Northwest Fishing Reports

Season opens Monday. Anybody going to be heading out??

I will continue my unsuccessful trap soaking in various lakes and streams around auburn enumclaw. I know they're around and will find them eventually. Ive never caught more than a few at a time, but it has been lots of fun exploring the near by waters with my daughters. We call our crawfish trips "butthead missions".

Sideburns wrote:I will continue my unsuccessful trap soaking in various lakes and streams around auburn enumclaw. I know they're around and will find them eventually. Ive never caught more than a few at a time, but it has been lots of fun exploring the near by waters with my daughters. We call our crawfish trips "butthead missions".

LOL You have been more successful than we have been over the last two years. We've tried in Banks lake twice and Chelan once and Potholes I think three times - with exactly zero dads of any type size or color! We have used various flavors of cat food, hotdogs, crab bait pellets, salmon carcass pieces and some other things.

Im beginning to think there is a conspiracy of some sort going on......

Sad thing is alot of places I've had easy limits in the past were working really hard to get a few pounds.. A prime example of overfishing any why i rarely go anymore.. Best bait is always fresh fish carcasses like trout salmon shad etc.. Go fish for the day catch and clean all your fish then bait the traps set them overnight and when ya get out fishing the next day ya should have some.. Hope this helps

Thanks. Thats the one thing we haven't tried. The closest we got was 5 year old freezer burned salmon pieces

+1 on the salmon carcasses. best bait ive used, but still not what I would consider successful. Crazy that hot dogs really seem to be a close second. Cat food didnt ever pan out for me. Squid seemed to bring in the crab in hood canal, definitely going to be in my traps at least once this year. I have just gotta find that honey hole, those craws will have never eaten so well!
Planning a green river butthead mission as we speak...

I used bacon in my traps by beer bottle beach and by the walk bridge on the Green had good luck also ran traps at lake #12 and lake Killarney .

True that it's hard to find any dads in most lakes. Perhaps they should rename it Who's Your Craw Daddy season *lol*

Anyone going Daddin' in Snohomish county?

countryboy87 wrote:Season opens Monday. Anybody going to be heading out??

Any success yet??? ill be out this weekend and possibly monday/tuesday at some of my local spots..

minor success, found a few holes on the green river. Overnight soaks, trout parts for bait, got 8 in one trap.... new personal record! other traps 1-2 per trap in the same area.

Anyone in Eastern WA doing any good? I have tried several lakes in the Spokane area but no luck. Using fresh fish heads as bait and varying the depth between 6-20 FOW with no luck but maybe it is just too early. Cant wait to try these as it is my first year going out.

Ill be over in Chelan the next 3 days going to be trying some different areas out there

the traps you use seem to have a lot to do with it as the smaller traps tend to allow more escapes. I have some cheap little tube trap that don't do near as well as some of my more expensive square traps also when the bait is gone the crawfish leave

Caught 60 in short order Lewis County

juggalo wrote:the traps you use seem to have a lot to do with it as the smaller traps tend to allow more escapes. I have some cheap little tube trap that don't do near as well as some of my more expensive square traps also when the bait is gone the crawfish leave

Thanks, but Ive never had the problem of all my bait being gone! Just plain old bad placement!

nice catch BTW I dream of such things

The Cabela's in Marysville is being bought out by Bass Pro Shops which has a much better selection of craw dad gear, among other things. Where are good areas to go Daddin' in Snohomish county?

While we are at it, what about Island and Skagit Counties?

dogslife4me2003 wrote:While we are at it, what about Island and Skagit Counties?

Am near the Skagit line closer to the Stilly. Isn't Clear Lake known for dads? Please don't respond with..."better known for homeless camps" *lol* (a little fishing humor).

Gonna do a little trout fishing at local lakes before the season closes. Might even give winter time crabbing a try.