Northwest Fishing Reports

Holy crap..!! This lake is now considered a salad bowl. I have never seen so many destroyed weed beds.I'm not suprised but mostly shocked. In less than a week the lake has gone from a clean fertile lake into a mess! Coves that were 5 mph areas are now being utilized by water skiers and jet skiers galore. Habitats are being destroyed. And the boaters and homeowners just don't care. Brown water and milky green blue water.Chopped up weeds every where. Terrific! Think i'm going to stay away from Tapps till we get some really crappy weather...anyway my little time to vent. Thanks yo!

I was thinking the same thing....damn shame though.
Might have to start a stocking effort at my lake......legally of coarse

The green, milky blue water is glacier melt water and it happens when the weather gets hot and the glacier that feeds the White River starts melting at a faster rate. I've seen the whole end down by Allan Yorke look that way in the summer time.

Good info.

I was here a few days ago and it looks as if someone came in with an aquatic weed wacker.

Brett and myself were out friday and it always amazes me how many "skiers" go up and down the back channels as fast as they can right by the 5 mph signs! I can't stand fishing that place on the weekends. i love the lake but it's a pain sometimes. it would be nice to have a musky lake close by that was electric motors only!

I was fishing with my 4 year old under the Banker Island bridge and was whitewashed by a 30' Fountain boat about 15 feet away. They totally ignored the speed limit of 5MPH and were going full throttle on the V8. The 7 grown men in the boat all turned, pointed, and laughed. I knew my boat was no match for the bigblock, so I just taught my boy some select French words. When we got to the launch 40 minutes later, they were unloading everyone and pulling the boat out. I walked over and took their boat numbers while speaking some more French. They said that they did not see me, to which I replied with .... more French. It just amazes me that some people have more money than common sense. All it is going to take is for someone to get really messed up, some lawyers to get involved, and then we all will suffer from some others ignorance. Enough of my rant...

Rosann is right about the runoff. The entire Bonney Lake side will sometimes turn almost milky. The inlet right now is a really bright green. Fishing...still slow.

2000sub - man i hope they get theirs - i hate big boats that dont give smaller craft any respect.

I understand the "runoff" thing. I fished up the inlet and that water was actually cleaner there than anywhere else. I also had fished on the Bonney lake side where the big A framed style cement work out house is. It was a nice aqua green color last weekend and saw a huge tiger in there hiding in the weed bed. I could actually see all the weed edges now with the skiers going in and out of there its like a giant bed of won ton soup and cant see a thing. Also saw a small tiger less than 30" was getting whacked around pretty good by the huge wakes in the same area that jigman is talking about. Like I said we need some really good fishing weather around here....good job 2000subaru on getting their boat numbers did you report them? French words are good for alot of those boaters out there. One last question..isn't wake boarding right behind the big boats illegal?

yes it is. You have to stay back away from the swim step. People die Teak boarding. There is warning signs all around the lake.

Glad you and your 4 year old didn't get dunked Subaru. I think everyone no matter what their age should have to take the boater course now and maybe at least some of the inconsiderate boaters would learn to be more considerate. We can hope at least.

2000subaru wrote:I was fishing with my 4 year old under the Banker Island bridge and was whitewashed by a 30' Fountain boat about 15 feet away. They totally ignored the speed limit of 5MPH and were going full throttle on the V8. The 7 grown men in the boat all turned, pointed, and laughed. I knew my boat was no match for the bigblock, so I just taught my boy some select French words. When we got to the launch 40 minutes later, they were unloading everyone and pulling the boat out. I walked over and took their boat numbers while speaking some more French. They said that they did not see me, to which I replied with .... more French. It just amazes me that some people have more money than common sense. All it is going to take is for someone to get really messed up, some lawyers to get involved, and then we all will suffer from some others ignorance. Enough of my rant...

Rosann is right about the runoff. The entire Bonney Lake side will sometimes turn almost milky. The inlet right now is a really bright green. Fishing...still slow.

Hearing this story just makes my blood boil(I have anger issues,I guess)
Maybe I should bring a firearm...

muskyhunter wrote:Holy crap..!! This lake is now considered a salad bowl. I have never seen so many destroyed weed beds.I'm not suprised but mostly shocked. In less than a week the lake has gone from a clean fertile lake into a mess! Coves that were 5 mph areas are now being utilized by water skiers and jet skiers galore. Habitats are being destroyed. And the boaters and homeowners just don't care. Brown water and milky green blue water.Chopped up weeds every where. Terrific! Think i'm going to stay away from Tapps till we get some really crappy weather...anyway my little time to vent. Thanks yo!

I agree with you except that homeowners don't care. I can't speak for other homeowners, but this one DOES care. I get 40' cigarboats flying by my house less than 50' from the dock. The wakes fly up clean over my bulkhead. If my dogs are out swimming..God help them. There is absolutely nothing we can do. The last guy that confronted a kid peeing off his boat in front of his house and young daughters got his arse kicked in front of his family on his own dock. Police were notified and that was that. The cops are out there everyday and ticketing people for various offenses, but the worst offenders are rarely confronted. When I'm out there on my boat, a day doesn't go by without someone coming too close or aimlessly driving right towards me and veering off at the last second. We need another boat of police or something. I'm on your side on this one and if anyone has any ideas on how to control this situation while not screwing it up for everyone else, you should be president.

Hi Denman,
Thanks for caring! I as a paying/paid user of Lake Tapps am assured that there is at least one homeowner that cares. I am a fisherman. Thats it. I respect the rules of the water and abide buy the water vessel rules. I also respect you as a homeowner on the lake. I do not intentionally go out and try to hook your dock while fishing and if I do I am very careful not to even bump a home owners's dock when retrieving a lure from it.
What I do see are ALOT of the homeowners that have the rather expensive ski boat shooting off from their dock area.Creating HUGE wakes and those wakes usually end up ripping up the subsequent shorelines. Correct me if I'm wrong but is there not a Pierce County ordinance that states that boaters are to be 200 feet away from the dock or shoreline before shooting off? And the distance from one boat/.vessel that is stationary and one that is moving? How much shoreline do you anticipate loosing before the homeowners can do something to stop this type of behavior?
What I think might be a good idea is to have a homeowners association? By this I do not want this like to become private.But a friend of mine stated that it would be a great idea to give each dock a number. Affliliated with a house on the lake. This would make each homeowner responsible for the vessel(s) they have and if a friend that has a boat there and is utilizing that persons dock they (homeowner)would have to be held responsible for any illegal activity done on the lake. There are homeowners back in the midwest that have done this and has knocked down the amount of negative activity 2 fold.So if there was a knuckle head out there and he/she was using say your dock. Another boater could call the head of the homeowners association with your dock number and you would be held accountable for that knuckle head. Thats just a idea not saying you'd let a knucklehead be a knucklhead. Just saying as an example.You can use this idea if you want..just promise that you won't try to privatize this great lake.
And thanks for the kudos bro, I appreciate that much!!
Thanks, Todd

I am so glad that my lake is not infested with, Skiers, Wakeboarders, and other undesirables.

Sucks to be at Tapps!

Remember..............Friends don't let friends wakeboard!

THREAD HIJACK :rambo:

Anyone heard if this lake is really going to be full all year?
Word around the campfire is their are no plans to drain it for fall/winter.
However,my educated guess would be that they would have to drain some water for flood control.

Asked a cop on Friday night, and he had no idea if or when the draining would start. It seems that there have been rumors the last few years that it wouldn't drain. but it always does. It looks to be down a little already.

dilbert wrote:Asked a cop on Friday night, and he had no idea if or when the draining would start. It seems that there have been rumors the last few years that it wouldn't drain. but it always does. It looks to be down a little already.

I was up there on Friday,it looked like it was down about 5 inches. I wonder if thats the "Warning Sign" of things to come.
Even if they bring it down,I'm dumb enough to keep fishing. Less water to cover right?

i was there today fishing the lake tapps park area got skunked.. thats 4 times to tapps skunked everytime. lots of hot rodders out there today one boat was pushin about 60 mph he was flyin, the water was crashing up onto the walls across the way from me like a wind storm kicks up water on the sound over the sea walls

christopherbeebe wrote:i was there today fishing the lake tapps park area got skunked.. thats 4 times to tapps skunked everytime. lots of hot rodders out there today one boat was pushin about 60 mph he was flyin, the water was crashing up onto the walls across the way from me like a wind storm kicks up water on the sound over the sea walls

Yes,...the wonderful idiots that have no regard for the safety of others. This is why I don't take my son out here in the warmer months,however now that its getting colder out(less idiots)and I'll be fishing tigers and smallies in the cold. Brrrrr!