Northwest Fishing Reports

I'm planning on going out to lake wa wa to catch a respectable bass with my old man and brother tomorrow morning. starting at the butt crack of dawn... I have a pretty good arsenal of tackle now, rapalas, cranks, spinners, and lots of worms. I was thinking about starting shallow early (although I'll look to to see if i'm marking fish in the 20-30' range.

I was going to hit south mercer island area (launching at coulon around 4:30am) and try skipping under docks and and closer to the shoreline before worrying about suspended fishin the 20+ ft range. I'm still building this plan based upon reports i've been reading rather than actual experience. The bass I've been catching lately are in water that doesn't get deeper than 10' so shallow/deep is easy to cover.

any advice?

I've finally started sinking into bass like crazy in Enumclaw, but all dinks. I've yet to catch any on Wa WA or Sammamish. I was going to go to Tapps but the launch doesn't open till 7:30.

I was there a week ago......so this could be good or not!!!!! In the am butt crack of dawn the fish for me were right tight to the beach on steeper edges. The usual stuff senko's and 3" single tail grubs were the hot ticket. Until about 8am purple was really the best color for the grubs and black with blue sparkle or black and blue laminate on the senko's. After that pumpkin seed and smoke in both seemed to work the best for me. Hope it helps and Good luck!!

Thanks man!! I've not had much luck on WA for any type of fish. Especially bass. My dad and brother killed them on a midnight trip under the bridges a couple summers ago, but haven't been back since. I figure if we're doing this, we're doing it right! Sunrise bass fishing or go home! I really hate trolling for trout in the big big lakes, feels like looking for a needle in a haystack.

If you get out to Tapps early I believe they are opening the launch at the county park without charge. If my memory serves me correctly, they staff the booth at 0730 but the gate opens as early as 0600. Just be sure to thank the park staff when you see them.

2000subaru wrote:If you get out to Tapps early I believe they are opening the launch at the county park without charge. If my memory serves me correctly, they staff the booth at 0730 but the gate opens as early as 0600. Just be sure to thank the park staff when you see them.

yeah that's why I'm headed to Washington in 2 minutes. wanted to get an earlier start than that

So we get to Lake Washington (coulon) around 5 and we can't even get into the launch because of a huge line of cars waiting to get into the park blocking the entrance. I guess for the 4th festivities?? PITA!

So we cruise down the road considering trying a new launch ( I prefer to scout launches before taking the boat there for the first time) and my dad says, hey why not Sammamish?? OK!

head down 90, we're probably the 2nd or 3rd boat on the lake, hit the water about 6-6:10 (they need credit card payment at the launch!! I warmed up the motor while my brother ran down to the atm).

WE work our way about 1/2 way up the east side and start hitting the docks. I throw a suspended, and running rapala most the day, my brother starts with a Rebel popper. BAM! gets his first good Bass. awesome topwater strike!

I didn't have any luck the rest of the day (none of us did) but if I learned anything worth repeating here.. I want to start my next trip as early as possible (earlier than 6) and hit the poppers hard. Fish was about 2lbs:

Glad to see you had some fun....................Either of the launches at I-90 are good.............Sand Point one sucks. Look forward to hearing about your next Lake Washington trip. Nice Greenie!!

thanks, we were pretty jazzed about it! I may not have taken the fish myself, but I still felt good about it because I've worked this lake pretty hard this spring/summer and with everything I've been learning here applied we finally landed a good one.

We almost hit the launch just under I90 on the south east side of Mercer but I've been told it can be kinda rough for a big setup. Ours isn't huge, but we had the extnd cab long box truck + 20' lund and sometimes it can get tight.

Love the MASH shirt one of my all time favorite tv shows:cheers:

Good job,
TAZ

nice job. thats the idea topwaters in the morning or on cloudy days. your on your way to a good start being a bass fisherman.

Dustin07 wrote:So we get to Lake Washington (coulon) around 5 and we can't even get into the launch because of a huge line of cars waiting to get into the park blocking the entrance. I guess for the 4th festivities?? PITA!

Dustin,

If you ever have problems getting in at Coulon.... check out:

ATLANTIC CITY PARK

Launch Type: 8-lane concretee ramp, three loading floats.

Facilities: Restrooms, trash, water, picnic tables.

Parking: 20 paved spaces; 35 trailer spaces.

Fees: $4 to launch, $6 for overnight parking.

Directions: In Renton, north on Rainier Ave S. for 2 miles; right on Seward Park Ave. S. a quarter mile; right at ramp.


It is located about 1-2 miles South of Seward Park. I think it is only 6 bucks stilll. And I never even see anybody there.
It's drive up and launch.

If you go in at Coulon because you want to fish that area or something........ this is only 10 minutes by boat across the lake (depending on your boat of course, LOL)

The Quadfather wrote:

Dustin07 wrote:So we get to Lake Washington (coulon) around 5 and we can't even get into the launch because of a huge line of cars waiting to get into the park blocking the entrance. I guess for the 4th festivities?? PITA!

Dustin,

If you ever have problems getting in at Coulon.... check out:

ATLANTIC CITY PARK

Launch Type: 8-lane concretee ramp, three loading floats.

Facilities: Restrooms, trash, water, picnic tables.

Parking: 20 paved spaces]

To get the map on Mapquest, you need to use the city of 'Seattle', not 'Renton'.

map;

map to launch

http://atlas.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp? ... a&zipcode=

Thanks for the tip on the other launch guys! We really just launch at Coulon because of proximity and 24hr access... We don't go too far though, typically stay south of I90 on either side of the island.