This was my first fishing trip to Tapps. I got up early to beat the Seattle traffic and arrived at 7:30 AM, and launched at the county park. The shortest route from Seattle is to take 167 south from Renton past Kent and Auburn to 410, then take 410 east a couple miles to E. Sumner-Tapps Hwy which you follow around the lake, turn right on 16th Ave. E. for a couple miles then turn right on 9th St. E. at the Union 76 station, and in a couple miles you will see the sign for the turnoff into the county park. The boat launch fee is $10. The launch has 4 concrete lanes and 2 loading piers with ample parking. As previous reports stated, the smallies are about 20' deep off points and will take a jig head with a purple trailer. What I was really interested in, though, was Tapps' tiger muskies. I didn't catch any today, water temps are still in the low 60s and I didn't see any indication they've moved into shallow water yet, so right now the best weather to fish for this species is warm sunny days. I do like the amount and variety of tiger muskie structure this lake has. Tapps still has a lot of undeveloped shoreline but much of it looks better than it is because the water is too shallow. When trying to locate tiger muskies, remember that they want two things, forage and deep water nearby. "Fishy" looking spots won't hold fish if they have to swim a long way through shallows to get there. After the water warms above 68 degrees and the tiger muskies move into their summer habitat, if you want to target this species, look for them around docks, on shorelines with deep dropoffs, and weed beds. Tapps has several large stump fields that look interesting but I don't know if they hold fish, that will depend on whether forage is present. Tiger muskies prefer to dine on squawfish, so wherever you find squawfish and cover together, is a good place to try. As for tactics, you locate tiger muskies by covering a lot of water. Keep moving; one or two casts is enough to tell you if a fish is present on a piece of cover. Two things you can do to cover more water is space your casts at least 20 feet apart and use a medium-fast retrieve. A tiger musky will go a long way for a lure if he wants it, and his burst speed is many times faster than you or your reel can retrieve. Regarding tackle, bass gear is wholly inadequate for these big, strong fish. If you plan to target this species on a regular basis, invest in muskie rods and reels. If you can afford only one, get a 7 to 7 1/2 foot medium or medium-heavy action bucktail rod. A good quality but inexpensive reel suitable for muskie fishing is any of the Garcia 5000-series reels, but I prefer the ones with a 5.3 or 6.3 gear ratio, and thumb bar. Use wire or flourocarbon leaders to prevent biteoffs. File your hooks razor sharp and hit that fish HARD at least twice because you have to drive the hooks through the solid bone of their mouths. If you don't, many times you will think the fish is on, but he isn't even hooked. Your top bets for lures are bucktails and any crankbait that looks like a squawfish. For bucktails, use a steady retrieve all the way to the boat, not stop and go. There is more to this than I can write here, so if you see a guy launching a Tuffy muskie boat try asking to come along to learn the ropes, because if I'm by myself I just might say yes. I can never promise to get you a fish, because muskies are just too darn elusive and unpredictable, and when you do catch one please release it as there aren't very many and it takes years to grow them to a good size. Thanks.

*Editor's Note: Don is one of our regular muskie anglers and has sent in reports in the past. Thanks for an excellent primer on some basic muskie techniques Don. Mike