Northwest Fishing Reports

i am looking for a place where i can catch bullhead catfish easily im in everett area

56 people looked at this and dont know where i can catch some catfish?

AmiaCalva311 wrote:56 people looked at this and dont know where i can catch some catfish?

There are not too many "GOOD" places to find them but I believe most lakes have at least a small population. If you want to travel Black lake in Tumwater has a good population. Fish the far end at the out flow there is good cover there.

I've only caught them in southeastern Washington. Never have even heard of any caught over here on the west side of the state. Not typically targeted that I know of.

AmiaCalva311 wrote:56 people looked at this and dont know where i can catch some catfish?

I was one of those, and quite frankly, I checked in again today just to see if there were indeed Brown Bullhead near Everate?:-"

Now, Southeast Washiington, that is a different game. Bunches and Bunches in Potholes and Moses Lake area, in the Palouse, when you are not catching Channel Cats, ................................... ok, you get the point.

I to was guilty of looking but not providing a response as I have no clue about catfish availability near Everett. I do know they can be found and have caught them in Lake Sammamish and Lake Washington. The larger fish that I have caught came out of Lake Sammamish near the North end of the lake and went just over a couple pounds. As for quantity, try the Arboretum area in Lake Washington. The best catfish lake that I have experienced on the West side of the mountains is Silver Lake in Cowlitz county. That was prior to the introduction of the grass carp so I can't say what it is like these days.

I also know that most folks who dedicate quite a bit of time to catfish are pretty tight lipped about where they fish and what they use, kind of like folks who pick mushrooms. I think you'll find most any lowland lake in our State will hold some species of catfish, just get out and give it a go. Most of the fish I've caught have been on healthy and active worms.

Lake Serene and Martha Lake (Alderwood Manor) have some but they are small and few/far in between.

Stitch Lk, the small lake just off the south end of Lake Stevens used to be loaded with cats. I would imagine Lk Stevens has some too. Bucket stockers dumped in a load of garbage fish in Storm Lk about 7 years ago and it's all but wrecked this once top producing lake for trout. I've caught several 2-4 lb cats last year in my lake, so there's a few bigger ones in there.

Cats are great eating if you can catch something bigger than 6 inches, but what happens is they over populate to the point of being a nuisance not worth catching. I've caught cats, bass, crappie, bluegill and perch in Storm, so it's time to kill it off.

If you go south as mentioned Lk WA and Lk Sammamish. Long time ago (30 plus yrs) my friends brother caught 4 cats all over 10 lbs in the Sammamish Slough not too far from the N. end of Lk WA.

Lake Wa Wa has them, You just have to be there for a late night trip, I caught some small ones on night crawlers.., But the only thing is the places I fished for them at close at 11pm.

In addition to the lakes all ready mentioned here are some other lakes with public accesses that have brown bullheads.

North King County:
Beaver, cottage, Sammamish, and Washington
Snohomish County:
Ballinger, Cassidy, Ketchum, Panther, Stickney and Sunday
Skagit County:
Beaver, Big, Campbell, Caskey and Clear.

The state record brown bullhead came from a private pond near Monroe - a monster fish of 11#.

In lakes with health bass populations tend to have limited bullhead populations though at times the fish can be large. Have seen bullheads over 2# from Stevens, Cassidy and Ketchum.

Tight lines
Curt

Wow, I can't imagine a 11#er!
I think the previous record was less than half of that. Like Smalma said they are in most lakes. Wait until the water warms up a little more, but the serious catfishermen probably won't give up there secret spots. Its kind of a fringe fishery where some people are all over it and many others don't care or don't try for them. They are good eating if you ask me though.

There are many little lakes/ponds in the Snoqualmie Valley that are very good for bullheads/catfish.

Valley ponds with bullheads:

Shadow Lake
Lake Beecher
Crescent Lake
Sikes Lake
Borst Lake

I have fished all of these ponds except Borst. I have heard of some good sized fish in Borst though. Sikes is probably the best out of all of these for bullheads.

i also looked but didnt respond, but i was gonna respond lol and what i was gonna say was, they are in almost every lake in small numbers the perch crowd them out so look for a lake that doesnt have perch. otherwise thats all you will catch while fishing for them.

thanks for all the help from everyone. i understand the not wanting to give up secret spots for them. im just looking to catch 4 or 5 for my aquarium at maybe 6-10". spent too many nights getting skunked in all the ponds and lakes near by. i know there around ive caught them when i was younger in lake ballinger but rarely. and other people told me they catch em. but they must always hide when im targeting them.

lake stevens i ave found baby cats and adults on the north side of the lake near jays market.

If you are looking for small ones AmiaCalva311, I think its really more a question of when more than where. As mentioned most lakes have them, they bite better when the water warms up in the summer especially the smaller ones. Good Luck!

i saw a guy catch quite a number of them in greenlake. he was sitting on one of the docks near the stadium.
took a glimpse and most of them are pretty small but he had a couple fat ones.
he was sinking worms i believe.

Jake Dogfish wrote:If you are looking for small ones AmiaCalva311, I think its really more a question of when more than where. As mentioned most lakes have them, they bite better when the water warms up in the summer especially the smaller ones. Good Luck!

isn't spring/early summer best time to catch smaller ones?

seattle spring as of late is what he means. i'd def wait til the water temp hits mid 50 to 60.