Northwest Fishing Reports

Howdy fellas

My name is Kevin and I live in Northern Michigan I am a member of chapter 47 that will be transplanting to Washington for most of the summer. I am going to be in the Richland area and wondered how close I will be to Musky water and if anyone is in the area that might pity a man seperated from his boat and take him fishing. We no longer have a Tiger program and I have never caught one so I would really like to get my picture taken with a slimy, mean, striped Demon Fish!!

Take Care
Kevin

Heyah Kevin,
I think you could take a trek up to the Spokane area or go west young man just north of Portland to Merwin Reservoir. Since you hit this website check out www.nwtigermuskies.com this site will also help you with any questions you may have. Welcome to the Great N.W. we are a up n' coming Tiger Musky fishery. Great time to get here! See ya, Todd- Membership Director of NW Tiger Pac M.I. Chapter 57!!

Welcome aboard Kevin,

My name is also Kevin,from chapter 57. Their should be someone on here soon to answer your question a little more in depth than I can. There are a couple lakes in the general area. Heres a link to our chapter that would give you some help. www.nwtigermuskies.com/

ok,Todd just beat me.haha

Cool looks like I will still be about 4 hrs from anything but I wont have a lot to do on the weekends so that might work okay. Thanks for the replies guys!! What seems to be the baitfish base there?? Wondering what I should bring with out of the myriad lures I own...

Kevin

Hey Kevin,
First...No live bait. Period. No sucker harnessess. All the Tiger fishing we do is with lures only. You'll need to check out our regs here. They aqre quite different from back in the midwest.One rod only! Baits fish for the Tigers are carp, suckers, any fish on the lower end of the fish chain. I have alot of luck with the Smallie color lures,Perch colors and even Walleye colors. Jerk baits, gliders and spinner baits are the keys to the game. Seems to me too that lures under 8 inches work the best. So all the big tackle you have you can leave in the box until the fall. You can down size quite a bit out here. Todd

Yes, Richland is several hours away from muskie fishing, but as it's about equally distant from all of them, you have the full range of our muskie fishery at your disposal. And don't forget you'll be right on top of the Columbia River's world-class walleye fishery, or that the Columbia has plenty of smallmouth bass ... in case you feel you don't have to fish for muskies ALL the time. Therefore, when your schedule (or gasoline budget) won't allow you to fish for muskies, you'll have some of Washington's finest spinyray fishing at your front door.

Here's something to keep in mind about fishing in Washington. This is the West and there's a lot more camping (including some free camping) available here than in the Midwest. For example, there's free camping at Evergreen Lake near Quincy (our smallest muskie lake, and the one closest to Richland), and there's free camping at a state boat launch site just south of the state park on the west side of Potholes Reservoir. Potholes doesn't have tiger muskies, but this 28,000-acre reservoir does offer hefty rainbow trout, good-sized walleyes, and presently is Washington's premiere largemouth bass lake.

You should also know that, effective May 1, 2008, Washington has a 50-inch minimum size for tiger muskies. This is a statewide regulation applicable to all waters, without exception.

As was stated above, it's illegal to use live fish for bait in Washington; this applies not only to tiger muskies, but to all species, thus you can't use live minnows to catch walleyes. This rule is common out west and you'll find similar restrictions in all the western states where trout and salmon are predominant native species.

Here is a rundown on our muskie lakes -- their location, size, potential, etc.:

Merwin Reservoir, near the town of Woodland, 4090 acres
Mayfield Reservoir, near the town of Mossyrock, 2200 acres
Curlew Lake, near the town of Republic, 870 acres
Newman Lake, near Spokane, 1200 acres (Idaho's best tiger muskie lake, Hauser L., is 4 miles from Newman L.)
Evergreen Reservoir, in central Washington's Quincy Wildlife Area, near the town of Quincy, 235 acres
Tapps Lake, near Tacoma, 2296 acres.
Silver Lake, Spokane County, 486 acres

Mayfield Reservoir

In western Washington; about a 4-hour drive from Richland through Yakima and over the Cascade Mountains via White Pass on State Highway 12. This is a mountain highway with many curves and grades, so the trip takes longer than you'd assume from looking at a map as you'll average only 45 to 50 mph in the mountains. This is a pretty good lake with a decent number of fish, and big fish too (30 pounders exist here), and has a resort and two public campgrounds. There's also gas and food available in the nearby town of Mossyrock.

The county park just off Highway 12 after passing through Mossyrock from the east has a good boat launch with ample parking, a picnic and swimming area with showers, and a campground with hookups. Ike Kinswa State Park, on the other side of the lake, is accessed via a side road farther west on Highway 12, and also has has a campground and boat ramp, but the county park’s facilities are better. There is also a private resort (Mayfield Lake Resort) with RV sites, cabins, and boat launch on Winston Cove, the turnoff to which is only a few hundred yards from the turnoff into the county park.

First stocked with tiger muskies in 1988, this impoundment is Washington’s most popular tiger muskie lake, and holds the state record (31.25 lbs.). A fish weighing an unofficial 34 lbs. was caught here a couple years ago. Mayfield and Riffe dams are owned by Tacoma City Light. The water flowing into Mayfield from Riffe Lake is cold year-round (about 48 degrees in summer). During the summer months, the top 6 feet or so of water is warmed by the sun and most of the muskies will be in this layer. Thus, you usually don't fish this lake deep. City Light often releases water over the spillway on weekends to maintain flows in the Cowlitz River below the dam, drawing off the warm surface water; this puts the fish off their feed, and for this reason Mayfield is best fished for tiger muskies in the middle of the week. Weekend fishing isn't very good here. Early morning and just before sunset offer the most action but fish can be caught at midday during the summer months.

The lake is several miles long and averages about ½ mile wide. Maximum depth is 190 feet behind the dam, and the old river channel, which hugs the north shoreline in the lower half of the lake, averages 90 to 100 feet deep. However, Mayfield Lake has some large shallow areas that concentrate tiger muskies, so locating fish is not very difficult. In the lower end of the lake, Winston Cove's shallow, weedy upper end holds some tiger muskies, as does Tilton Cove at the upper end of the lake adjacent to the state park and campground. However, the largest concentration of tiger muskies is in the large weed flat across the lake from Tilton Cove.
Apart from these weedy areas, fishing for Mayfield’s tiger muskies consists mostly of working sunken stumps and downed trees along shorelines. The entire shoreline from the county park to the big weed flat across from Tilton Cove should be fished. Above the weed flat, adjacent to the fish hatchery, is a cove whose shoreline is littered with sunken stumps and logs that often hold tiger muskies.

The best time to fish Mayfield is June through August, although the tiger muskies remain catchable until October. Radio tracking studies indicate they suspend in deep water and are inactive in winter and early spring. Stomach content studies show they feed almost exclusively on squawfish.

Merwin Reservoir

4,090 acres, on State Highway 503 above Woodland, which is on Interstate 5 about 30 miles north of Portland and Vancouver. To reach it from Richland, you would drive over Highway 12 through Mossyrock and past Mayfield Lake, continuing west another 20 miles to I-5, then drive south to Woodland on I-5, exit there and get all the gas and groceries you'll need in town (because there are none at the lake), and head up into the hills on Highway 503. The dam is only about 10 miles outside of town, but both public boat launches are at the end end of the lake, so you'll be 20 miles out of town before getting to the fishing. An alternate route is to drive from Richland to Portland/Vancouver via the highways on either the Oregon or Washington side of the Columbia River, then drive up to Woodland via I-5 (there's also a backroads shortcut from Vancouver going directly to the top end of the lake where the boat launches are).

A deep cold impoundment known for its good-sized kokanee, this lake is 12 miles long, has 25 miles of undeveloped shoreline littered with stumps and logs, and averages 80 to 90 feet deep with a maximum depth of 190 feet. Most of the fishermen here will be trolling in the middle of the lake for kokanee. There are two boat launches maintained by Pacific Power; the Cresap Bay boat launch also has a campground, but to camp there on summer weekends you'll need to make reservations weeks or months in advance, due to the campground's popularity with summer recreationists. Motel lodging is available at Lone Fir Motel in Cougar, 6 miles away, but here again you'll probably need advance reservations to get a room on summer weekends or during the fall hunting season. The lake's proximity to the Portland-Vancouver metropolis brings a lot of people to this lake. Note, however, that both highway accesses to the lake are twisty, windy, hilly two-lane highways that are quite dangerous and lots of motorcycle deaths and car accidents occur on those roads because of people driving too fast and overestimating their ability to negotiate these mountain highways at high speed.

Tiger muskies were stocked here in 1995 to control squawfish, and the WDFW plants a few hundred 12-inch fingerlings every y

Don-

I am framing that reply over my desk so I can study it for a while thank you for the great info. I will be coming out May the 12th and leaving on July 18th so looks like I will catch a decent period for fishing. IS the live bait a recent issue of the VHS problem or a standing rule? When you say live bait does that mean ALL live bait, crayfish worms etc...? Personally I am a 100% CPR (catch photo release) guy and always have been except for the occasional bluegill or walleye for dinner. I also love smallmouth fishing so sounds like I wont be the least bit disappointed with the local opportunity for fishing. Thanks again guys for the info - Also would I be able to participate in either of your fishing events this summer?

Kevin

Darn Don,
It must be nice to be retired and have all day to type on forums about your hobbies. My turn's coming ol buddy.

DON- I had to take a nap in the middle and then come back to finish the rest of that post. I think I learned more in the two days it took me to read that than I learned in 4 years of public High School. I feel edumacated now. You are great!

Great break down on Muskie lakes in Washington Don. Thanks for taking the time to do such a great job.

2000subaru wrote:DON- I had to take a nap in the middle and then come back to finish the rest of that post. I think I learned more in the two days it took me to read that than I learned in 4 years of public High School. I feel edumacated now. You are great!

My wife would hand me a disposable gatorade cup with water in it,I'd poor it on my head every couple of sentences.
Just mess'n with 'ya Don. Thinks for the info. Very helpful.

Hi cyberlunge:
Yes, as a Muskies Inc. Member, you may fish any of our tournaments, and welcome to you!
I have talked with your Pres. Will Schultz a few times about web site info and consequently, we use Café Press on our site, too.
Welcome to the great Northwest. You will not have a lack of sunshine in Richland. You will, however, have a severe lack of mosquitoes. Should be a nice change, eh?

If you want to be on the email list for Chapter happenings, send me a PM.
You can also keep checking the web site for updates and photos of new fish. www.nwtigermuskies.com
And speaking of new fish, after last Thursday's meeting, you could tell the smell of tiger was in the air. A lot of anglers had THAT look, you know; the hunt is near, folks checking the tackle box ( yes, you HAVE enough) and talk of pooling new line on reels.
Oh, did I mention I got a heck of a deal on ebay for a newish Diawa Millionaire CV Z 253A
The fish knows, right? =p~

And yes, cy, Don has a wealth of knowledge. We rely on him!

I keep missing the meetings due to other commitments, but I plan on being your next chapter 57 member. I need the season to start now, or I will go broke prematurely. Harder to spend money when you're fishing (on gear, anyway). I keep buying reels I don't need and swimbaits and jigs galore, just cuz I didn't feel like one box full was enough and that's the only Muskie-ish baits that you have a decent selection of around here. I have this fantasy sturgeon might like the plastics, too (my father catches em on plastic worms while fishing for Walleye often).

I will be making my semi-annual pilgrimage to Thorne Brothers in June. I will surely go broke then.

THanks for all the replies guys I have checked out the website and thats when I saw the outings, I would really like to meet some Musky brethren while I am in the great state of Washington. Since I will be a bachelor all summer I can pretty much do as I please as long as I am back in the lab on Monday!! I was already excited now it is getting un-bearable.... 5 weeks to opener here. I knew Will had woprked with someone in the club and I believe that your sign person may have been in contact with another of our people 5K grant for aluminum signs and installation for the KTD program- very cool stuff.
Kevin

>Darn Don, It must be nice to be retired and have all day to type on forums about your hobbies. My turn's coming ol buddy.<

Hey Mark, you only have to type it once, after that it's all copy-and-paste. (wink-wink)

Don't be in a hurry, my friend. Every life stage has its own burdens and compensations, and the joys of the present will slip from your grasp soon enough; so don't be in a rush. Let your life proceed according to its natural rhythm, and follow it at a comfortable pace. Yes, it's nice to sleep in, not have work pressures, and have time to do things you enjoy. But with advancing age comes diminished physical ability and declining health, and (for most of us) reduced income which makes it harder to afford the things we like to do. Greater life experience often brings increased wisdom, and now that I can count my remaining fishing seasons on my fingers, I've come to appreciate the deeper values in fishing; in particular, to treasure the friendships that grow around my participation in the sport. Finally, looking back on my sixty-odd years, I wonder how I got this old so fast, and reflecting on things I should have done differently, I ponder an old German saying:

Too schoon oldt; too late schmardt.

For example, instead of using my cradle for the very first time on a 26-lb. tiger, I should have practiced landing a few smaller fish with it first; but at least I got my lure back, because it was still in the fish when another angler caught it a week later.

Hey Don

Thank you for helping me fine tune the gear. Went out today,no troubles. Except no muskie:-({|=

Kevin

Cyberlunge,
There is no 'opner' here. It's open year round. There is a 'so called' trout opener and there are a few lakes that are closed for some reason in the winter that will open approx April 1st.

So there are no closed seasons on anything? Fish that is?
Kevin