Best lakes for carp and tench?

[Mike Carey]

I can't believe 19 posts in a couple days. WDFW should start planting carp instead of trout. :albino:

[Deadeye]

I can't believe 19 posts in a couple days. WDFW should start planting carp instead of trout. :albino:

Haha....now that would be a disaster waiting to happen. Grass carp are not a really good thing to have in a lake either...even so called "sterile" fish. They said they were sterile when they were planted down south, but you can find 1 pound and smaller grass carp along with true monsters...so that means they are reproducing. And when the water levels got to high they flooded and boom!!! Now there are grass carp, silver carp, and bighead carp all along the Mississippi River drainages costing the State Fish and Wildlife lots of time and money to control them. MN has an electrical fish barrier to prevent grass carp, silvers and bigheads from entering MN and potentially the great lakes. But sooner or later I would think the grass carp would serve their purpose and you should be able to start catching them, cause until then...I am afraid to say it will just be a rough fish lake.

Gisteppo is that the same Long Lake as the one up by the actual town of Long Lake, and Tumtum? If so I tried launching my boat there in the fall of 2006 and all the public accesses were closed for the year. Any idea on when they open it back up? Some guy there told me they like keeping the lake to themselves.

[Gisteppo]

You are correct. It is open year round to fishing, and the northernmost launch off hwy 291 is a year round launch. If it isnt open, let me know. We have a private neighborhood launch that I can assist you in using. As for keeping it to ourselves, people just stop using it at labor day, its basically vacant from then until memorial day, so we residents can have a little peace and quiet.

I went out today, 2 squallies upriver, 1 squally downriver near Suncrest.

Lookin for people with a little trout knowledge to go out and target the shiny fish.

E

[Mossy]

I've caught large tench in williams,eloika,downs and fernand lake in idaho. Long lake is full of suckers. You can also find them every two feet in spokane river.

[Deadeye]

You guys are awesome. Wish I would have found out about this forum a lot sooner. I will be sure to post when and where I see all the walleyes come spring since I don't fish for them, but see a lot of them on Moses Lake, and Sprague. (well Sprague is done now) And they usually aren't small either.

[Anglinarcher]

OK, first Tench. Yes Elokia does have Tench. I don't target them, so I don't have any techniques for you, but in the spring I often see them boiling up in the pads. I have see several that might make your 7.5 # mark, but I have only caught a few in the two to three pound range while fishing for perch.

Carp? lots of carp around.

To start with, the Spokane River that runs through town is littered with them. Follow the river to the ocean now because there are carp all along it. Before the state changed the rules (turns out the feds had the rule and I didn't know it), I use to take my bow along with me to Roosevelt and pop a couple off a big sand bar up the Spokane Arm. I have shot 20# class Carp there.

Newman lake is loaded with them, although most of them that I shoot with my bow are two to three pounds in that lake. Location, South End sunning themselves just out from the Elephant Ear Pads, just over the weeds. I have caught them on flatfish fishing for trout on the north end, and on jigs fishing for bass at the rocks, so I don't think that finding them is an issue.

There are also a bunch of carp in Rock Lake. I often take my bow with me during the summer and pop several near the public entrance when the fishing is slow during the heat of the day. Most of these run 3 to 10 lbs I'd say.

Snake river, from Lewiston to the Columbia, Carp can be found all along it.

Now, catch all you want, I just ask that if you return them to the water, that you return them as crawdad food or eagle fodder. The only good carp or tench is a dead carp or tench.

[Deadeye]

The only good carp or tench is a dead carp or tench.

We have a winner!!!! Totally agree. If you ever want to go bowfishing let me know. I got the setup to do it effectively, and that is all I do. If you see this boat in Washington....it is me. Kinda hard to miss. I could post some nice picture

[Gisteppo]

Hey deadeye, if you want some serious action, Long lake is the place around memorial day. Hit me up around then, Ill get you dialed in on some HOT bowfishing.

E

[bubba2233]

I know there are tench in Downs Lake. South of Sprague. I'm not positive on the carp though. I've caught several that would go 3#s. The biggest tench i've caught was out of Cow Lake, which would have pushed 6#s, but that is no longer an option.

As for carp, the most I've seen has been in the Snake River system... Anywhere.

[Kfedka]

Banks Lake by Grand Coulee has lots of carp, A good place of fish them is a place called "the bay" which is a mile outside of Electric City. You can catch them off shore, or we bowfished for them around the shore line barefeet. Lots of fun!

[chevin]

Behind my house, HUGE carp bed, with an honest 200+ fish making the area home in the summer. They are constantly cruising around, visible at night as they lay on the surface sucking stuff down, and during the day you can seem them mulling around. They also scare up when you paddle or row around in the lilly pads. Also, tremendous number of bowfishermen in the late spring early summer time as they "boil" for a 5 day or so period. At any given time 30-50 can be visible rolling around and jumping. We have a ton of carp.

Oh yeah, and these guys....



Caught about 4 miles downstream while perch fishing. UNBELIEVEABLE FIGHT!

E

That is a nice tench Gisteppo. I used to fish a lot for carp and tench before I left the UK over 30 years ago. In those days the British tench record was about seven and a half pouds, but something strange happened and the British tench began to put on a lot of weight. The record quickly climbed to over 10lbs and then went further so that even 10lb tench were not particularly rare. Unfortunately my best was just an ounce over 5lbs. I now live in Western Australia and we have no tench here and very few carp - we have very little freshwater fishing unfortunately, though I do enjoy my fishing in the Indian Ocean. Here is a picture of a species of carp that can be caught in one of the local stormwater drains.

[spokey9]

chevin, that's a pretty fish. what kinda carp is it?

[chevin]

chevin, that's a pretty fish. what kinda carp is it?

I believe that it is a koi carp. They have been introduced to some of the storm water drains to control the mosquitoe population. They fight well and take most of the baits that any other carp will take. I don't know how big they go, but I estimated that one as about 14lbs when I caught it.

[panfisher]

i've caught koi that big (they look like basketballs when spawning) out of three lakes in malaga back in 79-81. there are still some in there but the locals have the lake all to them selves unless you know someone that lives in the area to give you permission to fish it. there is really good carp prospects in the winchester and frenchmen wasteways. they just pile up in areas of those systems one area is close to mardon resort the other is close to whitetail road near quincy where there is a big spillway that puts a stop to the up stream migration. great place for a carp shoot from shore.

[chevin]

i've caught koi that big (they look like basketballs when spawning) out of three lakes in malaga back in 79-81. there are still some in there but the locals have the lake all to them selves unless you know someone that lives in the area to give you permission to fish it. there is really good carp prospects in the winchester and frenchmen wasteways. they just pile up in areas of those systems one area is close to mardon resort the other is close to whitetail road near quincy where there is a big spillway that puts a stop to the up stream migration. great place for a carp shoot from shore.

Is the Malaga you mention a suburb of Perth in Western Australia? Where are the Winchester and Frenchman wasteways? Is Quincy anywhere near Olympia?

[panfisher]

sorry! but the malaga area i mentioned is here in washington state close to the city of wenatchee. the wasteways start out of the city of quincy also in the state of washington, i'll see if i can dig up a map of those areas! <')//<

[panfisher]

you can check out the reports on both of these waterways in the freshwater lake reports. here's a satalite map of the winchester wasteway. http://ncwportal.com/grant/water/winchester_wasteway. the frenchman hills is in the same area. lots of carp in these systems. <')//<

[FISHKILLER]

When it comes to carp it is hard to beat vancouver lake and slough. They are everywhere.

[parrydog]

ANY body of water that is connected to the irrigation canals in the Columbia Basin will have good carp action. But specifically Long Lake has a small mud flat on the northeast end, any of the mud flats on the north end of Scooteny Reservoir. Also the Winchester Wasteway where it crosses road 5 near Quincy in May has an insane amount of big carp. Another hotspot is a little lake, and I forget the name, about mile out side of Quincy on the way to Wenatchee. It is an irrigation reservior and is absolutely jam packed with really big carp and it also has crappie. As far as techniques I always bowfished for them until I grew a consious and felt bad about killing something I had no intention of eating. If someone out there likes bowfishing and can put the dead carp to good use I would be thrilled to join them on a bowfishing trip.

[panfisher]

ANY body of water that is connected to the irrigation canals in the Columbia Basin will have good carp action. But specifically Long Lake has a small mud flat on the northeast end, any of the mud flats on the north end of Scooteny Reservoir. Also the Winchester Wasteway where it crosses road 5 near Quincy in May has an insane amount of big carp. Another hotspot is a little lake, and I forget the name, about mile out side of Quincy on the way to Wenatchee. It is an irrigation reservior and is absolutely jam packed with really big carp and it also has crappie. As far as techniques I always bowfished for them until I grew a consious and felt bad about killing something I had no intention of eating. If someone out there likes bowfishing and can put the dead carp to good use I would be thrilled to join them on a bowfishing trip.

i believe you are refering to crater slew, lots of carp and yes there are crappie, bluegill and some nice lrgm bass.