coulon is good. You could work your way all the way to Newport Shores, that's not far from Coulon, but ChrisB is right, tons of good water between there and Coulon....

Fish deep water docks, if you see weeds you're too shallow.

I fish Lake Wa alot and everyone is right,..hit the docks on your way towards I-90,..deeper the better,..they get deep out there even the docks,..also it only cost $8.00 to launch at Coulon,..I'm there all the time,..you should have some luck though,..just hug the shoreline,..I've caught them on Jointed Shad-Raps,..T-Rig Creatures and Worms,..Carol-Rig Worm,..even a worm and bobber when I didn't expect it,..lol,..have fun!

SnoCo is from up north, so thats considered a non-resident and the pay station is $16 for that. Its $8 for resisdent yes. I never saw police in that lot til this year, they are patrolling the hell out of it. Kent police makes all their money on speed traps, Renton must abuse Coulon's boat launch. Just looking out.
Deeper docks are key I would agree with that.

I stand corrected Chris,..that info I had no knowledge of,..my bad!

ChrisB wrote:If you launch at Coulon, have fun paying $16 to launch your boat. It sucks, I have a yearly pass that costs $75.
If you make it to I-90 in your 4hp boat, you aren't fishing enough. If you want to fish the bridge, launch at the east Mercer launch. I'm going out tomorrow after work, but its been slow for me all year. Did manage a 2.0 and 2.4 last saturday, but boy was it windy. Drop shot baits caught them for me.

$16?????? I have only paid $8 when I was there. They didn't start that Bull$hit load and unload fee the last few months have they??? I am technically not a Renton Resident because I live about 2 blocks from the Renton line so I'm unincorporated king county but I will only give them $8 to launch, anything more than that is thievery LOL

I agree RFatt. I'm also considered a non-resident, even though I have a renton address. I'm a stones throw away from the kent line. Anyway, I said F it and bought a yearly Coulon pass. The price went up this year, its $75 for Non-Resident and available at the Renton Community Center.

You could hit resident on the pay station and pay $8 and hope they don't run your vehicle license plate. I doubt they check every car, just getting the info out there.

ChrisB wrote:I agree RFatt. I'm also considered a non-resident, even though I have a renton address. I'm a stones throw away from the kent line. Anyway, I said F it and bought a yearly Coulon pass. The price went up this year, its $75 for Non-Resident and available at the Renton Community Center.

You could hit resident on the pay station and pay $8 and hope they don't run your vehicle license plate. I doubt they check every car, just getting the info out there.

I bought the state parks one for $70, shortly after i bought it i realized Coulon wasn't included in that. I have been to Sammamish 10-20 times this year so far so it has paid for itself. I might go buy one of the yearly coulon passes.

$75 what is that about 9 launches? or less if i hit the non-resident. LOL

I bought the yearly pass, I definetly get my moneys worth. I should get a state park one too, but I don't hit Samm much or have the gas to get to many other parks..

When they say resident ,Do they mean State or City of Renton.I live in seattle and have always just paid the 8.00.I took resident as in the fishing licence terms mean.Does it actually say Renton Resident?

The machine does not specify, but I think it means renton resident. If you can get away with $8, keep doing it. I just suspected you may get caught, as I never seen police in that lot until this year. He was checking license plates and passes in the windows of trucks.
Anyway, I hit WA tonight after work. It SUCKED. 20 mph wind and boat wakes, wasn't fun at all. No fish for me, my buddy got 2 perch.

You know,.I live in Skyway really close to Renton and I haven't even seen the "Non-Resident" selection on the machine,..never gave it a second glance,..just selected ond day permit and paid my 8.00,..at the Seward Park launches it's only 6.00,..so,....just FYI.

I will definitely keep that in mind. Me and the guys headed down south, but since it was not my vehicle pulling my boat, they didnt want to go as far as renton. We ended up going to Kirkland, found the launch there, and saw the choppy water. My little 12' is definitely not up for that condition. So, we headed back up to our own county and fished Lake Stevens, catching nothing.

BTW, the concert kicked ass, and it kicked my ass. Slipknot!

Slipknot kicks ass. Anyway, I was going to say that Lake WA can get nasty, as its been for me the last 2 trips out. Before I bought a bigger boat I used to take my 9 foot boat with a 3.3 hp and a TM out there very early in the morning, fish til around noon and drive back to the launch. You have to pick the right days, and if its windy, like you said pack it up and go back home. I'd love to fish Stevens more often, If I were you I'd be hitting that as much as I could.

Yeah, now that I have the boat, I definitely will be at Stevens more often.

ChrisB wrote:Slipknot kicks ass. Anyway, I was going to say that Lake WA can get nasty, as its been for me the last 2 trips out. Before I bought a bigger boat I used to take my 9 foot boat with a 3.3 hp and a TM out there very early in the morning, fish til around noon and drive back to the launch. You have to pick the right days, and if its windy, like you said pack it up and go back home. I'd love to fish Stevens more often, If I were you I'd be hitting that as much as I could.

Slipknot kicks ass live too. Disturbed was damn good aswell. That was one of the coolest things i have done ever. My best friend who knows one of the drummers of slipknot. #3 if anyone cares. He is one of the coolest people i have met. He has the same sense of humor my buddies and i have.

Heres a recap- Thursday my flight leaves at 6:45am get in around 9:20, i think. We drop off our bags and load up the clubs.
Go and pick up chris(#3) Take a quick tour of his bus. Bad ass!

Go golf, my best friends brother went with us, Hole number 2 he flips his cart off a 8ft cliff. Could have been hurt bad but came out with a bruised ego. We decided to have a "few" beers after the near death experience. After that we went to dinner, where we proceed to drink the rest of our faces off.

Fri- get up and go to batman. That movie really kicks ass by the way. I would recomend seeing it. Go back to my buddies place for a bit and go to the concert. We get there and there are all sorts of freaks there. Got to love the type of fans these guys have. Get our tickets (12 rows back or so) and backstage passes. Go meet up with chris on his bus. Have a few drinks. I missed 90% of dragonforce which i was abit bummed because i like them alot but oh well its not everyday you get to hang out on a tour bus. Go to our seats right as disturbed goes on. They kill it and slipknot kills it even more. Even though i really only like 3-4 songs the show was great. I think my ears are still bleeding. After the show we hang out with chris for a few hours before he has to load up and go to New mexico for his next show. We kicked it with most of the guys from slipknot and a few from Dragonforce. Anyone into guitar needs to look up Herman Li. He is the best guitarist/shredder i have seen. Anyway that was about everything on my little vaca to Arizona. Now back to the grind of everyday life.