Stocking Records & Lake Maps

[Don Wittenberger]

Here's a quick rundown on Washington's 7 tiger muskie lakes. Mayfield and Merwin are both hydropower reservoirs. The dams, which were built in the 1930s, are about 300 feet high and the maximum depth of both reservoirs is about 190 feet. Both reservoirs occupy v-shaped former river valleys and are fed by cold streams that originate from melting mountain snowpack. Mayfield Dam is owned by Tacoma City Light, a public utility, while Merwin Dam is owned by Pacific Power, which Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway purchased from Scottish Power a couple years ago. From the muskie angler's viewpoint, there are significant differences between these two reservoirs, even though they're fairly close together. Merwin is larger -- 4,050 acres vs. 2,200 acres -- and drops off faster. It also has much more wood than Mayfield, but very few weeds. At Merwin, you fish the hundreds of downed trees along the shoreline and the dropoffs, whereas Mayfield has large weed flats and much less shoreline wood. Mayfield also has a pronounced temperature gradient; the water coming into the reservoir from Riffe Lake above is 48 degrees year round, and in summer the sun warms the upper surface layer but there's an abrupt temperature drop at a depth of about 6 feet. Consequently, Mayfield's muskies tend to be shallow. By contrast, you fish the muskies in Merwin much deeper; they're often 20 to 30 feet down. B oth of this reservoirs tend to have very clear water with visibility to 20 feet or more.

Tapps Lake is also a reservoir, of sorts. The water source is the White River, which originates on Mount Rainier. A 100-year-old dam, no longer used for power production, raised the water level to join several small lakes into one. The resulting reservoir is roughly the same size as Mayfield, about 2,200 acres. However, Tapps Lake's physical characteristics are very different from Mayfield. This is an urban lake with a mostly developed shoreline and heavy recreational boating traffic in the warm months. I don't fish this lake and am not very familiar with it, but I understand that it's primarily a dock and dropoff fishery, with the fish often about 12 feet deep. Tapps' water may be turbid with limited visibility, especially when boating traffic is stirring it up.

The other 4 lakes are in eastern Washington. The closest to Seattle is Evergreen Reservoir near the town of Quincy. This is a 235-acre irrigation tank with a relatively small tiger muskie population. It's quite deep for its size -- over 50 feet -- and has some credibility as a walleye lake. This water body has some extensive weed beds, and working over the tops of these with bucktails and spinnerbaits is one of the better ways to find a tiger muskie there.

Newman and Silver Lakes are on the other side of the state, near Spokane. I have fished Newman Lake a few times. WDFW has done radio tracking studies there. The most obvious feature of this lake is the huge and extremely dense lily pad beds on its north and south ends. If tiger muskies go back in there, you'll never get them out. This is primarily a dock and shoreline fishery. Silver Lake, near the town of Medicine Lake, I don't know much about. I've never been there.

In north-central Washington, about 100 miles north of Banks Lake, near the town of Republican and the Canadian border, is Curlew Lake. This is a natural spring-fed lake of about 900 acres, which has some rock cliffs and is deep in some places, but structurally and also in terms of the surrounding uplands bears the closest physical resemblance to a Wisconsin lake of any of our 7 tiger muskie lakes. Like most of Washington's other tiger muskie lakes, Curlew has very clear water. It has some islands, docks, bays, and a variety of other interesting structure.

The upshot is that you have to learn, and fish, each of these lakes individually because their different characteristics call for somewhat different tactics. One thing they all seem to have in common is that Washington's tiger muskies prefer small lures. A number of successful tiger muskie anglers have used bass-size Rapalas and spinnerbaits, and most of us stick with bucktails and crankbaits in the 6 to 7 inch range. These fish just don't seem to like the big baits that are popular in the midwest and Canada. Their forage is mostly squawfish and suckers, except in Curlew Lake they also eat a significant number of rainbow trout, but lure color doesn't seem to have much to do with what they eat. To a considerable extent, lure color is a matter of personal preference or whatever gives you confidence, but red and chartreuse, and combinations of these colors with black, have long been winners in most of these lakes.

[kevinb]

Great info Don,when does the movie version come out? haha

Well I'm no expert....in anything. Maybe muskie guy can throw some better info in regarding Silver. But for now I'll share
my own,yet very limited knowledge on it. I was lucky enough to fish a few days out here with muskyhunter.
This lake has alot of structure,anything from standing and downed timber,large weedbeds,rockpoints,dropoffs and
a ton of other things that I can"t recall at the moment. I could only get follows,MH hooked a few but the little turds
were spitting hooks. For a day,I looked like a semi-bass pro....well maybe, This lake is loaded with big largemouth bass.
If you ever get the chance to fish it,you'll enjoy it. I've heard Newman is awesome but I havn't fished it....yet:-"

[muskyhunter]

I can sure say that kevinb is no expert...really! We fished Silver for a day and a half.Saw a few ski's..thats all I'm going to say about that. Soon, Silver will be the place to be unless folks start taking the tigers. There are a ton of small crappies and the Tigers haven't really taken a toll on them. Bluegills too as I recall. We stayed with bunch of kids from EWU, that rocked! I guess if you only fish once or twice a year and thats when your ol' lady lets you...sometimes you really need to get out more...he he. kevinb is right though, for once. Silver is going to be good. Just get out there before the skiers do. Try some top water and weedless on the south end. Good fish down there. Really. That lake kinda looks like the upper Minnesota lakes..could use some walleyes..just my opinion. Hopin' to hit Newman this year...especially if the gas prices stay where they are now...I may even travel back home to do some MUSKY fishin with my old man. kevinb you rock!

[kevinb]

Once or twice a year is tough,I couldn't imagine such limited fishing. Thankfully my wife and I are happily married
and don't have any complaints about fishing trips,they are encouraged!!! I rule!!