Northwest Fishing Reports

I'm new to Washington state and don't know too many places to go and have succesfull fishing from the bank for any species so far. I've been doing a little research into catfishing in Washington and was hoping for any advice or places that have good fishing for these fish in particular.

Anything at all is much appreciated, and if nothing comes to mind for catfish any other lake that has good bankfishing would be great as well.

Thanks in advance.

Go to the lake reports section... search by your county... it will call up all the lakes in your county, at least those which are in the system. Read the reports for all the lakes and you can decide which one you want to fish, and you can see at what times of year what people were doing with success.

Good luck. Sorry, but I don't know your area. Except that Battleground lake had some monster Broodstock fish released into it this year.

Also: SKAMANIA County
ICE HOUSE LK (SKAM)
RAINBOW 16 0.13 GOLDENDALE HAT Broodstock - 8
lbs.each
Jan 04
RAINBOW 31 0.25 GOLDENDALE HAT Broodstock - 4 lbs.
each
Jan 04
KIDNEY LK (SKAM)
RAINBOW 45 0.25 GOLDENDALE HAT Broodstock - 4
lbs.each
Jan 04
RAINBOW 23 0.13 GOLDENDALE HAT Broodstock - 8
lbs.each
Jan 04
Jan 19 RAINBOW 1,000 2.30 VANCOUVER HAT
LTL ASH LK (SKAM)
RAINBOW 16 0.13 GOLDENDALE HAT Broodstock - 8
lbs.each
Jan 04
RAINBOW 31 0.25 GOLDENDALE HAT Broodstock - 4
lbs.each
Jan 04
TUNNEL LK (SKAM)
RAINBOW 16 0.13 GOLDENDALE HAT Broodstock - 8
lbs.each
Jan 04
RAINBOW 30 0.25 GOLDENDALE HAT Broodstock - 4
lbs.each

Only places I know with channels in western washington that you could fish from shore and probably catch them is Swafford Pond in Cowlitz County and Bay Lake in Pierce County supposedly has them but haven't caught one there myself. They also have them in Harts Lake but it seems like the good spots for them you'd have to use a boat to get to them.

Columbia river has plenty of them. I think they get some out of vancouver lake. There are some locals that use the board here. Good luck!

Yea, maybe I'll check out Swofford, ponds are usaully good for the bank maybe even bust out my tube. I went out to silver in Cowlitz a few days ago as a blind shot hoping for an area to throw a line in. I was mistaken definitely a boat lake. Everyone at the lake (who were very friendly and generous with info) told me most of the fish are caught by the channels, which you need a boat to get too. There were a few places were you cast from shore but the main stretch was about 3 ft from the highway. There were a couple spots tucked away, but they were crowded.

I decided next time I would do a little more research, I need to find something with a beach kind of. Where I was from (NV) most of our lakes and rivers were tucked away from the roads and cities so there was always access from the shore, plus the majority of fish caught were catfish rather than trout but than again these WA fish are much more clean than ours haha.

I was considering going out to Vancouver Lake or even make that lengthy trip to Buena Pond in Yakima, where the state record is currently held. Has anyone had success in these areas for cats? Or any other fish for that matter?

Oh, and thanks to everyone that has contrivuted so far.

Jake Dogfish wrote:Columbia river has plenty of them. I think they get some out of vancouver lake. There are some locals that use the board here. Good luck!

Are there any particular spots in the Columbia that are good? (Completely understand if this is not answered! I would be weary giving away my spots too)

What kind of rig would you reccomend as for line test, weight, pole size.
The Columbia is rough from what I know, and I figured a 12-14 ft pole would be a must and maybe a heavy line in case you happen to hook into a much larger fish than expected. Maybe like 3-4oz weights?

t-mac wrote:Yea, maybe I'll check out Swofford, ponds are usaully good for the bank maybe even bust out my tube. I went out to silver in Cowlitz a few days ago as a blind shot hoping for an area to throw a line in. I was mistaken definitely a boat lake. Everyone at the lake (who were very friendly and generous with info) told me most of the fish are caught by the channels, which you need a boat to get too. There were a few places were you cast from shore but the main stretch was about 3 ft from the highway. There were a couple spots tucked away, but they were crowded.

I decided next time I would do a little more research, I need to find something with a beach kind of. Where I was from (NV) most of our lakes and rivers were tucked away from the roads and cities so there was always access from the shore, plus the majority of fish caught were catfish rather than trout but than again these WA fish are much more clean than ours haha.

I was considering going out to Vancouver Lake or even make that lengthy trip to Buena Pond in Yakima, where the state record is currently held. Has anyone had success in these areas for cats? Or any other fish for that matter?

Oh, and thanks to everyone that has contrivuted so far.

You can catch yellow bellied bullhead at Silver Lake in Cowlitz County, there's tons of them. You might want to give it a go again when it gets warmer and when it's evening there, I'm sure you can catch a couple tossing a worm and bobber by the pads by the launch.

jbball50 wrote:
You can catch yellow bellied bullhead at Silver Lake in Cowlitz County, there's tons of them. You might want to give it a go again when it gets warmer and when it's evening there, I'm sure you can catch a couple tossing a worm and bobber by the pads by the launch.

For sure I'm not cutting the lake out that fast. I was shooting for something a bit larger like channels, flatheads, or whites; although if I manage to catch a load of bullheads that might be worth the fry haha.

You should probably use the search function for catfish. I remember some old threads that mentiones channel catfish in the snake river. I think they mentioned the words Lyons Ferry. Summer catfish in eastern wa might be your best chance.

Lawrence lake in thurston county you can usally fill a bucket at night, and waughop lake in pierce county.They used to stock bradley lake with channel cats but alot of people got greedy so they shut it down, i know the people who blew it for everyone needless to say i haven't fished w/them since 2002!