Help!

[drake]

I am brand spankin new to trout fishing. I moved here last year from Iowa Im at Fairchild AFB and last year a buddy of mine took me fishing for trout. Im really looking forward to getting serious about fishing, i just have no idea where to go or when? If someone could give me some tips on what bait and tackle I should use and where to go that would be great. Thanks

[returnofthefish]

You cant go wrong with Power Bait or Power Eggs on a single egg hook. Adjust leader length accordingly. Check the WA DFW website for trout stocking schedule.

[jbball50]

Yeah like returnofthefish said power bait or power eggs if you're from the shore. Also worms will work from shore or casting spinners. If you have a boat, trolling for trout with a wooly bugger fly or with a wedding ring with a piece of worm works just fine. There should be some Eastern WA lakes that have been stocked or will be stocked very soon because they do stocks there earlier than the Western WA lakes. Just check the schedule on the wdfw site to see which ones have been stocked. All you'd really need is some 4# or 6# test line and a trout pole. I'm sure some of the eastern wa guys will give you some insight on good lakes to go to around Spokane.

[drake]

excellent thanks guys

[Mike Carey]

another suggestion - pull up the county that you live in from the County Index. From the top of the page, black menu tab, pick "Lakes", then "County Index.

You'll see a click-able map of Washington. This will allow you to select your county and see all the lakes in your area. Now you can run down the list. On the far right will be the colored boxes rating system, from 1 to 5. That's one place to look. You'll also see the number of reports posted on each lake, and the most recent reports posted. If you look through the reports on a lake, click back to Feb 2009 to get a sense of how the lake was fishing this time last year. And of course you can review the reports for techniques, tips, etc. Also, some of the lakes will have "Featured Lake" articles, which will give even more information.

I'll mention too, if you were a Premium Member you could run historical reports to find the top lakes within a radius of your house, and the best months to fish a particular lake, amoung other information.

Which ever way you chose, you've got lots of data to look through.

Good luck and send us a fishing report!

[hewesfisher]

Are you shorebound or do you have a boat? More options if you have a boat.

MWR (or whatever it is called today) has a resort on Clear Lake and it is really nice. I think they have boat rentals, but not real sure. Clear isn't open yet, but it has rainbow and browns in it and provides some good fishing opportunities.

[drake]

Much appreciated fellas. No im shorebound, young airman with a wife and a kid and another on the way. I just cant convince the wife to budget a boat in yet! I will for sure be in Clear lake boat rental is cheap so as soon as that lake opens ill be out there. Ill be sure to get a report up.

[Dustin07]

how old is your kid? Like already mentioned, find the lake stocking report on the wdfw website (just google it) and watch each week for which lakes are getting stocked in you area. You want to be on top of that, especially if you take the little one out, because it will be hot action at first. Although some lakes will stay active until mid-late summer. The difference in my experience, that right after a stocking, those hatchery fish will bite anything... after a while they get pickier.


Eventually you may too. Once the hatchery fish aren't doing it for you anymore, the guys on these boards can get you into all kinds of wild fish.

[hewesfisher]

...young airman with a wife and a kid and another on the way. I just cant convince the wife to budget a boat in yet!

Having been in your exact shoes, although many years ago, I'd say your wife is making a prudent decision.

Boat rentals are a good option as are buddies with boats. Be sure to check out the Freshwater Fishing forum, the first post in there contains a list of WA Lakes members with boats, where they typically fish, and seat availability.

['OL GREY DOG]

DECADES AGO WHEN I WAS IN THE SERVICE...OK MANNNY DECADES AGO...I WAS ABLE TO RENT A SMALL BOAT MOTOR 'N TRAILER ON BASE..THROUGH THE BX I THINK....AND THNX FOR YOUR SERVICE YOUNG MAN....TIGHT LINES 'N STRONG KNOTS

[scott080379]

Tons of places to fish around your area. You should be able to rent a boat and electric or gas powered boat from the base MWR or outfitter. There are some great areas to fish that only military members can fish. 1 was already mentioned the others are twin lakes east of Arlington. It's a little bit of a drive but worth the trip, plus there are boats you can rent there. You can't take your own boat up there though. Over where I am at for some fun fishing for kids there is trident lakes (ponds that are stocked and open year round on naval base kitsap, Bangor. Another spot in Kitsap county is kitsap lake, the lake is open year round but naval park isn't. This time last year I caught a 17 and a 1/2 inch trout out of there, trolling right in front of the naval park.

For gear, if you rent a boat, wedding rings or wolly buggers and fish them deep. Throw a worn on the wedding ring. From shore, worms, power bait and poer egges work well. Grab some rooster tails other lures, you never know what the fish are going to bite that day, if anything at all.

[Anglinarcher]

Fairchild does rent boats for next to nothing to service men and women. I know that their Outdoor Rec had a roof collapse last year, but I think it is up and running again.

For starters, and for larger fish, consider taking the small boat and fishing Sprague Lake, near the East End. You can launch at the Resort there when it opens, or you can launch at the pay launch just across the bay for just $3.00.

The powerbait option is good if you anchor up. Worms can also be good there until the weeds kick in too much. Trolling should be very good there soon; maybe already.

Launching and fishing Sprague in that area means you don't need to have a BIG boat, and you are close to shore in an emergency.

[fishaholictaz]

Here is my 2 cents on what to use.

If you want to fish for trout in the lakes this is what you do from shore:


First off start with a 6lb or 8 lb main line. Then you slide on a 1/4 to 1/2 oz. sliding sinker. Attach to the end of the main line a small or medium barrel swivel. Now you want a 4lb leader if you use 6 lb main line or a 4 or 6 lb leader for 8 lb main line.
Attach a healthy leader I would start with 2-3 ft... Then at the end you want a snell (or baitholder) hook in size 6. For bait I would get a couple bottles of power or I like gulp eggs. I like the yellow,pink and red.(not all at the same time) I do mix and match sometimes though. It takes 3-4 eggs to float the hook. Make sure the bait floats and start catching.

If you feel like trying something a little more tricky take a night crawler cut it in half running the tip of the hook through the cut hole and come out about as far down as the hook is long. Then you want to take a worm inflater or a syringe and add some air to the worm by bringing the needle in from the top pointing down and injecting the air. You want to make sure there is only 1 hole where the hook tip comes out the body and I add a power egg to keep the night crawler up on the hook.

I would also use SPECIAL MIX or CRAWDADDY flavored scent made by smelly jelly

Also a slip bobber rig works great.

[hewesfisher]

And take the time to read the regs on whatever lake you might want to fish. Rules vary for many local lakes, so it pays to know before you hit the water. Also, pay attention to what the regs say about fishing for trout with bait. If you plan to catch and release, you must stop after catching and releasing a limit for whatever lake you're on. Be sure to read the definition of "bait" in the rules, it's very specific, and many find out the hard way how "bait" is defined in WA.

[Anglinarcher]

Sprague is an example of rules upon rules. I don't use bait there myself, and I seldom keep fish, but I understand that you are limited to how many of the big guys you can keep so tripple check before you fish.

[drake]

Wow...thank you very much everyone GREAT info. Ill be heading up to Long lake or i guess the Spokane river tomorrow morning so ill get a report up thank a bunch everyone.

[gdrees]

You may want to look into Lake Roosevelt as well. Year-round and only about 45 minutes away north of Davenport. Porcupine Bay or Seven Bays are two that immediately come to mind. Shore fishing can be good. Boats generally are better in the long run for this larger body of water (actually Spokane River and where it meets up with the Columbia).

I've found that the best shore fishing is on the north end of West Medical Lake. Access is through a cow pasture, so be prepared. West Medical was just killed off this last winter and is being restocked and rebuilt, though. Don't know what it will be like in the near future.

Other good possibilities are Badger Lake (limited for shore fishing), Lake Williams (rentals available), and Chapman Lake (rentals available). I have caught fish in all of these (an accomplishment for my limited skills).

I do have a small 11' 6" plywood boat I built last summer. That may be another option to the lack-of-boat-itis you suffer from. Unskilled woodworkers CAN do the impossible. There are plenty of free or low-cost boat plans available for simple skiffs or dinghies that can get you afloat in almost no time (depending upon amount of free time you have).

Contact me at gd841ATyahooDOTcom if you would like a little more info or to go fishing sometime.

gene

[Lotech Joe]

If you plan on fishing Clear Lake, I've always had my best luck trolling an F-5 Perch Scale Flatfish 2-3 feet behind a Giant Cowbell flasher. Troll the same side of the lake that the Airforce Resort is on, about 100' from shore and all the way down to the cliffs. I've fished that area often and several times limited out by the time I got back to my starting point.
Good luck, take pictures and post them.